To all public schools!

[gopiscrap]

Please allow me a personal entry. Today is graduation day for our daughter Julia. Our two children were born 11 years apart from each other, so this will be the first time in 24 years that we do not have a child in the public school system.

I wanted to take a moment as I reflect and thank all the public schools of the United States for the excellent work that they do and apologize for the all the nastiness that has been thrown their way these past 30 or so years. In an effort to privatize the school systems for a few to make major profit, public schools and teachers have been demonized, demeaned and denigrated so that the right can make a profit of what has always been and should stay a staple of our society (the right to a free education) You have done amazing work through the ages and have lots to be proud of.

I want to particularly thank the Tacoma School District #10. With your hands increasingly tied, funding cut and a concerted effort by big business to see you fail, you have done just the opposite with our children.

We were the victims of a house fire when our son was 7 and you responded with practical and counseling help so quickly and efficiently. When our daughter had seizures, you accommodated her needs and did it seamlessly.

Most of all you have been an extension of us, encouraged them to learn, reveled in their success, aided them in their struggles and helped them learn what community is all about.

On this graduation day, the success is not only Julia's but your as well. Thank you to all teachers, staff and administration of ALL public schools.

And to the graduates: take what you have leaned and give back!

[tk2kewl]

1. Congratulations!

I echo your sentiment.

[gopiscrap]

2. Thanks!

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. As a provider, I thank you. As a consumer, I join you. It's important to note, though...

...that, really, during the greater part of those last 30 years things were... well, if not great... ok. In the sense of: teachers could actually teach and students could actually learn.

That changed ( here, anyway, in 2002) significantly with the introduction of ed "reform" under the "reform" policies of the republican admins of Bush ( DC) and Bloomberg (NYC).

AND THEN ....much more dramatically... in 2009. January of that year, to be specific. Since then it's absolute chaos and complete educational incoherence.


Lessons to be learned: sheltered, privileged, upper middle class citizens ( whether they be DEMS or GOPs) esp. those from the "political" class, should not attempt ( or PRETEND to attempt) to "fix" problems with which they have no direct experience and which they therefore cannot possibly understand.