Since the May 24th referenda, I began looking at other blog sites such as the Madison.com/ post and the Isthmus “Daily Page.” Here are a few highlights of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The Good
“I can’t imagine a more worthy expenditure than public education. As a graduate of Madison’s public schools that has gone on to college and work outside of Wisconsin, I am always amazed at the disparity between my secondary education and that of my peers from other cities. Unfortunately it appears that the people of Madison have become less and less appreciative of what made Madison a special place.”
The Bad
“Now I concur that students need sports programs, and band, and all the other fluff that makes school more than just a place for book learning, but I don’t agree that it should be solely funded out of the public till. Back in my school days, students and parent organizations helped subsidize these things, and it should still be so. These are things you choose to do with your time. Math and English are things you need to make the future, as well as sanitary and structurally sound schools.”
“They also need to reevaluate extracurricular programs. The parents of the children need to shoulder more of the costs of these programs, not the taxpayers. Should the fourth and fifth grades have their beloved Strings program? It’s not really necessary for quality education. It’s just a nice thing to have. Make the parents pay a larger percentage of the cost to run those programs.”
The Ugly
“I was a public school student more than 53 years ago, in Chicago and in West Hollywood, California. Our classrooms then minimally had 30 kids per teacher. There was little or no staff, other than a principal, the office secretary, and maintenance personnel. The blackboards were actually used for teaching lessons, rather than wallspace to be festooned with all sorts of political correct but curriculum-irrelevant suggestions or rantings. All the classroom seat faced that blackboard, where the teacher did his or her work.”
“…a Madison resident who has no children, said she voted against all three referendums because she believes parents should be footing more of the bill for their children’s education, especially when she sees public school students driving expensive cars, talking on cell phones, taking lavish vacations and living in large houses.”
“Kids in the 70’s and 80’s didn’t walk around with their asses hanging out of their pants? I was at the Mobil station a few days ago and saw a kid literally waddling because his belt was around his shins and his legs couldn’t get more than about 18 inches of separation…Ok, I changed my mind… just shut the schools down altogether.”
By looking at the Bad and Ugly, this school district is in serious trouble. I believe only God can help this school district. And because of district policy, he’s not allowed.