The college students return this weekend, high school football teams have been practicing for two weeks. Mornings are cool in New England and summer is nearly over.
The school year begins next week or the week after, depending on where you live, and school officials have been busy hatching plans to improve local education systems. Some ideas are better than others.
In Berkeley, California, the school board voted unanimously to offer students the option of eating organic food in the school cafeteria. This may sound like a typical Berkeley, first-in-the-nation idea, but remember, until World War II, every school cafeteria in America served organic food. That’s all there was.
In Louisiana, students this year will be required to address teachers and staff as “sir” and “ma’m.” I think civility, in and out of the classroom, is a fine thing, but it’s only meaningful when it is freely given by the student or earned by the teacher. I think it’s interesting that this directive comes from the state legislature and not the school board or PTA. Each school district will be allowed to determine its own punishment for failure to show proper courtesy, although Louisiana solons have dictated that students may not be suspended or expelled for lack of respect. I hope Louisiana’s teachers will not need an act of the state government to inspire them to respect their students.
Back in California, Anaheim this time, the school board voted to bill foreign countries for the cost of educating students who are illegal immigrants. Similar resolutions have been considered in Florida, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Washington state. The illegal aliens are stealing from American kids, the thinking goes, and we’re not going to stand for it.
Of course, schools are financed by property tax, so anyone who pays rent or owns property contributes, whether they are here legally or not. Even migrant farmworkers, earning less than minimum wage and working in deplorable conditions, make it possible for growers to pay their property taxes and contribute to the economic health of Southern California.
The action by the Anaheim school board is symbolic. The federal government, whose assistance would be needed to successfully bill foreign countries, does not seem inclined to cooperate. But if this idea catches on, let me add one proviso: before we bill a single foreign government, let us honor every single promise made to every Native American nation as we marched across the continent.
Finally, in Biloxi, Mississippi, the school board has ruled that a Jewish student may not wear a Star of David pin in school because that symbol has been used by a gang somewhere, sometime. The Biloxi school superintendent said he’s just trying to look out for the safety and welfare of the students. Wouldn’t want those kids to know there are Jews in Mississippi. Funny, not so long ago, Mississippians were clamoring for the right to hang the Ten Commandments on the schoolroom wall. Do they know the Ten Commandments were given to the Jews? That’s right, Jews.
There is one gang that has used the Star of David as a symbol, but no one’s ever spotted them in Biloxi. A famous gang that originated in Mississippi – the Ku Klux Klan – uses a cross as a symbol, but no one is confiscating crosses at the Biloxi schoolhouse door.
Now I’m out of time and I haven’t even mentioned the great Kansas evolution debate, but maybe I don’t have to. Evidence of evolution, or the lack thereof, seems to be all around us.
Not in Kansas Anymore
The college students return this weekend, high school football teams have been practicing for two weeks. Mornings are cool in New England and summer is nearly over.
The school year begins next week or the week after, depending on where you live, and school officials have been busy hatching plans to improve local education systems. Some ideas are better than others.
In Berkeley, California, the school board voted unanimously to offer students the option of eating organic food in the school cafeteria. This may sound like a typical Berkeley, first-in-the-nation idea, but remember, until World War II, every school cafeteria in America served organic food. That’s all there was.
In Louisiana, students this year will be required to address teachers and staff as “sir” and “ma’m.” I think civility, in and out of the classroom, is a fine thing, but it’s only meaningful when it is freely given by the student or earned by the teacher. I think it’s interesting that this directive comes from the state legislature and not the school board or PTA. Each school district will be allowed to determine its own punishment for failure to show proper courtesy, although Louisiana solons have dictated that students may not be suspended or expelled for lack of respect. I hope Louisiana’s teachers will not need an act of the state government to inspire them to respect their students.
Back in California, Anaheim this time, the school board voted to bill foreign countries for the cost of educating students who are illegal immigrants. Similar resolutions have been considered in Florida, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Washington state. The illegal aliens are stealing from American kids, the thinking goes, and we’re not going to stand for it.
Of course, schools are financed by property tax, so anyone who pays rent or owns property contributes, whether they are here legally or not. Even migrant farmworkers, earning less than minimum wage and working in deplorable conditions, make it possible for growers to pay their property taxes and contribute to the economic health of Southern California.
The action by the Anaheim school board is symbolic. The federal government, whose assistance would be needed to successfully bill foreign countries, does not seem inclined to cooperate. But if this idea catches on, let me add one proviso: before we bill a single foreign government, let us honor every single promise made to every Native American nation as we marched across the continent.
Finally, in Biloxi, Mississippi, the school board has ruled that a Jewish student may not wear a Star of David pin in school because that symbol has been used by a gang somewhere, sometime. The Biloxi school superintendent said he’s just trying to look out for the safety and welfare of the students. Wouldn’t want those kids to know there are Jews in Mississippi. Funny, not so long ago, Mississippians were clamoring for the right to hang the Ten Commandments on the schoolroom wall. Do they know the Ten Commandments were given to the Jews? That’s right, Jews.
There is one gang that has used the Star of David as a symbol, but no one’s ever spotted them in Biloxi. A famous gang that originated in Mississippi – the Ku Klux Klan – uses a cross as a symbol, but no one is confiscating crosses at the Biloxi schoolhouse door.
Now I’m out of time and I haven’t even mentioned the great Kansas evolution debate, but maybe I don’t have to. Evidence of evolution, or the lack thereof, seems to be all around us.