The war on children

Between getting ready for vacation, doing vacation, and catching up from vacation, I'm not able to devote some blogging time.

While I was out of town, I read this piece printed, in all places, the Minneapolis Star Tribune regarding the plan reduction in suspensions in Minneapolis Schools.

Creating stable middle class neighborhoods should be the top priority of our political and civic leaders — a goal requiring quality public schools, reasonable taxes and low crime rates. The simple fact is that Minneapolis and St. Paul will not be healthy without a large and growing middle class. 

But the reality is that people often leave depressed inner city communities quietly without much fanfare. Who can blame them given the quality of the schools and the level of crime and violence that exist in parts of our city? Along with most people reading this article, I would never expose children to the risks that exist in many parts of our city. 

What’s ironic is that public schoolteachers and elected officials know this. These public servants often talk of their support for public schools while disproportionately sending their children to private schools. 

Some studies show that public schoolteachers are twice as likely as the general public to send their kids to private schools. Other studies have shown that over 30 percent of the members of Congress send their school age children to private schools, while less than 10 percent of the general public use private schools. 

The recent effort by the Minneapolis school board to reduce suspensions in early grades and equalize suspensions across racial lines will have one certain effect — more chaos in the classroom. The school system will, of course, deny that the new policy will be harmful, presenting it as necessary to close the achievement gap and a learning opportunity for students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

So let me ask a question, is it the big, racist, conservatives subjecting good students to packs of derelicts or liberals?

I keep saying on this blog that I'm not a conservative for me. I've got my education so what do I give a shit if a bunch of kids in Minneapolis can't read because the school district would rather protect miscreants rather than educating the diligent. In fact, it's to my economic advantage to keep these kids ignorant.

But right is right. and you won't find a conservative worth their wears who would approve of this policy.

It's the liberals, waging the war on children.