Tucson School District's Race-Based Discipline Policy

What does gays have to do with this, SMK? Don't follow you there?

Gay men and women do well in school, if not harassed and are disproportionately represented in teaching, as you know. They will pay the price for being white, though, in the discipline department.

PS. Oh, I get what you mean. You should write an article on that.

This is in Arizona. I don't think we can judge a whole generation for what is happening there in one school district.  Rogue districts ban books and exact their racism in microcosm. 

They would be hard pressed to ever have such a prejudicial form of student discipline in California. 

Good points and fair, but I will tell you that at certain high schools in the Bay Area the discipline policy has been tailored so as to reduce the visibility of the reality.

Also, shop and auto mechanics were eliminated, according to many observers, because too man non-whites were there in those classes.

Arizona is not some weird backwater. And, these ideas didn't come from Arizona. They are discussed in education circles of the more radical sort regularly.

Roy,

I don't doubt what you say about some districts in the Bay Area, but I have not read any reports of this.  If you have some articles about this, please send a link as this is something we should look at seriously. 

I know programs are cut in schools due to lack of funding, but it is not beyond possibility that some would use this as a tool to elminate programs for the insidious reasons you state.  : (  

The local details fall out of my European scope, but anyhow in education more discipline should be applied, that certainly will reduce hooliganism and make youngsters more adapt to the process of working and earning their own money, without governmental hand-outs.

There is a simple and realistic solution in all this..... a chit system, whereby as you say, a voucher or chit where $10,000 is attached to it.

Every parent gets one for each child, then that parent can use that chit towards any school in which the academic programs, ideals and morals suit the parent for their child.

I guarantee you schools with liberal bent agenda will be frothing at the mouth, but on the other hand, schools will have to kowtow to the parents agenda and social mores.

Granted some parents may have social ideals from the hippy liberal days, and schools like this Tuscon school may result from this, So be it, cause when it boils down to it, Malt Liquor stores and MacDonald's need staff, as do prisons who need prisoners for the mentally unbalanced who are brought up by liberals with the mantra "Everyone is Special and deserves a Trophy for breathing. Of course Maury and Springer also need guests and audience members too.

Other schools who are strictly the 3 Rs will flourish, have well balanced emotionally adept students who will go on to have a moral family life, work for a living and teach their children that the world doesn't owe them a living.

The schools that are left will be comprised of Religious nutjobs who enjoy flying planes into buildings.

All in all it will be a race to see how society wants their own little country to develop for their children and for the schools to follow.

I agree, Barry.

Pros and Cons of voucher system

Pros: 

System will empower parents, providing choices to parents in deciding what schools their child may attend. This choice allowing children to attend a school of choice the quality of education along with the opportunity to achieve success will increase. Supporters further contend that the use of vouchers will infuse more funding into public schools with no increase in taxes. In the areas where vouchers have been used the evidence indicates the system has been successful.

 The proponents of school vouchers cannot see changes for the better in the near future and many are tired of waiting for change to occur. Any further wait for the tides to turn will be at their children’s expense. The institution of vouchers will give immediate relief and the long anticipated results parents have been waiting for.

Cons: 

Chosing schools without district limitations  will lead to the abandonment of our public schools with many middle to upper class parents choosing private over public education, leaving the publics schools to lower income and poor students thus creating a less funded and poor public school system.  

They further contend that education tax dollars belong to the State and should not be spent at the discretion of parents. The issue of the separation of church and state along with the argument that state funds should not be given to religious institutions also comes into play.

The opponents further question the quality of education which is not regulated by the State. Schools in which teachers may not be credentialed and curriculum varies from school to school. They believe that the implementation of a school voucher system on a large scale will take away crucial dollars from schools which are already in desperate need of funding. They further caution that although the evidence of the use of school vouchers is promising, it is also limited. Institution of a statewide or nationwide voucher system would not be prudent since it is too early to tell if the voucher system will be successful on such a large scale.

Voucher opponents propose other alternatives to bring about quality education for all students. Alternatives such as cultivating competition within the public school system and allowing parents to choose public schools within their district or a public school in a neighboring district. They further suggest programs such as charter and/or magnet be implemented or expanded and will foster innovation in the public school system.

Both sides have positive and negative points to consider, but I believe in equitable public education that does not further the divide between the haves and have nots, which a voucher system could create.

I appreciate the comments on the voucher system, and I like the system myself. But, I didn't write this article to discuss the voucher system, accept tangentially as a point of reference as to what to do with school systems that go beyond failing students to treating them as second-class citizens because of their race.

The real question is: how did this sort of evil come to be in the first place? What is the cure, and failing that, do we need to have a total voucher system?

If someone will please give me $10K to apply towards my kids private school fees I will thank them very much and also quite happily will build them a small temple in their honor!

Just going by what school boards say it cost to educate a child annually

Hey it would be nice to get something for my state tax payments. I have to fund my own health care, I pay for private school, I pay property tax and road tax for infrastructure, my business pays them sales tax, payroll tax, city taxes, franchise tax and on an on and I get what? Federal I sort of get the country has national needs,  but being gouged by the State as well is the killer for me. I want that $10K Barry, I deserve it darn it!

Good article, Roy. Unfortunately true around the country - if not with the same issue. Won't be surprised if that "solution" doesn't spread.

I spent enough on K-8 on my kids for school that i could have put them all thru the state college.

I did it because of the same sort of nonsense Roy outlined above. In a 1st Grade Challenge class - chosen students, supposedly the brightest - were literally indoctrinated with ecology/green movement teaching. Taught things like "we love our planet".  That was special.

The break point came at dinner one evening, when i asked what he had learned in school that day. He responded by saying that he learned it was wrong to cut down trees. For a father who made his living selling lumber (a "renewable resource" in green speak), that was it.

My youngest sat down with me the other night. A HS Freshman, she said she wanted to thank me for putting her thru school, because she was much better prepared than her peers.

I paid my state and city taxes, i saved the school district tens of thousands of dollars by not sending my kids there, and for Public High School, they get served up a day full of fights, uninterested kids, bored teachers, and wonderment that anyone manages to learn any thing at all.

On top of all that, every year, the schools demand more money - for the kids, of course.

Barry

Most voucher systems only provide from 3-4 thousand dollars, not 10 thousand.  And private schools are very expensive, and can be selective in enrollment where a public school must accept everyone in their district.  Also, there are far fewer private schools, and a sudden change to all vouchers could create a chaotic application rush, which in turn would result in a combination of methods to reduce enrollment not different than what is happening in California with the state colleges by raising tuitions and eligibility requirements. 

According to the National Association of Independent Schools, the median tuition for their member private day schools in 2008-2009 in the United States was $17,441. Tuition for boarding schools was close to $37,017. (Of the 28,384 private schools in the United States, about 1,050 are affiliated with the NAIS. Average tuition for nonmember schools is substantially less: Day schools charge $10,841 and boarding schools $23,448.) 

Catholic schools have kept their tuitions low, but the waiting lists are long and subject to the descretion of individual schools, not necessarily based on where a child is on the waiting list.

I whole heartedly agree with QueensHart.

The real question is: how did this sort of evil come to be in the first place? What is the cure, and failing that, do we need to have a total voucher system?

I am sorry about the voucher info being off topic, but it needed to be sorted out. 

The evil you speak of is the core of racism, and it pervades all aspects of civil institutions if there are not guards in place to prevent it.  Affirmative action is one way to keep this in check.   The fear of anyone different, and constant festering of hate groups together with the "us" against "them" ideologies attempts to legitimize policies like the one you describe here.

Disciple problems should be addressed; however, policies should be developed with the oversight of local school boards who are elected, not hired or appointed like school administrators, to ensure policies and procedures are farily developed and implemented. 

But, for discipline, there can be only one code, same for all.

But, for discipline, there can be only one code, same for all.

There is one line is the nub. Correct. Equality is exactly that,the other approach is racism - reverse racism is still racism

Thanks, RNG.