Tennessee getting ready to throw poor students under the bus.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Aamira's mother is the founder of a child advocacy group... that kind of group does not normally speak for children, but seeks to empower children to speak for themselves. Of course, she could be a giant hypocrite using her daughter as a mouthpiece, but I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt.

And that's fine too. I'm just saying; his saying that isn't entirely unfounded or dickish. It happens all the time.

...except for the context of him being a dick who wants to take food away from poor kids for getting bad grades.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Context really is everything.

[Bruno]

I'm half expecting this law to come back in a new form that doesn't target the poor quite so explicitly. Maybe instead of taking away financial assistance, they take away their driver's license, or pay a fine.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Context really is everything.

Yep.

And in addition, Molly Ivins had three rules for judging a politician:  "The first is to look at the record. The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record."

[Cainad (dec.)]

Context really is everything.

Yep.

And in addition, Molly Ivins had three rules for judging a politician:  "The first is to look at the record. The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record."

*checks*

Record seems to state that Sen. Stacey Campfield is a poopyhead who likes to pretend he's a villain from a Dicken's novel.

[Golden Applesauce]

I'm half expecting this law to come back in a new form that doesn't target the poor quite so explicitly. Maybe instead of taking away financial assistance, they take away their driver's license, or pay a fine.

Currently in Tennessee, if you get suspended from school, you can lose your drivers license and
/ or be ineligible to get one for two years or until you turn 18.

[Cain]

In the one sense, it's kinda nice I suppose they're trying to tie in failure to do well at school with wider consequences.

However, these consequences are idiotic and mean little in a school system that fails to support a variety of learning methods and styles to accomodate the needs of the students.

I mean, I'd happily pay someone to slap my students in the face with a dead fish every time they slept in and missed a mock exam, for example.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm half expecting this law to come back in a new form that doesn't target the poor quite so explicitly. Maybe instead of taking away financial assistance, they take away their driver's license, or pay a fine.

Currently in Tennessee, if you get suspended from school, you can lose your drivers license and
/ or be ineligible to get one for two years or until you turn 18.

Wow.

Great going, Tennessee. Especially given that the kids who are most likely to actually need a driver's license are the ones who are also working out of necessity, and therefore the ones who are  most likely to be overtired and miss classes, which can lead to suspension.

[von]

So, if you lose your liscense for being suspended, what do they do if you drop out? Execute you?

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Jail time for truancy, I'm guessing.

[Cain]

Jail time for truancy, I'm guessing.

Already happened.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Jail time for truancy, I'm guessing.

Already happened.

That's Texas.

Most kids here who are not the issue of Elite City Councilmens and such seem to be in the system well before 9th grade.

[The Johnny]

http://ec.libsyn.com/p/b/9/3/b930bc4df45dfdef/029AdamDrewShow.mp3?d13a76d516d9dec20c3d276ce028ed5089ab1ce3dae902ea1d01ce8136d6c159af7d&c_id=5535407

i was listening to this, a good point was about how there needs to exist an equality of OPPORTUNITY, in which it doesnt matter if you are poor or a minority... but this differentiated from a view of everyone being EQUAL in the sense that not everyone has the cognitive abilities to go to college and should be given the chance of doing vocational training. im not fully on board with this, but sounds interesting.

what does disgust me is the ghost of the argument that parents are to blame and teachers being helpless martyrs... no, the least of our worries should be the parents when there are systemic deficiencies and failures in how education is structured... parents are just easy scapegoats

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

http://ec.libsyn.com/p/b/9/3/b930bc4df45dfdef/029AdamDrewShow.mp3?d13a76d516d9dec20c3d276ce028ed5089ab1ce3dae902ea1d01ce8136d6c159af7d&c_id=5535407

i was listening to this, a good point was about how there needs to exist an equality of OPPORTUNITY, in which it doesnt matter if you are poor or a minority... but this differentiated from a view of everyone being EQUAL in the sense that not everyone has the cognitive abilities to go to college and should be given the chance of doing vocational training. im not fully on board with this, but sounds interesting.

what does disgust me is the ghost of the argument that parents are to blame and teachers being helpless martyrs... no, the least of our worries should be the parents when there are systemic deficiencies and failures in how education is structured... parents are just easy scapegoats

Equality of opportunity would maybe lead to more equality of aspirations and expectations, and the knock on effect might give more of a chance to smart poor people who have got the ability to have more hope, and not just give up. Inspiration from people around you has an effect on ambition, I think. I'm not sure to what degree though.

[The Johnny]

http://ec.libsyn.com/p/b/9/3/b930bc4df45dfdef/029AdamDrewShow.mp3?d13a76d516d9dec20c3d276ce028ed5089ab1ce3dae902ea1d01ce8136d6c159af7d&c_id=5535407

i was listening to this, a good point was about how there needs to exist an equality of OPPORTUNITY, in which it doesnt matter if you are poor or a minority... but this differentiated from a view of everyone being EQUAL in the sense that not everyone has the cognitive abilities to go to college and should be given the chance of doing vocational training. im not fully on board with this, but sounds interesting.

what does disgust me is the ghost of the argument that parents are to blame and teachers being helpless martyrs... no, the least of our worries should be the parents when there are systemic deficiencies and failures in how education is structured... parents are just easy scapegoats

Equality of opportunity would maybe lead to more equality of aspirations and expectations, and the knock on effect might give more of a chance to smart poor people who have got the ability to have more hope, and not just give up. Inspiration from people around you has an effect on ambition, I think. I'm not sure to what degree though.

the part i meant that im sketchy on is the vocational training... here its a disaster because funds are getting slashed for higher education and redirected to pure vocational... that means that as a country we have given up on doing global quality science.