A deaf child and his parents might desperately want an education, but be unable to function in a regular classroom without costly assistance.

And Democrat is a noun, not an adjective. So one would say “It’s a Republican/Democratic issue”.

Just as if you had a man that says he is thirsy and you keep giving him cup after cup of water, and he still says he’s thirsty and so you give him more and more…yet still he is thirsty. There comes a point where you must acknowledge that possibly there is something wrong and more water won’t solve the situation.

Perhaps we are at that point? I am not the one to make that call, but it is very concerning. My personal oppinion is that it is a cultural thing and those that want an education, that are driven by there parents to get one will get one and those that aren’t won’t…But that is not a problem that more money will solve.

But, why is this a Republican / Democrat issue? Is it really possible from the information given that this Republican could have a valid concern? And if the spending is absolutely required to keep the scores from falling off of the chart maybe we need to spend more just to keep our heads above water. However, if this is the case, I think it is a sad commentary on where the state of this great nation has come to. Anyway…

I used to do research for an educational publisher, and they asked us to investigate what the cost of books contributed to this chart (vs buildings, teacher salaries, etc.) Over time, all those other things were flat (in real dollars); almost all of the increase in educational spending over the period could be attributed to increasing Special Education requirements.

A township near me had at one point, in a single class, TWO children who required full-time aides to accompany them to each class. Both children were almost completely incapacitated and nonverbal. Can you imagine what the salaries (+ benefits) for these two aides could purchase for the “normal” kids in the school if it were not set aside for Special Ed? On the other hand, do we want to go back to a time when the deaf, blind, autistic, or otherwise disabled were rejected from public schools, and those with other learning problems (like dyslexia) were ignored? Doesn’t providing these children with a solid education make economic sense, helping at least some of them to become functional, tax-paying adults?

It’s never quite as black and white as the some people would like it to be.

I’m very close to two kids who have recently had educational “incidents”. One is in a reputable public school, the other in an Upper-East-Side-of-Manhattan private school.

When the public school kid ran into trouble, the system’s solution was to drop him into a less-challenging class, even though he clearly had the ability to handle what was on his plate. When the private school student had trouble, they assigned her extra help.

That’s about money, folks. And guess which child got into a FABULOUS college?

Yes, the statistics can be made to look like spending more money didn’t yield results, but that’s the NATURE of statistics; they said whatever you want them to say.

What a buffoon.

Jeff Yablon
President & CEO
Answer Guy and Virtual VIP Computer Support, Business Change Coaching and Virtual Assistant Services

Teacher salaries are a joke. Teachers in general are overworked, unappreciated, and underpaid.

You can thank Republicans for slashing school funding, which is driving up tuitions and costs, lowering teacher salaries, cutting school programs, and causing public colleges to start moving to the private sector. That’s all we need. More privatization.

I hate it when people find one piece of partisan information and use that to justify their beliefs. That’s like the argument Republicans use about health care…”Oh, well, one person in Canada was denied a heart surgery and died! Down with health care reform! Down with socialism!” Meanwhile thousands of people die every year because of our defunct health care system.

I could go on and on, but I’ll stop. Either way, your buddy should look into the facts a little further instead of deciding that one graph justifies destroying our educational system.