A family or a crowd?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

ahhh but there lies the rub. The state can come in and say that because your kid does not have a bed they are being neglected and thus terminates your parental rights.

Well, given that most state government bureacracies are run in accordance with white middle class mores, that is not surprising. It is very interesting that the neo-hippies who run most of the local governments around this country claim to believe that excessive taxation is ok since government can do good for people, but they draw the line at people actually helping their own families.

[faith 0]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree, too. It's too easy to say "Well, they should fix their own schools" when businesses in the area, for example, have avoided paying property taxes for decades and when, due to environmental damage, the properties in which families themselves live (if they actually own the properties and pay taxes on them) have so little property value that tax revenues are insufficient to say the least.

You're basically asking a problem to fix itself, and for children to suffer in the meantime, so that middle-class white families can continue to enjoy "their" schools. We can't continue to pass the buck on this problem forever.

Back to topic, I guess.

please take a trip to ESL again. Go look how people live there. Go look at BIG business there (IE casino, industry). Dont' just "drive through" it. Drive the streets, visit the businesses, and get to know some of the residents. ESL isn't as bad as you think it is on that aspect. "Fixing itself" isn't what I said. Elect better school boards, and if they can't have the state help out in balancing budget and other stuff. The state needs to take the burden on making the schools better. The parents that want that are the ones trying to fix it... the ones who don't care are the ones who lie about where their kids live.

Until you see firsthand the situation here you will never comprehend any viewpoint other than your own.

I'm pretty much done with this discussion. Stereotyping a white middle class person is just as bad as stereotyping a black person. And FYI the ratio of black to white kids is about 50/50 in our school. That's with the legitimate property owners or renters kids only figured in. So no, we're not a "white middle class" school. We are a city school that happens to take pride in its' educational guidelines.

ahhh but there lies the rub. The state can come in and say that because your kid does not have a bed they are being neglected and thus terminates your parental rights.

Well, given that most state government bureacracies are run in accordance with white middle class mores, that is not surprising. It is very interesting that the neo-hippies who run most of the local governments around this country claim to believe that excessive taxation is ok since government can do good for people, but they draw the line at people actually helping their own families.

like you said, we'll have to just disagree on this one *shrugs* My ideas of what is best for a kid is going to be different from yours. No hard feelings, of course, there's plenty of times I can argue heatedly but yet still respect the other person

[Fandango 1,439]

Faith, I don't get one thing....first you said you lived in a middle classed neighborhood, then you say your kids are poor.

I understand you feel passionate about the schooling problem in your area...perhaps YOU should run for the school board? Seriously, it could prolly benefit from someone with passion.

[faith 0]

Faith, I don't get one thing....first you said you lived in a middle classed neighborhood, then you say your kids are poor.

I understand you feel passionate about the schooling problem in your area...perhaps YOU should run for the school board? Seriously, it could prolly benefit from someone with passion.

I rent a duplex in a middle class neighborhood. It's the only duplex and one of the few rentals in our neighborhood. My husband and I do not make nearly as much money as anyone else on my street (with the exception of my sister who lives in the other half of the duplex). My kids are on the lower end of the income scale for our neighborhood and district. Plain and simple, after 4 months of looking for a place to live (I had to move out of my house that I lived in with my ex, he got it in the divorce. We wanted something in the district we were already in and close to my ex's house as we have joint custody and have a son with seizure disorder, so our cooperation with each other has to be smooth) I got lucky and found my house. You have to remember I was a single mom long before my husband ever came over here. Then my husband wasn't allowed to work for 9 months after he got here. He's now working a temp job. My husband and I work very hard to have all the nice things that we have, and we pay cash for everything. My chlidren do not think we are poor because we do not allow them to know when the money is tight. The only reason we could afford to live where we do is because my landlord is like 100 years old and thinks 500 bucks per month is expensive for rent. (The average rent for a house my size: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, full walkout basement in my neighborhood goes for about 1000 bucks per month). Again, our situation is changing as my husband got a new awesome job and we won't be considered poor this time next year. We'll probably stay where we are at for another 2 years, but then we are looking to move to a bigger house that we can own.

I do not want to run for the school board. At this time I am working one full time job ( office manager of a PI office) , have hung on to another part time job that I work at local schools (Mad Science), and I'm pregnant and also have 2 kids at home. My time is stretched pretty thin as it is. I'd like to go back to school so I can go back to teaching, but right now that's just not feasible. I am active in our school system and in our school. Once our school starting investigating the people who lie about where they live, our problem has decreased to the occassional child that should not be enrolled in the school. My school is fine. I love my school. (And shouldn't I have that great pride in the school that I trust my children's education with? Shouldn't I be proud at all that we've worked at?) I've worked hard over the past 6 years to make sure our schools got to where we wanted them. The issue was ESL schools, which is not in the town I live in... it's miles away.

As far as the ESL schools go, if the children would actually go to the schools that they lived near the school would receive more federal money, allowing for the betterment of the schools. If they continue to ship their kids away it's a neverending cycle where the schools will never improve.

[eau_xplain 2]

I have asked my husband several times already ... if Americans are so proud of living in the 'land of the free', why are they so quick to give up their freedoms (judging by the local, state and federal legislation) to their government (in the name of safety and comfort)?