Classroom Monitor

The Connecticut School Shootings

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Twenty Innocent Little Lives 

Like the rest of the folks in our country, I am sitting here in shock, grief and disbelief as I contemplate the loss of twenty precious, innocent little lives in the Connecticut school shooting.  I can’t even begin to fathom what it must be like for the families of these children as they try to come to terms with such a horrific loss.  As I jot down these thoughts, it is less than 24 hours since this atrocity occurred…way too early to speculate.  Nevertheless, the reactions to the mass shooting of these children have already begun to highlight, once again, the vast difference between how progressives and traditional Americans approach a problem. 

Progs Look for Quick Fix 

It’s already clear that those (temporarily) in charge will take the easy way out and deploy their usual superficial approach, an approach that just happens to fit neatly with their long term plans to fundamentally change America.  Instead of seeking the root cause of this horrible incident they have already begun to lay the groundwork for placing the blame on ‘guns’.  Apparently Barack Obama has determined that this is another crisis that he will not let go to waste.  In his first public performance after the incident he tearfully stated that the country’s leaders must take “meaningful action” regardless of politics in response to the mass shooting.  Gosh, I wonder what he means by that.  If he succeeds, the progs will all pat themselves on the backs for a quick fix that only kicks the proverbial can farther down the road. 

They’ll Just Use Different Weapons 

The real problem will still be there and a new generation of twisted perpetrators will just use different weapons…like in China, where guns are strictly controlled.  Twenty-one people there, many of them children, were hacked to death and 90 injured with knives, hammers and cleavers in a spate of school attacks during a recent 18 month period.  Or perhaps like in Pakistan where explosives are the weapon of choice and many children have been blown to bits during school attacks.  Or maybe like in Uganda where fire is the weapon of choice and many children have been burned to death during school attacks.  What will the progs do then?  Instead, they should be trying to identify the contributing factors behind this incident, factors which now define the disturbing new society they have created.  Thoughtful Americans, on the other hand, have long been pointing out that some very negative changes in our society have led to many of the problems now plaguing us…and they are asking lots of questions. 

Someone Should Have Seen This Coming 

For the sake of these children who suffered such a brutal and unjust death, let us finally resolve to determine what it is about our current culture that enables such an act to occur.  In our country guns have been available for hunting and self defense since the Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth, not far from where this tragedy occurred, but it has only been in recent years that a few young men have used guns to commit mass murder.  What is different about our society today that has caused this change?  Is it the disintegration of the family unit as reflected in the 50% divorce rate?  Is it drug use?  Is it improper management of mentally disturbed individuals?  Is it poor parenting?  Is it too much screen time for children?  These are all questions which must be addressed.  Early information indicates that the perpetrator of this evil act was a teenager when his parents divorced, had a personality disorder, was remote, adopted the accoutrements of the gothic subculture and spent a lot of time playing video games.  You can draw your own conclusions, but it seems to me someone should have seen this coming. 

In God’s Loving Care   

All that notwithstanding, every missed opportunity to prevent this atrocity must be identified and corrective action must be taken when indicated, whether it involves mental health care providers, gun dealers, judges, legislators, lawyers or family members of the perpetrator.  Every one of us should be angry and outraged that such a thing could occur in our country, but we cannot begin to address this situation until we recognize that it is not the weapons, but the evil sociopaths behind them that are the problem.  From all indications thus far, the response of school officials, law enforcement and medical personnel to this incident has been outstanding and we salute these individuals for their professionalism.  More than anything else, however, our thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost their loved ones and for those twenty little children who are now in God’s loving care.

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California’s Failing Public School System

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Failing Schools

Everyone knows that the California public school system is failing.  Many of us also know that it had a long way to fall from its heyday back in the 1950s and 60s when it was the envy of the world.  Under the leadership of Max Rafferty (California Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1963-1971) and other conservative educators, the system flourished, producing some of the top students in the country, indeed in the world.  Competition for entry into the college system was fierce among the many highly qualified students who were prepared well by the ‘professional’ teachers of that time.  Sadly, the school system is now run by the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association, the state and national teacher’s unions respectively, and these two entities must be held accountable for the dismal situation the public school system now finds itself in.

Other Contributing Factors

To be sure, there are other factors that have contributed to the failure of public schools and the dissolution of the family is certainly one of them.  As we saw in our last article, ‘Where Did California’s Education Money Go?’, another reason for the demise of California’s once outstanding schools has been the squandering of public funds by the Democrat and union controlled California legislature.  Finally, the expenses and accommodations required to assimilate the non-English speaking students who have overwhelmed so many schools have provided the coup de grace or finishing blow.

Public School Students Have Been Cheated

Under the tutelage (see WOW) of ‘union shop’ teachers, today’s students waste valuable class time on liberal indoctrination and many graduate from high school without even the basic skills required for success in the real world, let alone college. With college admission standards lowered and curriculum requirements adjusted to accommodate students who really are not equipped to succeed in college, the marketability of a college degree is now in question.  As a result, the final indignity that students have had to bear is the outrageous and continually rising college tuition fees that they must now pay in return for little value received.

Get the Unions out of the Classroom!

There are some very obvious ‘fixes’ that could greatly improve the California public school system.  First and foremost, the unions must be removed from the classroom.  The negative impact that the CTA and the NEA have had on the quality of public school education across the nation cannot be underestimated.  They are largely responsible for the time wasted on liberal indoctrination, the protection of poor teachers through tenure and the outrageous benefits granted to public employees.  Imagine if instead we rewarded the many wonderful teachers who, against all odds, provide inspiring instruction and serve as excellent role models for today’s students!

School Vouchers are the Way to Go

Next, a school voucher program must be established so that parents who opt out of public school education for their children do not have to pay twice, once for private school and again for the public schools that they choose not to use.  Many more students would be able to transfer out of failing schools and take advantage of private and charter schools under a voucher system.  Public schools would have to compete and would be forced to improve.  This will not be an easy task, because a union’s worst enemy is competition.  The CTA and the NEA will tenaciously cling to their empire at the expense of both students and teachers, rather than submit to competition.  Why?  Because unions know they would lose not only the battle for control, but also the mandatory union dues from their members…the cash that keeps the fat-cat union bosses in clover.

We Must All Get Involved

Finally, parents must get involved at the local level in their children’s schools.  They must visit the classroom and attend school board meetings regularly to demand quality education, a return to teaching the basics and accountability in the spending of public funds.  Even concerned citizens who do not have children in school can make their voices heard.  School board elections and bond measure initiatives are just one example of how we can all influence the quality of a public school education.  After all, as taxpayers we own the schools and the teachers and administrators who manage them work for us.  It is up to us how our tax money will be spent in teaching the next generation of doctors, mechanics, teachers, engineers and small business owners.  If we can do these things, California schools could once again be at the top.

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Where Did California’s Education Money Go?

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Outrageous Benefits 

          Simply stated, California is bankrupt and can no longer fund higher education at the level it had previously.  The state’s financial crisis has been caused by the typical liberal scenario of overtaxing its citizens and then spending the state’s treasure on everything but that for which it was meant, in this case higher education.  How did Sacramento squander the funds meant for the California State College and University system, you ask?  Let me count the ways!  Public employee unions have managed to secure outrageous benefits for their members, including early retirement with pensions that put many in the ‘100K Club’, as well as disability and medical benefits that us ordinary working folks would literally die for. 

          As just one example of the abuse, the spiking of retirement pensions with disability claims is so common that it became known as ‘Chief’s Disease’ in the California Highway Patrol.  It is estimated that 4 out of 5 CHP senior managers become disabled in the final year before they retire and two thirds of the regular officers retire with a disability.  Add this to their yearly retirement pay of up to 90% of their salary beginning as early as age 50 and you can begin to see the problem.  California taxpayers will now be stuck for years funding these benefits.  Some of it will have to be paid with money that was meant for higher education, so unfortunately students will have to share in this burden. 

Squandered Treasure 

          Thanks to these same Democrat legislators, taxpayer’s money is also being used to provide generous benefits for those who are in the country and therefore the state illegally.  Illegal immigration is estimated to cost California $22 billion each year.  Wow!  That’s almost the entire $25 billion budget deficit projected for California in 2012.  So what did the legislators do to stop this fiscal hemorrhage?  They passed the California Dream Act which provides taxpayer funded scholarships to students whose families are in the country illegally!  As magnanimous as this may sound, some would argue that it provides a privilege for these students which students from other states are not accorded.  I think we can all agree that this program simply spends more money that California does not have!  The end result will be to encourage more people to come to California illegally, which will in turn perpetuate the fiscal crisis. 

          In addition, with the state now insinuating itself into every aspect of its citizens’ lives, the accompanying bureaucracy devours money like a slot machine at an Indian Casino.  With the growing state workforce needed to administer all the new regulations there will be even more people getting outrageous retirement, medical and disability benefits.  The Democrat packed legislature just doesn’t understand that by increasing regulations and raising taxes and fees on just about everything they have also driven businesses out of California at an alarming rate.  The resulting increase in unemployment and loss of tax revenue complete the vicious cycle.  It is indeed a sad state of affairs in the ‘left coast’ state of California where for many years the ‘tax and spend’ liberals have had an iron grip on the legislature.  Higher education is one of the casualties, so college students are now being asked to pay more tuition and fees…and they are rightfully upset. 

Coming Next:  California’s Failing Public School System 

Where Did California’s Education Money Go? Read More »

California College Students Redeem Themselves…Sort Of

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Facing Rising Tuition and Fees 

          Just when we were beginning to wonder about the students attending schools in the California State College and University system, some of them have given us reason to believe that they actually do have the ability to analyze problems and think for themselves.  Faced with mounting tuition and other fees, students had up to now been protesting everyone except those actually responsible for the problem.  It seems that they may finally have put two and two together this week when they took their protest to the union-owned, Democrat-run capital in Sacramento, correctly placing the blame for this crisis on the legislators who have plundered the state’s treasury.  Maybe their thinking has not yet completely evolved to this conclusion, but at least they are protesting in the right location! 

          Through no fault of their own, many of these students are the products of the failing education system in California.  It is no small feat, then, for them to have come to this difficult conclusion.  In doing so, they had to abandon the prevailing liberal view extant at most of their institutions of higher learning and they even had to make a point of distancing themselves from the Occupy Movement that was in Sacramento at the same time.  We cannot hold these college students responsible for the faulty reasoning that led to their previously misplaced anger.  Instead, we salute them for being able to make the tough choices, admit that they were wrong and refocus their energy in the right direction. 

California…A Horrible Example the Rest of the Country Should Heed 

          The rest of the country should take a good, long look at what has happened to California, because it is a harbinger (see WOW) of what is in store for them unless they take immediate action to change course.  The education systems in many other states are also at risk of financial collapse due to the reckless spending of their legislators.  Fortunately, the tax and spend liberals were thrown out of many legislatures in the 2010 midterm elections.  Courageous individuals like Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin are making good progress in bringing their states back from the brink by getting their fiscal affairs in order.  But union bosses who see a threat to their tight, controlling grip on dues paying members are fighting back like caged weasels.  Consequently, Governor Walker is facing a recall election in spite of the good work he has done for the people of his state. 

          Unfortunately, there is no easy solution now for California.  It will take years to undue the harm that has been done.  The only hopeful sign is that we appear to have some students in our college system who finally see the light and are taking the fight to the real perpetrators of this fraud.  What they are doing to bring this situation to the attention of the public is important, because a well funded system of higher education, available to all qualified students regardless of financial means, is in the best interest of every citizen of the State of California. 

Coming Next:  Where Did California’s Education Money Go?      

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