I think therein lies a general defense of, well, I don’t know what to call it! An elitist form of socialism which holds that those who pay a disproportionate share of the taxes hold the superior right to that money upon its distribution on programs which they champion. For example, children of those who pay the highest property taxes should have first priority on assignment to “good” public schools and use of public sports fields.

The new distributism.

I dare say (again) providing basic skills to bona fide resident poor kids desperate for some sort of education but whose personal circumstances would shut them out. As an alternative to nothing at all.

In reality, our system keeps such kids “detained” (180 d x 6+ hrs) with all sorts of future felons whose mission, during that quarter of their lives, is to make that sympathetic kid’s experience as miserable as possible while being taught nothing at all.

As if that weren’t bad enough, that “safety net” mission is being exploited as an egalitarian pretext for providing “free”, convenient, pre-UC caliber education to a relatively small number of rich kids as an alternative to Head Royce.

Their parents try to assuage feelings of guilt with clarion calls for “diversity”.

1. The people who live there don’t expect better.

2. The education system gets paid the same(or even in some cases more for struggling schools).

3. The culture of apathy begins to grow comfortable like old leather shoes, and people unknowingly(or knowingly)embrace it, because after all the checks are coming in, and their future is secure relative to most of the tax-paying cretins out there in the real world.

You’ve been logically correct for only about a year or so.

Until then FICA was taking in more money than it was paying out in benefits. The “surplus” was immediately lent to the UST and used to pay for expenditures like … NSF grants.

The FICA positive cash flow situation has now reversed (permanently). The annual deficit is > $100B and growing.

No more Wars for US Population Control!

Of course, FICA has always been just another government latency scam, though you have to admire the lengths which it has gone to hide its chicanery in plain sight.

I’m still waiting for my “peace dividend” check.

As for parental responsibility I’m sorry, but based on the taxes we all pay to support the schools parents have a not unreasonable expectation that their kids will be taught *there* and not have to rely on learning centers, private tutors, and even performing the task themselves (close to midnight) when they’re already exhausted from their own long days.

For that matter, why do have to tolerate (and pay up for) bad schools (the norm) in the first place? What is public education in business for?

It is disheartening to read such a thought from a teacher. Do you know what it is like for smart, capable, prepared kids that come from supportive households to go to bad schools? It’s hell. I know because we get them transferring in all year long and they come shell=shocked. So do their parents.

IOW, poor single moms in the flatlands whose children attend really bad public schools and likely will never graduate high school (much less attend university) have to pay higher social security taxes so that a rich girl from the highlands can receive an all-expense paid trip to China and get a leg up on early admission to Cal Tech.