On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 22:37:47 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

I'm with Bill Cosby. Don't blame teachers for what parents send to
school.

I agree with you, Don -- but surely there has to be a way to hold
underperforming schools accountable.

We just can't continue to turn our backs and pass along (and graduate) kids
who can't read, write, or do multiplication. It's just not acceptable.

T'was ever thus. The parochial school I attended in the '50s dumped
the problem kids who didn't respond to corporal punishment back into
the public schools. In my parent's day, the problem was
biodegradable: mandatory schooling ended earlier. Dropouts filled the
niches occupied today by undocumented laborers.

Keeping the problem kids in school longer means there's a chance of
saving more of them. The down side is they're a bad influence and the
consume resources. The education establishment is burdened by some
really stupid ideas,but so is everything including aviation. The fact
is, a lot of it works despite the stupid ideas. On the other hand,
the most useless year my daughter ever spent was the one in the
charter high school.

I don't have an answer, but I do feel that NCLB is another feel-good
smoke screen with an agenda.

If you want to take this off rec.aviation, I don't use the email in my
header anymore. It's dtuite"symbol"penton"dot"com.

Don