The General US Politics Thread

I remember when Obama signed an order to phase out private prisons,only for Jeff sessions to hit the undo key

And assholes on Twitter already calling for the Wall again...

But many of them would probably balk at mandatory vaccinations.

Why? Do you disagree on the consensus in regards to charter schools?

And yet, the f*ckers won't die of smallpox already.

Edited by HailMuffins on Feb 10th 2019 at 11:36:36 AM

That's because they already have been vaccinated. It's their children, and by extent everyone else, who have to suffer their idiocy.

Yeah, their parents were smart enough to vaccinate. Likely because they lived with the specter of those diseases hanging over them.

You know, I had a bit of an empty laugh at the discussion about private schools being worse than public schools in the US and UK, because it's essentially the opposite way here in Saudi Arabia when it comes to education quality. Well, at least back when I was in school (graduated about 15 years ago from now), because I've been hearing from my younger brothers about how the same school that I studied at has been getting worse and worse every year.

x2-x4: which is just one more reason why parents who refuse to vaccinate their children should be locked up for child abuse (or infanticide if and when their children actually die from diseases that could've been prevented by vaccination)

Edited by Reflextion on Feb 10th 2019 at 10:37:37 AM

I went to private school. It was much much better than public school.

I also went to private school. It was public school except that it looked pretty.

Mind you, it was still hell...but that was the Students.

:)

For me it was often the teachers.

Sidebar, any school with a "point sheet" system is poison.

Edited by PhysicalStamina on Feb 10th 2019 at 7:51:52 AM

I went to a private Catholic school here in Brazil.

It was hell, but that's because the student were a bunch of c*nts, the actual school was top notch, as were the teachers, which were all awesome people.

Also, pretty sure public schools being better than private is something unique to the US, UK and other handful of countries, everywhere else its pretty much the opposite, for better and worse.

I went to public school. It was a nightmare. Mostly because of the students, but the teachers didn't make it any better. It didn't help that being stuck in Special Ed, most of my handlers only seemed to be concerned with getting me through class and keeping me in line. Hell, the 9th grade Special Ed head flat out told my Mom I'd only amount to being a factory worker, if that. It wasn't until 10th grade that we got some people who actually tried to push me and expected more out of me, which was also around the same time the bullying stopped. But before that, it was hell.

Meanwhile, a handful of teachers at my high school would routinely blame me for shit that either wasn't my fault or didn't do. One notable example (near the start of freshman year at that, boy did that set the tone) is when I and and few others got pantsed in the locker room after gym, and when no one admitting to doing it, the staff decided to just punish everyone involved. Even the victims. And that's not counting the times they would outright lie, like when an aide claimed I was laughing at other student (I wasn't), or when a teacher claimed I had cursed during class (I didn't), or when I was blamed for a student walking in on me in the bathroom because I didn't say anything when they knocked (I did). Then when I logically got angry after things like this, they would punish me further. Looking back, I think those people got extra pay for every zero they put on someone's pointsheet.

There's also the fact that they couldn't decide if they wanted to be progressive or conservative: they wouldn't allow us to give specific holiday greetings, only letting us say "Happy Holidays", while also prohibiting to watch any Disney movie where the female lead bared her midriff.

So here's today's lesson: when someone tells you private schools are better than public schools, keep in mind just how low that bar is, and that "better" does not mean "good".

Edited by PhysicalStamina on Feb 10th 2019 at 8:52:06 AM

Its not that there is anything inherently wrong with the concept of private schools, per se. Sometimes they provide access to students with special needs that wouldnt be met otherwise. The problem is state and federal government policy favoring private schools or charter schools over the public option.

Mind you, the US doesnt really have public schools either. We have private schools that are funded by local property taxes. That is, if you cant afford to live in the local neighborhood, you arent going there.

I.. kind of oppose the very existence of private schools, for one very simple reason.

Top down class war. The kind of class warfare we actually have.

The only sure way to make sure that the great and, well, evil, do not arrange for schools to be pure conformity factories that turn out obedient little serfs that know to tuck their forelocks is to make them send their own kids. No Exceptions.

Or if you want to put it less starkly, it is not good that the people who run things do not send their own children there, because it means they do not have to care if they work at all.

Edited by Izeinsummer on Feb 10th 2019 at 9:01:18 AM

Private schools weren’t really a big thing in the US until desegregation in the 1950s/1960s.

White parents suddenly found private schools better, or suddenly wanted a religious aspect to their kids’ education for no apparent reason. Many private schools were openly segregated; others would admit a limited number of rich/upper class or academically gifted black kids.

So instead of being in a school that reflected a 50/50 Black and white county, they’d be in a 95% white school with Black kids whose parents were doctors and lawyers or who were prodigies.

Private schools aren’t inherently “better,” they often have better funding and less teacher turnover. Plus their student base is wealthier and the parents can afford tutors etc. And they can expel kids who struggle or act out, rather than try to help the kids grow and improve. So it’s playing with loaded dice and then claiming you’re just better.

A part of the problem is that in a lot of states, for profit Charter Schools are legal, and don’t have a lot of accountability.

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 10th 2019 at 12:21:21 PM

Also, I love this!

I also love how they are all wearing white here, since it’s the color of Suffrage.

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 10th 2019 at 12:39:43 PM

Privately educated UK person checking in here, so I just want to check on definition. In the UK, a private school is explicitly a school where parents pay for tuition - and since I don't think they are tax deductible parents are effectively paying for education twice via taxes as well.

It's an important distinction as I don't mind private schools, as in effect it just means more money for pupils in the public sector.

(There is of course a wider question about the inherent classism of private education, the over representation of privately educated pupils at Oxford and Cambridge - but wrong thread for that)

If however a private school is a school ran by a private organisation but funded via taxation... not a fan. And if a profit is required as well - okay, in theory a profit motive can encourage better results but that is normally only the case when everything is judged on a monetary basis. Education doesn't fit into that category, so normally the requirement to make a profit just means less money to be spent where it should be spent, on the pupils.

Obama Official Rips Trump's Doctor As 'An Instrument Of His Lies'

Seems like another shutdown might be in the cards.

I raised my eyebrows at the assessment when it came out, you really can't predict the stability of the health of someone as old as Trump (and that's without considering his unhealthy lifestyle and stressful job).