Arkansas Blog

Why do we continue to embrace the idea that education is anything but the indoctrination of worker bees & canon fodder?

"Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines." R. Buckminster Fuller

"[The State Board of Education]has provided white flight options for white students when, for example, NCLB tests show not a single school in the LR District failing to meet proficiency for white students. Black students are another, sadder story."--Ark. Blog

I'm dubious about charter schools, too, and would like to see more proof. But I don't know that charter schools have served only to provide white flight options to white kids. The Arkansas Times reported in September that a substantial percentage--up to sixty percent in one of the schools--of eStem's students are actually African-American (click my name for the article). And I think it's safe to assume that white parents who send their kids to a charter school that is majority African American are probably not really white flighters, either--fleeing on majority African American school for another is hardly white flight.

Clearly, something else is going on here, something that makes a lot of concerned parents, including African Americans, want to move their kids out of public schools, particularly out of the LRSD. Charter schools merely provide an accessible outlet for parents who cannot afford private schools. The issue here is with the public schools--how they are run (from the classroom level to the district office to the board) and how well they serve their patrons.

I pulled my kid out of the LRSD last year, not because he was doing poorly in school or was not "proficient." We pulled him out of his "good" LRSD school because his teacher was a dullard who was incapable of assigning anything other than worksheets and his principal was an unresponsive dullard who didn't give a fuck about our concerns about the idiot teacher she employed. Would my son have suffered any harm from staying at the school? Probably not--frankly, the boy is very smart and would do well on his standardized tests if he quit going to school altogether. But we don't just want a "proficient" education for our son. We want him to have the best education we can offer him, so we sent him to a private school that offers what we feel to be a superior education. You really can't blame anyone for doing that. If the LRSD wants to stop losing students, it should do a better job of educating them and being responsive to their parents' concerns.

ARK. BLOG: Fair enough. I was particularly thinking of the LISA Academy in this regard. And I absolutely don't blame any parent for seeking the best for their children, certainly not private schools. But I think people focus on the narrowly specific and the anecdotal and lose sight of a mighty big forest when it comes to charter schools and what they'll eventually mean to the concept of public schools, which have served the U.S. pretty well overall, obvious problem spots notwithstanding. I didn't say all charter schools were white flight options, by the way.

Yeah, sure. Now back to your regular programming.

You defend the school system as a political, not an educational tool. You never address the obvious issues involved with teachers, parents, or students. There is no logic in continuiing a meaningless argument. You sound like Rush Limbaugh or W.

Oops, i wasn't talking to you Gaddis, but Zath and then Max.

Exactly is what I would say to you. Parents know what they know. And, when Max complains about taking the "good" students out of Public Schools or efforts aimed at the students 'prone to failure' he acknowledges what we all know while claiming it not a factor. As you say, for all of the issues surrounding students and parents, teachers is the big political issue.

He will argue that his kids recieved a wonderful education in the AP classes which of course is just one more way to beg the question.

"We pulled him out of his "good" LRSD school because his teacher was a dullard who was incapable of assigning anything other than worksheets and his principal was an unresponsive dullard who didn't give a fuck about our concerns about the idiot teacher she employed."

Oh, Lord, how many times do I hear THAT every week? And, it's very often true, unfortunately. We (steadfast public school advocates) experienced the same thing way back in the 5th grade many years ago. Pulled our daughter out and put her in a private school for the rest of that year. She went back into the LRSD the next year and we never had another problem.

I agree with Gaddis and GRPIII. And Max, the BoE is not "cramming charter school into Pulaski County" if these charter schools keep filling up. The BoE is simply responding to demand. As I said in an earlier blog, the LRSD can slow the increase in charter schools by running a district that does not create such a high demand for them. Choices and competition are a good thing.

Here is what I hear from this blog and everyone else: LRSD is the only school district that matters. PCSSD has discipline issues slanted toward black students and no one knows what issues NLRSD has because no one delves into them. LRSD is more affected by the charter schools because of their placement, in the LRSD zone, but there are other charters in the county and NLRSD and PCSSD have dealt with them. PCSSD's enrollment was up, so for me, while I see the issue in LRSD, I see a need to combat perception: that LRSD is ALL bad. LRSD needs to embark upon a similar marketing campaign that PCSSD did with TV and radio ads to draw students. It's marketing. My old marketing teacher at UCA told me it's not what's real, it's what's perceived. LRSD has a perception issue. FIx it.

All of the public schools, traditional and chartered, turned in their enrollment figures in early October. It would be very interesting to see the numbers for the charters and their companion traditional districts broken down by race and sex. Surely the ADE has those numbers tabulated by now.

"ARK. BLOG: Fair enough. I was particularly thinking of the LISA Academy in this regard. And I absolutely don't blame any parent for seeking the best for their children, certainly not private schools. But I think people focus on the narrowly specific and the anecdotal and lose sight of a mighty big forest when it comes to charter schools and what they'll eventually mean to the concept of public schools, which have served the U.S. pretty well overall, obvious problem spots notwithstanding. I didn't say all charter schools were white flight options, by the way."

Nice use of LISA as "anecdotal" evidence of white flight only to quickly criticize anyone else who might use anecdotal evidence in support of charter schools. In the LRSD, that's spelled hipocracy. (Yeah, I know I misspelled it. That's what makes it funny.)

Max's point is well taken and understood. But the perception that LR schools are bad is incorrect because it is my understanding that most LR schools tend to fare very well. If you ever attend LR graduations it becomes even more evident. There are many here who use the blog to disparage the LRSD who falsify events and the truth through their comments. My family and I all had great experiences in the LRSD and I am proud to be a LRSD parent. My mother said it best that you get back from something what you put into it.

If you ever attend LR graduations it becomes even more evident......that there is a good argument for mailing out the diplomas.

-CBM
Do you have kids in the LRSD or PCSSD, and if so, are you involved as an active, participating parent with your child's school (PTA, field trip volunteer, etc)? I am not sure you do, based on your observation that the LRSD's problem is one of perception. I must argue that the LRSD's problems are very real, as evident by compliance with NCLB benchmarks and overall numbers in retaining good students when competing with charter and private schools. For LRSD to 'fix' its perception problem, I believe that will require a new superintendent, new board, new principals, and new thinking (a paradigm shift), for what is there is clearly dysfunctional.
As far as the PCSSD goes, if they stop disciplining kids for reasons of race, they will be doomed to fail like the LRSD. LR Mills and Fuller Middle have very high rates of minority kids being disciplined. To me, that is not a reflection of racial bias, but of teachers and staff doing their jobs disciplining students who break the rules. If the LRSD disciplined like that, John Walker would be happy (a way to get back into court with more fees for him), and parents would be happy because their schools would not be run by thugs. I happen to remember a mention recently about Forest Heights and the principal there getting into some debate with those who thought his words were extreme. They are just what is needed, and that mentality should be applied district wide.
Now, if we can just keep the courts out of the numbers game when it comes to discipline, maybe we can have staff who aren't afraid of their jobs/evaluations if they give Johnny detention/suspension regardless of race, but because Johnny was breaking the rules.
And again, these aren't perceptions, but facts based on numbers released by the districts and as claimed by Mr. Walker himself (who thinks that PCSSD really picks on the minority kids).

"If you ever attend LR graduations it becomes even more evident......that there is a good argument for mailing out the diplomas."

Sad but true, mudturtle. The last one I attended (and I do mean the LAST one), almost all the dignity and decorum of olden days was missing: There was loud jabbering throughout the ceremony; kids and parents cell phoning graduates down on the floor and the graduates answering and flashing high-fives; loud catcalls and shouts when the graduates' names were called, and as they walked up to the stage to get their diploma; and entire groups of family and friends getting up and clonking out as soon as THEIR graduate was handed his/her diploma. Just about the most uncivilized public gathering I've ever seen. And don't blame the school officials; they did the best they could, asking in advance that the crowd not behave in this boorish manner.

The factor everybody seems to miss is that charter, magnet, and private schools get to refuse the difficult students. Public school, by law, cannot. Comparing public schools with those special schools is a marketing trick.

Of course, those special people schools do not want to do away with public schools completely, because public funding helps to maintain their profit margin. Even private for-profit schools benefit from mandated publicly-funded services. Without the skeleton whipping boy of the public school system to hide behind, the specialty schools would have to expose their own shortcomings.

Thanks, Max, for your efforts in defense of public education, but the power of the cabals that include the Arkansas Damncrap make your effort seem like sneezing against a slave labor tornado.

Maybe there's some Green in you after all.

I see some truth in what Mr. Lendall speaks. Without the failing public schools of the LRSD, those 'special schools' would not look so special. I do not agree that it is a marketing trick, but sad reality that parents, when given a choice, will usually take a different option when they are unhappy with the current one.
My heartburn with the LRSD is not rooted in the current board, but all LRSD boards since 1982, when Ed Kelley and a supportive board got some lawyers hired to sue the PCSSD and NLRSD. Since that moment, the LRSD has been a train wreck and not just dysfunctional, but non-functional most of the time. I have not supported a LRSD millage increase since then, and never will.
I am not against public education, as I do support the concept. My problem is with how that concept was ruined by the misapplication and mismanagement by staff and boards of the LRSD for the last 26 years and counting. While Mr. Lendall says folks like me are attacking public education, I say no I am not. I am attacking an institution that is proven (26 years and counting) to be ineffective at managing it's affairs in the best interest of its patrons, the students of the LRSD. I am glad that over the years, many kids have graduated from LRSD and have gone on to bigger and better things, but the vast majority were not served as well as that top 15% of achievers. It's interesting to see how the smart kids stay smart, while the rest of the kids never seem to get closer (that's not a LRSD problem, as that is across the board public/private/charter/home school). This is where I think NCLB was good, focusing resources on getting the rest of the kids to the 'smart' level (Special Education kids are an exception to this, and will continue to be due to the differing abilities of these kids. NCLB should be fixed so that special education groups don't penalize the school/district the same as mainstream groups).

"The factor everybody seems to miss is that charter, magnet, and private schools get to refuse the difficult students. Public school, by law, cannot. Comparing public schools with those special schools is a marketing trick."

Mr. Former Legislator, it is almost embarrassing to have to point out that magnet schools are ... some sort of specialty schools WITHIN a traditional public school ... designed to draw white students into hard to desegregate traditional public schools. Charter schools are PUBLIC schools operated under contract. Private schools .. well, you should get that.

I generally admire, even though I don't agree, with your views. But tonight ... I think you are up too late.

"f you ever attend LR graduations it becomes even more evident......that there is a good argument for mailing out the diplomas."

Amen, mudturtle. A disgrace these days. LR doesn't have a monopoly on this boorish behavior. It's permeated just about all the schools I know about.

Heaven forbid!!!! We can't allow something that might make sense and might challenge the basic premise of the public school system. Any attempts to improve the schools must be opposed at all cost. We simply can not allow something that might improve the public schools system from being successful.

With a few editorial changes, this comes out:

Heaven forbid!!!! We can't allow something that might make sense and might challenge the basic premise of the private and charter school system. Any attempts to improve these schools must be opposed at all cost. We simply can not allow something that might improve the private and charter schools system from being successful.

And we'll add this proviso:

It makes more sense to attack the public schools than to note these problems with private and charter schools. They are the culprits to all our educational problems and deserve every bit of blame we can muster. There is absolutely nothing redeemable or worthwhile being done in these public education systems which compares to the promises and projections made by our beloved private and charter schools.

And, besides, it's easier to attack with vilification than to respond with qualification. Why dispute the facts when it is easier to just ignore them and go on a tirade without them.

A Poem -- It Is Broken

Why say it is broken?
Because, I have spoken.

The elephant in the room is racism. America is a racist nation & here in the bible/McCain belt even more so. Over time this racism has grown into elitism, i.e. the idea that disliking someone because they know more is their fault. This was done so that southern leaders could blame their problems on others: blacks, liberals, gays, foreigners, etc. The policy of the LRSD has been to ignore the facts and blame the victims; that is, they adopted Nixon's southern strategy. Now that the school board is majority black we can safely blame them for the problems they inherited. Likewise we blame the children for emulating their parents' disregard for those who are not "real Americans". Expecting those like the "twenty percenters" to suddenly realize that they are the problem is unrealistic. They will never stop blaming the Godless teachers' union for teaching the homosexual theory of evolution & assigning math homework that the students' parents never learned how to do.

"I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance."
Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. , retort to a heckler asking him to state his beliefs, Time, November 1, 1963