We have evidence of how to have heathly, successful students in this community. Students who will not bring guns to school, students who thrive in a learning environment. We do not want to state it if it is not in the Oakland political agenda.

So, I ask you, is it fair to have nine children, none of whom have access to their fathers, all of whom do not feel as though they get enough attention at home, all who live in poverty and who have never witnessed either parent with a job, career or education and not tell that child how to keep himself out of poverty?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/49096486/Edward-C-Banfield-The-Unheavenly-City-Revisited

I found it the definitive book on the urban underclass and how to manage them. And it’s a fun read! I loved the chapter on “Rioting mainly for fun and profit”.

“The ONLY thing that can be assumed is that the educator and parent both want the child to learn.”

That is a false assumption.

It’s a feel good assumption. It hurts when you admit it’s not true. Kind of like when Doctors have to realize their patients intend to eat/drink/drug themselves to death – and they need to get out of the way. Or when Lawyers realize their client intends to destroy themselves legally and you cannot/should not get in the way of their “wishes”.

It hurts, you get used to it, and you deal with it. Because it’s their life not yours.

If the parent wanted the child to learn they wouldn’t subvert the teachers, reward bad behavior, tell them they don’t need academics, etc. They would send them to real schools, make them study and work on assignments, limit their associates to good students, etc. I’m sure the teachers reading this can add a list of behaviors they see parents happily indulge in to prevent education and educational progress in a child. I hope teachers answer this post with such observations. My experience is limited.

I can tell you about self destructive legal behavior. And not just committing crimes all day long, they have the right to remain silent, they do not have the ability to remain silent.

Anyway, lots of people do as they please not what is beneficial for their future health, wealth or prosperity. Those most prone to bad behavior are those referred to as the “lower class” who are present oriented as all get out. They are found in the public schools. Public school teachers have to work with them. And no, they don’t want to learn. They only value information that can be used at once. (read Banfield in sociology…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_C._Banfield)

That’s not an evil thing, it’s just what they are.

So no, you cannot assume everybody wants to learn. Quite the opposite.

You’re having too many kids
Your kids are unteachable.
You should be having more abortions
The more time your kids spend away from you, the better they’ll be…

And by the way, please vote for this bond measure so we can get better salaries even though your kids aren’t learning anything.

And we only want 20 of your difficult kids in a class at a time or else all bets are off.

And how dare you listen to some “community organization” that isn’t aligned with our wants/ideas/demands.

Tired of people saying they want community involvement, but then can’t work with the community unless they come neatly packaged in the way they can understand.

Even more tired of people assuming that the local citizenry shares their values. The ONLY thing that can be assumed is that the educator and parent both want the child to learn. That’s it.

The boomers I know plan to leave. Many are already selecting destinations and making plans.

You propose that in a time of shrinking funds you can take more funds for your pet projects – where exactly is that revenue going to come from? Roads? Prisons? Welfare? White Schools?

CA cannot continue to raise sales taxes, income taxes, phone/utility taxes, etc forever. And just imagine what will happen if the Feds through the AMT or new tax legislation wipe out the ability of CA people with money to deduct all these things for the Federal Income Tax? More reasons to move to OR and NV. The AMT must be adjusted every year in Congress to avoid a fiscal cliff of tax increases.

And not everybody has to go (skip the state), the unemployable blacks will certainly stay. If you are on welfare you need the better weather. Ditto the Mexicans. Those who are leaving are the Baby Boomer Whites – ie “tax base”.

Anyway bad schools don’t need any more money, they have too much already. They need jack-booted discipline and the elimination of those “students” who do not produce. If you are not going to learn to read and write you need to be somewhere else, not in a school with those who do.

The clear plan of the Federal Legislature is to let inflation handle all of it. Just print the money. It’s not like there isn’t historical precedent. individually they plan to be dead or over the border when the big bang occurs. It’s later than they think. Besides, the chaos will occur in the states first as they cannot print money.

Back to the point. The states are not going to fundamentally refinance urban school budgets. they are too busy covering payroll and making interest payments. Kind of like the Spanish Provincial Governments. If you want more $$ for your district get your Federal Reps to print some money for you. If you’re so special you can get preferential treatment in Congress just for your district. Good luck with that. Best they can do is special capital improvement funds and not operating money.

We are already using that to install Solar Systems, shifting future utility operating costs to Capital Improvement spending. It’s not enough to do what I think you want to do for the urban schools.

Brave New World!