Re: HELP needed with Property Tax Question

Rita wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:20:14 -0800 (PST), California Poppy
<GoldenStatePoppy@xxxxxxx> wrote:

It has ben interesting to read this thread about property taxes and
education. I have taught in both public education (wasteful) and
private education (varies from excellent to dreadful). Here in CA,
any parent can do homeschooling and be considered a private school.
AFter substituting for a public school district for three months, I
worked for a private school which was begun by two high school
teachers because they didn't want their children going to public
school. We even had one child who was kidnapped by his non-custodial
parent and enrolled in this private school to prevent detection. (he
was such a brat that I am betting his parent was regretting the
kidnapping). Teaching in a private school attracts some of the best
teachers, because they can actually teach instead of just being a
cop. I had well educated, caring teachers when I was the principal.

My daughter who is an elementary school teacher was so stressed out at
the holidays that she is considering quitting. She said that
bureaucracy and increased class size and testing reuirements have
stressed her to the point of no return. She has an AA degree in
ornamental horticulture, so she can get a job and work with plants
which would be less stressful for her, I think. She worked one summer
for a plant farm where she hand pollinated plants for the summer. My
point in discussing this is that good teachers are quitting public
education because it has become so bad. High school teachers have
PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) from never knowing where the
next attack will come from.

I have a granddaughter who is and award winning English teacher. She
has classes at all academic levels. She adores her work and her
students adore her. Stress? She considers teaching a challenge.
She was a rather reclusive girl as a child and yet teaching
ignited a spark and she blossomed. Kids do not act up in her
classes -- she seems to have the ability to engage them all and
keep them focused. I looked over her lesson plans and she spends
a great deal of free time on them. She considers students less
academically talented the greatest challenge.

I listen to the garden variety criticisms of the public school education
systems and can't help wondering when it went so far wrong. My parents came
to this country not speaking a word of English. They had three children, I
being the middle one and the dumbest of the three. All I have to brag about
educationally is a college degree, earned (incidentally) at a public
institution of higher learning and having subsequently become a retired
military officer who survived three of our nation's major wars. My older
brother got a degree in chemical engineering and worked on the Manhattan
Project and its aftermath for almost a half century, and my younger sister
not only earned her BA but got a Masters degree as well and has been a
successful independent book copy editor for decades (I'm not allowed to
divulge how many lest I inadvertently give away her age......a woman thing).

Why all the personal history? Because we all started out working our way
through publicly funded and operated elementary schools, high schools and
(in two of the three cases) colleges. If we were able to achieve whatever
we achieved as a result of our exposure to education at the public trough (I
was tempted to say "teat" but I thought it might offend you), whatever
happened to it that made it so bad that we are being urged to consider
turning it over to those warm and cuddly profit-seeking corporations to run
instead of the government?

George Z.


.

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