From: jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II)
Newsgroups: tx.politics,alt.politics.clinton
Subject: Re: Clinton Policies (was: Re: Legalized Theft)
Date: 27 Sep 92 20:58:38 GMT
Organization: River Parishes Programming, Austin TX

In article <00717391398@elgamy.sccsi.com>, elg@elgamy.sccsi.com (Eric Lee Green) writes:
>  Well, let's see. So far I've been bitten, scratched, kicked, spit on, and
>  bruised. Hmm... I wonder why private schools deliver a better product?
 
Catholic schools accept almost 100% of all applicants.  I believe the
number is closer to 97%, but I'm sure you get the idea.

>  Of my kids, I have a couple of mentally impaired kids who are well off of
>  grade level (a high-level autistic and a borderline mentally retarded), but
>  the rest are either on grade level, or close to it. I teach kids who would
>  be expelled from a private school within two hours. I teach kids who are
>  100% on free school lunch (i.e., from below poverty level). I teach the
>  kids that you, John F. Haugh III, fear. You shudder in your home in a rich
>  suburb somewhere absolutely terrified that these kids are going to somehow
>  break loose out of their ghetto and ruin YOUR neighborhood. I teach them.
>  Every day. I don't think you would have the guts.
 
Eric, I'm sure that acting like a macho school teacher is part of the
self-righteous act, but I don't CARE if a kid kicks, bites, scratches,
carries a gun, etc.

Most of what you are writing is CRAP.  As I wrote above, Catholic schools
accept virtually 100% of all applicants.  That includes the poor, crazed,
etc.  This was posted in the past, complete with the results that these
PRIVATELY FUNDED schools produce.

>  Actually, the only message the public schools would get is, "we need to
>  hire another teacher." Which they would then go out and do.
> 
>  Meanwhile, what about the kids?

Please, this is a bogus argument.  There are plenty of very good teachers.
You are far from irreplacable.

I'm going to do you a favor and explain to you WHY school teachers make
so little money.  You will get a free lesson in economics.

Employees are like anything else that an employer buys.  If the employer
wants to buy a good quality copying machine, the employer is likely to
pay a large sum of money - for the simple reason that quality copying
machines are in shorter supply than cheap ones that break.  And if supply
doesn't explain it, then demand surely does - people want a GOOD copier
much moreso than a bad one.

Now let's look at school teachers.  Teaching requires the ability to
convey information and learning skills to a person that may not be all
that willing to learn.  I do this in my job all day long - I explain to
my customers how to use their computers and to my co-workers that I am
responsible for assisting, how to figure out their problems.  MANY jobs
have "training" and "education" as part of the job skills.  Thus, many
people have developed "training" and "education" skills.  For me, being
a teacher is part of what I do all week long.

So what we have is an environment in which MANY people have the ability
to teach, and teachers are a plentiful commodity.  The evidence of this
the low wage that teachers are able to command versus other 4 and 5
year degreed professionals.  Supply and demand - a plentiful supply of
teachers will always drive the price down.

>  Whoops. I forgot. You don't care about them. You don't care if it's just
>  the dregs who teach the poor kids. Just as long as YOUR kids get the "good"
>  teachers in private schools.

No, I'd like for my kids to get the "good" teaches in the public schools.
But I don't see this as happening.  Because while you CLAIM to support
school choice, you don't support choice for all students.  Oh sure, let
a few of the "poor" kids go invade some school and turn the middle-class
into a bunch of second-class citizens.  If we are going to have REAL
reform it is going to take place because ALL students have the same
options.

This was the means by which school quality was increased between black and
white schools - the courts said "You must send blacks and whites to the
same schools."  It took a few years, but you and your fellow teachers
finally stopped practicing racism and started giving equal quality
education (or so we'll pretend ...) to all students.  Well, this is what
is going to have to happen if the difference in school quality between
the "rich" and the "poor" is going to be removed.  We can't count on you
and your fellow teachers to improve the product you are delivering unless
you have no captive audience - and that 60% or so you aren't going to be
giving full-fare "vouchers" to will remain your captive little audience.

> > but at least someone who claims to be a "good" teacher would be in an
> > environment where "good" results occur.
> 
>  Really? How do you know that "good" results DON'T occur where I teach?
 
The Law of Averages.
-- 
John F. Haugh II           [  TSAKC  ]       UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
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