Obama's Segregation of America's Schools

"A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support." -Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1792

It is ironic that America's first African American president is pro-segregation of schools. De-Facto segregation, but segregation nonetheless.

It's called "Race to the Top" and it is a legislation package that builds upon the errors of the Bush Administration's "No Child Left Behind". States can apply for additional Federal education grants if they adhere to certain guidelines and "reforms" which include more data driven teaching, charter schools, and teacher merit pay.

Obama claims “This competition will not be based on politics, ideology or the preferences of a particular interest group,” but anyone with half a brain can see that statement is really what it's all about. HELLO, Charter Schools!!! Uh duh, I think its sort of an interest to them, no?

Obama's ideas about schools competing for students, and states competing for funds is truly disheartening. Education is not a business. This is the primary reason why certain individuals become teachers.....to avoid the idle trappings of Corporate America. The cubicle. The loss of personality. The ladder climb. The promotion. The kissing of ass. We don't care about making money. We don't care about products, pie charts, and power suits. We play golf on the weekends, and not during our work hours. What we care about are people, the preservation of the human brain, and the Human Spirit.

Obama's race to the top just adds insult to injury. Our educational system already hangs by threads and the problem is not teachers. There are many problems. It's a mainstream American culture that does not value education, does not value reading books, or being an authentic individual. Its the continual dumbing down of America that is on the television, on the radio....and then students are expected to understand and appreciate "classics" and sit in history class and grasp rights they think they have no use for. It's also poverty and the continuous cycle of the uneducated family in inner cities....and even elsewhere. It's parents not being held accountable for bringing life into this society. And it's the carrots that dangle much higher for South Central students than the ones in Beverly Hills.

Obama- the dude I thought that would be all "power to the people" and stuff. Merit pay? Let's just call it "Keep the Status-Quo" pay. Let's just keep all the rich schools fully funded and looking good, and punish all the bad schools for being minorities and poor and vulnerable to Vulture Charter schools who smell cash and can rip off a shaky situation and pump out some fake pie charts while they are at it. Charter schools can not do anything revolutionary. They are in the business of business and they are not educators. They do not tackle the real issues. It is like having the flu and having some dummy put Vicks on your knee and say how much progress your making now with your illness.

A teacher can work ten times harder than a teacher in a white rich neighborhood, and can still have poor numbers. That teacher is by no means a failure, by no means deserves lesser pay, and by no means should vote for Obama next time around.

Everyone knows that merit pay, numbers, data, standardized tests, no child left behind....all that stuff....its all bullshit. Everyone knows that. Including Obama. You can not "quantify" teacher performance.

Numbers don't mean anything, and they certainly do not have enough weight to judge a whole system and its teachers. If you want to judge teacher performance, go sit and observe one.

In Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the Court recognized that "education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments."

However, I propose that instead of wasting time on anti-gay amendments to the constitution, let's work at drafting a constitutional amendment of Equal Education.

It just makes sense, even to the corporate of greedy. How can you have a competitive nation otherwise?

Equal schools, Equal funding, Equal Chance: Period.

Of all people....you should have been that one person Obama. A whole campaign was based on "Change" and "Hope", yet the reality is nothing near that. We can't have change and hope without a fair and equal educational system. One in which values it's teachers who in turn value the students, whom in reality are the future of this nation.

Gee, funny when you think of that way, huh?