Bitter Nancy...

[rogue06]

Look closely at the papers. They were BLANK!!

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To be fair I'd expect the writing to be on the side facing her.

From the image below it now appears pretty certain that the pages did have writing on them

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Ooops. I mean this one

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[Tassman]

. President Trump gave a wonderful, magnanimous, unifying speech full of great moments that anyone who loves America should be able to stand up and cheer for.

Are you serious? Trump's State of the Union speech was basically a far from "unifying "campaign speech directed at the likes of you (successfully it seems) punctuated by sentimental TV moments such as the scholarship for Philly girl - which inadvertently highlighted the poor state of public education in the US in that such a scholarship was even necessary.

[rogue06]

Are you serious? Trump's State of the Union speech was basically a far from "unifying "campaign speech directed at the likes of you (successfully it seems) punctuated by sentimental TV moments such as the scholarship for Philly girl - which inadvertently highlighted the poor state of public education in the US in that such a scholarship was even necessary.

Nobody denies that the places where Democrats have a stranglehold on education such as urban areas (like Philly) the education system is at best a joke. It isn't uncommon for kids who graduated valedictorian from one of those failed schools to end up needing to take remedial classes when they go to college.

Of course the left repeatedly reveals that they care not a whit about that and are instead only concerned if someone tampers with or heaven forbid tries to escape from their indoctrination centers.

Exactly. The left wants to pretend that their willingness to shovel money at education willy-nilly without any thought of accountability as evidence of their support of kids and families while those mean ol' conservatives want everyone to just go away and die. But this seems more motivated by funneling money to teacher's unions who then contribute huge amounts back into Democrat coffers^[1] than anything else. Am I being too cynical? Then explain if educating children was the goal why do liberals tend to fight tooth and nail against any ideas to improve education that doesn't include massive transfers of money such as charter schools and school choice^[2]?

And if liberal policies are the best way to improve education then why are they in complete control of the worst school districts and systems in spite of massive outlays of money?

I cannot help thinking about how when, back in the mid-80s a federal judge ordered that billions of dollars be spent upgrading Kansas City's schools. The educrats were giddy with delight. They set about adding enormous gyms to the schools, built an Olympic swimming pool, TV studios, a planetarium, a zoo, and even a wildlife sanctuary. After burning through $2 Billion it was discovered that what they did not get was a single new textbook to replace the worn-out sadly out-dated ones they had. And IIRC not a single new teacher was hired although a lot more administrators were^[3].

Results? The schools got worse. Markedly so. Something like five years later the Kansas City school district failed 11 performance standards and lost its academic accreditation for the first time in the district’s history.

The top five "states"^[4] when it comes to total Elementary/Secondary Public School spending/student were from the top down New York, Alaska, Washington D.C., Connecticut and New Jersey but in 2017 they respectively placed 40th, 31st, 51st, 44th and 38th in SAT rankings. Yet the state with lowest total Elementary/Secondary Public School spending/student, Utah,which spent about a third or less for each student as those at the top was 10th in SAT scores. The one with the fifth lowest expenditure, Mississippi, ranked 9th.

Overall, the trend for SAT scores reveals that most of the high spending states are doing bad in that measure whereas most of the lower spending states have higher scores. So if throwing money at the problem is the solution then why did many of the states with the lowest per student expenditures do better than many of those with the highest per student expenditures?

This sorta blows a hole in the notion that spending more money means better results, doesn't it.

Interestingly, in 2000 the state with the highest average SAT score was North Dakota, which ranked 41st in per student spending but has since began spending a lot more moving up to 15th in that category and yet has also dropped to 6th for SAT scores.

Further (the last time I checked), Americans spend more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on the international tests.










1. For instance, according to Open Secrets, the American Federation of Teachers donated $7,919,897 to politicians and political groups with $7,888,355 going to Democrats and liberals (99.9%) and $6500 to Republicans and conservatives

2. A perfect example of this is what happened at Mollie E. Ray Elementary in Orlando, Florida as the 2002-2003 school year began. The school had received an "F" rating for the past two years (1 of only 10 schools to "earn" such a distinction), as judged annually by the state of Florida so the victims of such failed schools are allowed to apply for vouchers to help them escape. So how did the school react? Vowing to fix the problem? To work on improving education?

Nah.

To start, students were met by teachers wearing T-shirts proclaiming "F = Fantastic." Getting an "F" grade was now considered a positive thing. The union educrats chose to brainwash young minds with Orwellian double-speak into thinking that flunking is actually a good thing. Then school officials attacked the scores of parents, who did choose to opt out, for "abandoning" their schools in a time of need. Excuse me. Apparently some parents had the temerity to want the best for their children rather than sacrifice them on the altar of public "edjumakatun" and were savaged for it. Still it would have been interesting come Report Card time when the little darlings still stuck in that unrepentantly failed school explained this "F = Fantastic" concept to their parents. Trouble is, too many might fallen for it.

3. When I started High School it was so overcrowded not only were there nearly a dozen trailers setting in the parking lot being used as classrooms but we had to go in shifts with juniors and seniors going in the morning and freshmen and sophomores in the afternoon. Yet we only had 4 principals. Now after expanding the building and several new schools being built, resulting in a smaller school population, there are somewhere between 10 and 15 principals.

4. this includes Washington D.C. which is not a state.

[Mountain Man]

Are you serious?

Yes.

[rogue06]

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Clickinate on imagification to enbiggenate

[Ronson]

Beat me to it. I was going to say that out-immaturing Bad Orange Man is an impressive feat.

I am waiting for them to start putting tacks on each others' chairs. Maybe ring each others' doorbells and run.

My brother is such a HUGE Trump fan that if I make any sort of joke about him (like him being immature) he gets offended. Thin skins are in vogue these days.

[JimL]

Jim is an honorable guy -- He'll step up and denounce Pelosi's shenanigans because Jim has principles!

Like I said, it was a beautiful thing to see. The speech was a pack of lies which apparently you as a christian have no problem with the president of the united states telling you and the American people in general. Pelosi has a problem with that, and she made it known.

[NorrinRadd]

I am waiting for them to start putting tacks on each others' chairs. Maybe ring each others' doorbells and run.

My brother is such a HUGE Trump fan that if I make any sort of joke about him (like him being immature) he gets offended. Thin skins are in vogue these days.

That I don't understand. I have no problem identifying as a Trump supporter, not just a Trump voter. But I also have no problem saying that he's a jerk, a bad example, and highly mockable.

[Mountain Man]

The speech was a pack of lies...

A claim for which you have still not bothered to offer any substantive support.

[Cow Poke]

...the scholarship for Philly girl - which inadvertently highlighted the poor state of public education in the US in that such a scholarship was even necessary.

Besides cold-heartedly and unnecessarily demeaning and belittling a smart little African-American girl, you racist, you have ignorantly and unwittingly raised an excellent point.

Who's been in charge of education in the US for the past 50 years? The DEMOCRATS and the TEACHERS UNIONS. Which is WHY our education system is in such a hot mess, and NEEDS "school choice" and scholarships for alternative education, and it's the hypocrite "pro-choice" DEMOCRATS who are fiercely OPPOSED to SCHOOL CHOICE.

I don't think it was "inadvertently highlighting the poor state of public education" at all, ya big boob - it was EXPOSING it. The Democrats run the public schools system like they run the Iowa Caucus.

[KingsGambit]

Agree, but I have to ask, does this mean you're not complaining this election season about 'unpresidential' or 'undignified' or other imaginary standards?

Not the point; the point is that Trump has been praised for dispensing with typical norms and standards, so his supporters do not get to demand they be followed when convenient.

[Cow Poke]

A claim for which you have still not bothered to offer any substantive support.

He thinks if he keeps repeating it over and over he'll sucker somebody into believing that lie.

Did I miss the list, Jim?

[Cow Poke]

Beat me to it. I was going to say that out-immaturing Bad Orange Man is an impressive feat.

[Cow Poke]

Like I said, it was a beautiful thing to see. The speech was a pack of lies which apparently you as a christian have no problem with the president of the united states telling you and the American people in general. Pelosi has a problem with that, and she made it known.

Jim, either list the lies, or stop propagating this lie. K?

[Mountain Man]

That I don't understand. I have no problem identifying as a Trump supporter, not just a Trump voter. But I also have no problem saying that he's a jerk, a bad example, and highly mockable.

Trump is certainly an example of "taking the good with the bad". I happen to believe that the good outweighs the bad, although there are certainly times he seems to make things harder on himself.