May 22, 2012

Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools

Source: NY Times

When the Georgia legislature passed a private school scholarship program in 2008, lawmakers promoted it as a way to give poor children the same education choices as the wealthy.

The program would be supported by donations to nonprofit scholarship groups, and Georgians who contributed would receive dollar-for-dollar tax credits, up to $2,500 a couple. The intent was that money otherwise due to the Georgia treasury — about $50 million a year — would be used instead to help needy students escape struggling public schools.

That was the idea, at least. But parents meeting at Gwinnett Christian Academy got a completely different story last year.

“A very small percentage of that money will be set aside for a needs-based scholarship fund,” Wyatt Bozeman, an administrator at the school near Atlanta, said during an informational session. “The rest of the money will be channeled to the family that raised it.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/education/scholarship-funds-meant-for-needy-benefit-private-schools.html?ref=todayspaper

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This is an in-depth article examining the shell-game that is moving public money out of public schools and funding private schools - and religious-based - education.

May 3, 2012

Apology

Yesterday I posted the title of an old Vaudeville song that was a widely used march during the first and second world war, and has been repeated in motion pictures, animated cartoons, and television shows. I meant it as a quip towards the topic of the thread I posted it in, but clearly it was not a well enough known meme that it was recognized by the readers of the thread, and it was my mistake for not properly gauging that. I understand that the line is sexist, and so it was a poor judgment for me to post it without sufficient context or background information. Clearly the line could be - and was - interpreted only on the surface level of the content of the words and not the context of relating a meme of our culture to the topic at hand - e.g., the irony of considering the issue in our culture that has traditionally held very different views. My fault, and I sincerely apologize. When one is skirting the lines of an issue as important as sexism there is no room for one to be less than clear.

I leave you with a link to a scene from the television show "Mash" as an example, but will preface it with the warning "not to click" if you have concerns that you might find it offensive.