I would be willing to put MY next paycheck on a bet that Linda
McCauley's district probably received fewer dollars per child in
government funds (not speaking of property taxes) than that vast
majority of schools, rich and poor, receiving large sums subsidy money.
Kids in rural schools "live" good citizenship--it's not just something
they are "taught" through a government provided curriculum.

When my father retired from the Marine Corps I was still in elementary
school.  We moved to a semi-rural area of Michigan populated primarily
with second-generation East Europeans whose parents escaped the
aftermath of WWI and Appalachians who had moved north.  They were either
farmers or factory workers in one of the car plants.  We called our
teachers "sir", "ma'am", "Mr.", "Mrs.", or "Miss".  My parents were
"sir" or "ma'am" when we were being scolded and "Daddy" and "Momma" when
we weren't (still call them that).  They were very conservative, but
pulled straight ticket Democrat every election because they felt the
party was better for farmers and laborers.  

Our teachers used corporal punishment when it was needed and hugs when
they were needed.  They weren't accused of physical or sexual abuse for
either behavior.  We carried shotguns and ammunition on the school buses
so we could walk and bird hunt on the way home.  The principal kept them
in the office during school hours and we'd pick them up after the last
bell.  We had good knock down, drag out fights that sometimes ended with
a bloody nose, but it never in a million years would have occurred to us
to use those shotguns to settle an argument.  One afternoon I hunted the
corn fields on the way home with a kid who had blackened my eye in a
fight during gym class (he said something about the limp and didn't want
me on his dodgeball team, so I kicked him in the nuts and the fight was
on).  That fight established my place in that crowd and nothing was said
afterwards--though one time a kid from another school got HIS eye
blackened by the same fellow for mocking my limp.

My school covered most of the county and my graduating class had 620
students--we started our sophomore year with 623.  One flunked out and
two were killed in farming accidents.

Our school board was made up of the same farmers and factory workers
that made up our community.  Not one had more than a high school
diploma, except for the superintendent who had a BS in Animal Husbandry
(perfect, IMHO, for supervised school kids).  They KNEW what hardship
was and they KNEW the value of a good education and were determined that
their kids would have the opportunities denied them

Kids who were needed on the farm in October to bring in the crops were
allowed to leave early to help at home.  They made up the time by
staying in school well into June.  We all had after school jobs when we
weren't involved in athletics.  I worked in a chemical factory scraping
formaldehyde resins from the inside of spray tanks.

In November 2004 I happened to be back in the area on Guard business and
decided to drop into my old high school just to see if I could find at
least one teacher that hadn't yet retired.  I arrived just as the last
class of the day ended. The kids were dressed the same as if they were
at an inner-city or wealthy suburban school.  Cell phones and iPods were
on their hips and you could hear hip-hop and screamo blasting through
the ear buds.  The building was still their, though there was
considerable expansion and it had been outfitted with the latest data
communication technology.  The principal was the same kid who whacked me
in gym class and he gave me a tour of the place.  I was amazed when he
showed me the language labs--each classroom was outfitted with large
teleconferencing screen.  Each class had a "sister" class in a country
where the native language was the same as that of the class.  The French
class had hooked up with a class in Hull, Quebec.  The Spanish class
teamed with a group of kids from Puerto Rico (ok, so it's a
protectorate, but Spanish is still the primary tongue.  The German
classes were the last period of the day so they could work with their
counterparts in Bamburg, who had English as their first class of the
day. 

Every kid--and I do mean EVERY kid--who spoke to me greeted me with a
"sir" and the boys clasped my hand with strong handshakes.  I happened
to be in uniform and many recognized my name from the tape on my BDUs
and stopped to tell me what was happening in their parents' lives--their
parents being the same kids in my class.  Some, noticing my limp, asked
if I had been hurt in the war.  Many of them asked my opinion of the
war, politics and current events.  Most of them stood with their parents
in the Democratic party.

I noticed a group of boys (and girls) who were gathering hunting clothes
out of their lockers.  I asked where they were headed and was amazed to
hear that they were "bird hunting home".  They said that state law no
longer allowed them to carry their shotguns on the bus, so on of the
kids who had his license had picked up all the guns and delivered them
to a nearby funeral home.  The funeral director (another school buddy of
mine) volunteered to store them for the kids during school hours.

The point of this whole wheeze is that these kids didn't need "programs"
to be good citizens.  They need good parents.  You can be incredibly
wealthy or dirt poor and raise your kids right.  The parents in this
school were involved in their kids' education, supported the teachers
(none of whom, btw, belonged to the NEA or carried the $1M liability
policy my wife needed), and still understood that kids need to be
disciplined when they screw up (corporal punishment is still
practiced--a referendum to stop it was shot down by an overwhelming
majority of votes).  The school now makes a record of each of the
paddlings and notes the details and circumstances behind each event.
There were three instances in the entire school district in 2004. 

Money does not turn out good school kids.  Parents supporting the
schools and teachers do.

-----Original Message-----
From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Linda Walker
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 4:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Let's Shift Gears ....

You are correct. Teachers not paid enough, classes too large, parents 
expect too much, etc. however there are some awesome teaching 
materials put out by the anti defamation league that teach kindness 
and understanding and when it is not taught in the home I think it 
can be taught as part of good citizenship. I've interviewed many kids 
raised by racist parents and many of them reject the ideas of their 
parents simply from knowing right from wrong and most kids have a 
sense of fairness and justice. I think our democracy is in peril 
because of the schools and I am not blaming teachers for this but 
citizens and politicians who do not seem to appreciate how important 
education is. What if we spent one week of the Iraq war budget on 
schools. Soapbox standing down. Gotta prepare for my trip to New 
Orleans. Excited as I've never been there.

At 05:54 AM 11/1/2007, you wrote:
>Kyle,
>
>You hit on a very important issue in your last post...People seem to
>think that the responsibility for raising good kids lies almost
>exclusively with the SCHOOL...well, as a teacher, I can tell you I
>certainly try and teach kids good manners, respect, compassion etc.,
>but let;s not forget that I have a VERY packed curriculum to teach of
>ACADEMIC information.  When I first started teaching, I worked a year
>at a more rural district in very conservative, blue collar Amish
>country.  Let me tell ya, those kids were the best behaved, well-
>mannered.  Some didn't even have running hot water at their house,
>but they knew how to say thank you.  And if I ever had a problem, I
>just called home and all was solved.  Then I went to work in a
>district that is very wealthy and the kids expected you to give them
>what they wanted, hardly ever appreciated things, and parents excused
>their rude behavior or not doing work by making excuses.  School
>can't fix lack of parenting (although I tried!).
>
>Linda M.
>On Nov 1, 2007, at 8:04 AM, Cleveland, Kyle E. wrote:
>
> > Actually, Linda, I think you'll find that the bulk of school
shooting
> > incidents are by kids that have been bullied, not the other way
> > around.
> >
> > All the training in the world does not change hearts--especially
kids.
> > If these were effective tools we'd have little drug use in school,
> > limited teen pregnancy rates, cigarette smoking among the young
> > would be
> > declining instead of increasing.  A lot of research points to the
> > destruction of the nuclear family as a major cause of these ills--we
> > can't paper that over with "training".
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> > Behalf
> > Of Linda Walker
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 2:18 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Let's Shift Gears ....
> >
> > Bullies these days are taking guns to school and shooting people. I
> > think we need more training on understanding the other guys point of
> > view, on how important diversity is, and on kindness and compassion.
> > Kids are tough. They have to deal with all kinds of adult realities
> > at much earlier ages than before - drugs in junior high, sexual
> > acting out from I think too much exposure by what is portrayed in
the
> > media, early onset puberty, societal violence so that they are not
> > even playing outside in many neighborhoods.  We need health care and
> > family stability. Who are the bullies anyhow. Kids who are not
> > getting what they need at home and in school to progress
successfully.
> >
> > At 12:11 AM 10/31/2007, you wrote:
> >> You know, I read an article recently in which a researcher was
quoted
> > as
> >> saying we need to let our kids learn to deal with bullies - you
> >> know,
> >> let them toughen up.  It seems we are raising a generation of whiny
> >> brats who can't deal with the realities of life.   I have to say I
> >> kind
> >> of agree with him.
> >>
> >> Kat
> >>
> >> Deri James wrote:
> >>> On Wednesday 31 October 2007 02:05:02 kat wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Thanks for setting us straight, Deri! Now you've got me feeling
> > sick
> >>>> that a disabled person can use her disability to "beat the
system."
> > Ugh!
> >>>> Gives the rest of us a bad name.
> >>>>
> >>>> Kat
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> Hi Kat,
> >>>
> >>> I do not know if I'm right, its just that I realised while
> >> reading that if you
> >>> take away the disability element the things she describes happen
to
> > many,
> >>> many people, who do not have the opportunity to sue.
> >>>
> >>> Also, I realised that it seems the whole case revolves around her
> >> disability,
> >>> the article says she is actually suing the company for sexual
> > harrassment
> >>> (not discrimination - probably because all her cited instances of
> >>> discrimination occurred outside work in a social setting).
> >>>
> >>> Cheers
> >>>
> >>> Deri
> >>>
> >>
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