The Ignorance Is Multiplying: Lawmaker Opposes Education Funding: "It would go to Blacks"

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Not that I'm agreeing with this fool cuz I'm not. But will giving the schools, let's say twice as much funding as they have now make any difference in how well Johnny can read?
My father went to school in a one room schoolhouse and they were all broke and he is one of the smartest people I have ever met.
I think most of us over 40 learned to read and do math with books. We didn't have all the fancy gizmos the schools use today.

I was going to post the same thing. This guy is an idiot. However, all this funding doesn't really help out the student. You have new $100 million schools that look better than most university buildings with all the bells and whistles and still are education system sucks for the most part.

One of the leading proponents and reasons why Mississippi struggles with racial equality, especially in schools, is due to the Brown v. Board of education decision, which sought to integrate people of color into desegregated schools, a novel idea.

In white communities where relative racial bigotry and hatred for the black community was prevalent, the response to this was to create private, for profit schools, ones which the poor and newly integrated black communities could not afford to attend.

Source

Each of the schools was founded between 1964 and 1972 in response to anticipated or actual desegregation orders, and all of them enroll fewer than two percent black students. (The number of Mississippi “segregation academies” swells well above 35 if schools where the black enrollment is between three and 10 percent are counted.)

These schools were founded on the premise that whites didn't believe in desegregation in Mississippi and institutionalization of racism was inherent in promoting private for profit schools during this time.

(Same source)

“These schools were started to keep white children away from blacks,” said Wade Overstreet, a Mississippi native and the program coordinator at the national advocacy organization Parents for Public Schools. “They’ve done an amazing job of it

Racial segregation continues to impact quality of education in Mississippi and the nation

Although private schools have made some modest changes to integrate people of color, it is apparent that much more work is needed to help our nation's children that struggle to get an education just because they are of color or poor.

To respond to the OP:

This fella is an apparent racist. His of the cuff remarks qualify him for termination of office IMO. I wonder if this gentlemen lobbies for private schools and gets paid, l would not be surprised.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

And good teachers can deal with getting kids to stop being disruptive in better ways and keep them from being disruptive.
So kinda back to the money thing, as seems like we both agree that money helps keep and get those good teachers.
I think our teachers need to get paid more, they definitely provide a crucial service to our society.

I am not saying just blindly throw money at the wall and hope it helps.
Just that we could stand to give our public schools more funding.

Beyond the ignorant pernicious racism, one reason education in minority and inner city areas fail, imo, is that hey lack continuity…

Every few years in bad schools they appoint a new Superintendent or Chancellor and what they do is get rid of many of the teachers and officials who are there under the old system thinking they are responsible.

And this new Superintendent or Chancellor (primarily really doing a career move) only stays a few years so they appoint another one to “fix the schools” and they appoint new blood for a few years.

This becomes a vicious cycle of permanently removing and replacing and never giving a system time to work

If you look closely the school systems that end up working are where a given leader stays a lot of years so a new system has time to succeed.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

And good teachers can deal with getting kids to stop being disruptive in better ways and keep them from being disruptive.
So kinda back to the money thing, as seems like we both agree that money helps keep and get those good teachers.
I think our teachers need to get paid more, they definitely provide a crucial service to our society.

I am not saying just blindly throw money at the wall and hope it helps.
Just that we could stand to give our public schools more funding.

Have you ever taught in an inner city school?

a reply to: Willtell

This and the lack of a culture in the community itself that is conducive to success on the part of the students and their families.

You have some, and those you do have are doing whatever they can to get out of the schools. Until then, they get slurred by their peers for "acting white."

a reply to: ketsuko

No I have not, I guess your point is going to be those kids at those schools are beyond repair?
Or that they are the most disruptive?

I am aware those are not the cream of the crop jobs to get though.
Which would bring me right back to increased funding so that the better teachers have some incentive to go there.

Don't they know by now that we know they only "decry" the statements they make when they get caught?

Just imagine the ones we aren't privy to. This should an immediate-termination event.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: ketsuko

No I have not, I guess your point is going to be those kids at those schools are beyond repair?
Or that they are the most disruptive?

I am aware those are not the cream of the crop jobs to get though.
Which would bring me right back to increased funding so that the better teachers have some incentive to go there.

No, my point is that they have bigger problems than school can fix. I won't say they are beyond repair, but school won't repair them. It has to be a total makeover starting in the home with their home environment and following through to school.

And simply throwing money into any of it doesn't even begin to fix it, but that's always what everyone says we need to do. I know it makes everyone feel better, but it doesn't actually even begin to fix the problem.

a reply to: ketsuko

I don't want them to just throw money at it.
I want them to increase funding with a plan at hand.
I'll even say to cut sports programs but that is a touch subject in the inner cities cause that really is a route out for some of them.
But we need to figure out a way to keep those programs with out cutting others to keep those going.

How does not giving them more money and expecting things to change magically help?
We can't change what happens at home, we can change what environment they have at school.
Going from one low budget place to another doesn't do much to show them they can change their surroundings.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: ketsuko

I don't want them to just throw money at it.
I want them to increase funding with a plan at hand.
I'll even say to cut sports programs but that is a touch subject in the inner cities cause that really is a route out for some of them.
But we need to figure out a way to keep those programs with out cutting others to keep those going.

How does not giving them more money and expecting things to change magically help?
We can't change what happens at home, we can change what environment they have at school.
Going from one low budget place to another doesn't do much to show them they can change their surroundings.

Trust me. There is plenty of funding there to be going on with or at least there was in the district I was at, but it was so ineffectively managed it was criminal.

This is the problem with the socialized system we have. The schools are top-heavy bureaucratic systems that get their money whether they actually produce or not and your kids are trapped there with actual legal penalties if you try to get your kids out through any other means than private school. There is so much dead weight in the district offices in terms of unnecessary personnel and salary pay out, but when it comes time to budget ... somehow the ones the district needs - teachers and material are the ones that are shorted on budget and then the hands come out.

It's like what happens in every government budget. You pay the fat cats at city hall you don't need, and then you threaten to cut police and fire if the taxpayers don't pony up more. And in the end, the services suffer while city hall gets its fur and BMWs.

a reply to: ketsuko

So cut the funding, or refuse to increase it, since we have people that don't manage it right?
Seems like that just punishes the kids in the long run.
I don't doubt their is corruption and mismanagement but that is every where regardless of the system in place.
Education reform is in desperate order, I will agree.
But we are stuck arguing over how we need to do it as the kids suffer in the long run.

Shoot I just want to less money spent on sending our kids all over the world to die in the name of military service and more of that money to get those kids a better education.

originally posted by: ketsuko
No, my point is that they have bigger problems than school can fix. I won't say they are beyond repair, but school won't repair them. It has to be a total makeover starting in the home with their home environment and following through to school.

I don't think so.

Back, way back before ATS, I was a children's book author/illustrator struggling to get published (it's a lot harder that you can imagine). Part of my effort to get the attention of publishers/editors was to bring my original (large) illustrations to schools and read to large groups of kids. My story themes tended to resonate best with third graders. Sometimes the audience was a full auditorium and slide projector.

About a third of the schools I went to were "inner city" schools with poor kids of struggling families… often single-parents.

I never had any problems with misbehavior. All they needed was someone who interested them and who talked TOO them, not AT them. Follow-up thank you letters from the kids of inner-city schools were always far more numerous and enthusiastic than suburban schools. These kids are desperate to be shown how to be inspired by something. Too many teachers are too jaded and overwhelmed to make that effort.

As for this foul racism, the OP is correct it is something that can destroy the country if not dealt with…
People have to realize that many in the south are still fighting the civil war.

Mississippi has the worst poverty and schools in the country and has always been at the heart of American racism…

How to solve this is the question because if we don’t we will be doomed


I can say without a shadow of a doubt, since Ive worked in troubled schools for a long time, that money is a problem.

Sure the inner city schools sometimes take more money than others, so what, that’s because of social diseases and poverty, no fault of the kids.

Its without a doubt a parental issue and a one solution is to tutor the kids more and educate the parents

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
You can't expect any group of people, White, Black, Brown or whatever...

To grow up and add to the system in a positive way...


If you refuse to help them make those steps.




A lot of people will disagree and say "I made my own way blah blah"...

No you didn't.

No one ever has.



Even if you're paying back thousands in loans that payed for your education...

You still had that loan to begin with...

You wouldn't have the chane to pay that back without someone else paying for it initially.

That's bull puckey! There are many people who HAVE made their own way, no loans, no grants. Just sayin because now you sound like Obama "you didn't build that" crap.

As a resident of the South is saddens me to say that this kind of sentiment is far more common than anyone would admit to or openly state. I know a lot of racists, both black and white and, if anything, the gulf is growing deeper and not smaller.

The difference is that fifty years ago the whites were openly racist and the blacks hid their hate. Now it's totally reversed. black people tend to be the ones who make openly social racial statements, or at least here in Atlanta they do. The white people will usually go to great lengths to deny any racist beliefs if in mixed company - only to revert to plantation level racism the second no other races are in earshot.

It saddens me further that I come from a family, a large family, which almost wholly behave this way. They call it "Old South" and it isn't going away.

This story will fade from memory and this legislator will likely fail in his endeavor - this time around. But the seed is planted and it will eventually grow and educational funding will take a hit.

My own state actually pays fines to the Federal government to "be proud" and to refuse to provide Federally mandated minimum health and human services. In fact the fines exceed the costs of the programs that should be in place.

The people in charge insist it's a Conservative / Republican show of force and statement to do so. Really it's their way of trying to chase the black people out. Funny thing, the black population keeps growing in this area as families that fled during and prior to Jim Crow return to their traditional homes.

a reply to: StoutBroux

Do you have an example so I can understand better?


I was of the impression American taxes pay for early education?

Taxes that those children couldn't possibly contribute to.

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
Back, way back before ATS, I was a children's book author/illustrator struggling to get published (it's a lot harder that you can imagine). Part of my effort to get the attention of publishers/editors was to bring my original (large) illustrations to schools and read to large groups of kids. My story themes tended to resonate best with third graders. Sometimes the audience was a full auditorium and slide projector.

I hope this isn't too off-topic but... woah. I mean, you are already pretty awesome but that's freakin' great. I can only imagine what kind of children's conspiracy books you could write now days.

Is there any chance you would share your old work with ATS? I have a six-year old and I know many here have kids. If you self-published through ATS, I bet it could help fund some of the costs of running the site.

Sorry for the derailment but that was quite the cool confession you just dropped on us.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: ketsuko

So cut the funding, or refuse to increase it, since we have people that don't manage it right?
Seems like that just punishes the kids in the long run.
I don't doubt their is corruption and mismanagement but that is every where regardless of the system in place.
Education reform is in desperate order, I will agree.
But we are stuck arguing over how we need to do it as the kids suffer in the long run.

Shoot I just want to less money spent on sending our kids all over the world to die in the name of military service and more of that money to get those kids a better education.

Both approaches punish kids on the long run. By simply handing over money, you don't address the problems in the system. The Super gets his raise and his pension and takes more junkets to "research" education at more posh resorts, but your kids don't actually see anything from it. So what is the point of sending out more money? There is no accountability, not to you or anyone else.

And we've had so many so-called reform plans handed down from on high that it's become a joke.

Maybe, we need to accept that our system needs to be demolished and that what we have simply doesn't work.