BRITISH TEACHERS VOTE WITH THEIR FEET

Post lifted from the Adam Smith blog

Many state school teachers might be prepared to defend comprehensive schools and oppose selection in principle, but not when it comes to their own children. Geraldine Hackett, Sunday Times education correspondent reports that many of them who contribute to an education website run by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) admit either to playing the system to get their children into preferred schools, or to going independent. Some teachers have admitted to lying about their religious commitment in order to get their children into high quality faith schools, or to using false addresses within the catchment areas of good schools.

What shines through these contributions is a complete rejection of the allocation of their own children to local, low quality schools, and to unconcealed contempt and derision for some of those schools. Other parents might have to accept places in bottom-of-the-league schools, but these teachers are not, no matter what it takes to escape them.

Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said he was concerned by the entries on the TES website, which is mainly used by state school teachers. "Teachers know the school system best," said Smithers. "If they are thinking it is not good enough for their children, that is an indication that something must be seriously wrong."

It is an indication of something else, too. Bear in mind that a place dishonestly obtained at a good state school is a good place denied to another child. Some state school teachers, it seems, are quite prepared to let other children suffer, provided their own are preferred. State school teachers who choose private schools for their children are at least not harming the chances of other state schoolchildren.






ARROGANT SCHOOL POLICIES HURT TWINS

And parents are allowed no say over how their own children are treated

We all have different tastes, likes and dislikes and this is America after all, the world's greatest Democracy where individuals ALWAYS have freedom of choice! At least we're supposed to, unless you happen to be a parent of multiple birth children (twins, triplets, quads etc) entering the school system. Then you probably won't have any choice, unless you move to Europe.

Under the Constitution, parental rights to "direct the education and upbringing of ones children", have long been protected in addition to other specific freedoms under the Bill of Rights. Yet parents of multiple birth children are being denied the freedom to decide whether or not their children would benefit more from being placed together or if they would be better off being placed separately within the classroom. Although cousins and best friends are often placed together without concern, our education system allows some school districts and principles to impose "across the board" separation policies of twins, based solely upon their "multiplicity" in the hopes of promoting "individuality".

A contradiction perhaps? Children who are not being judged on their OWN individual merits are being treated as a "GROUP" in order to promote "individuality", based of a trait determined prior to their birth? Discriminatory even? I believe it's both. But on the other hand, maybe you think it does seem logical to separate children born and are raised together in order to promote their "individuality", so why all the fuss? Well imagine you're a coffee drinker again, but Starbucks gives you indigestion. You would want another choice, wouldn't you? Well, some twins and even their parents end up with indigestion-theoretically that is.

Internationally renown Twin Researchers and Authors, Dr. Nancy Segal and Dr. John Mascazine, as well as the International Society of Twin Studies and National Multiple Birth Advocates, have all called for forced separation policies to end and for a flexible placement policy to be instituted. In their studies, they have found that separating some 'twins' before they are emotionally ready, can cause psychological and academic repercussions which in some instances can last for years. Although some children do well when separated, others seem to benefit both academically and socially when they are allowed to remain within the same classroom as their sibling. You guessed it, research shows, what we all could have surmised just from a trip to the supermarket, choice is good and what's good for one is NOT always good for all!

So why, with all this information available to educators, do many schools still NOT allow parents to have a choice? The answer is simple. They have ALWAYS done things this way and like most discriminatory practices which have eventually been outlawed in this country, they most often apply to a minority of the population. Multiples, though there are more twins than ever being born every year, still remain a minority. That is why, twin parents like myself, have joined together and begun a campaign to see that Legislation of a "Twin Bill" becomes sponsored and enacted into law. The Bill would allow parents of twins, triplets and higher order multiples to have a "voice" in the placement decision's of their multiple birth children either separately or together within the classroom. Minnesota's Senator Dennis Frederickson sponsored the first "Twin Bill" which was signed into law on May 5th 2005 and I am determined to see that New York follows suit. After all, I live in the Big Apple, the world's melting pot, where anything can happen and everything is possible.

More here

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"

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