<

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<head>

<!--

body,td,th {

font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;

font-size: 13px;

color: #000000;

}

body {

background-image: url(http://www.geocities.com/josh_shaine/image/bg_test5.jpg);

background-repeat: repeat;

}

a:link {

text-decoration: none;

}

a:visited {

text-decoration: none;

}

a:hover {

text-decoration: underline;

}

a:active {

text-decoration: none;

}

.style7 {

font-size: x-large;

font-weight: bold;

}

.style8 {

font-size: medium;

font-weight: bold;

}

.style5 {font-size: x-small}

-->

</style></head>

<body>

</pre><pre id="line44">

<tr>

<br />

<span class="style5"><a href="http://www.geocities.com/josh_shaine">Home</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.geocities.com/josh_shaine/links">Links</a></span></div></td>

</pre><pre id="line54"> </tr>

<tr>

<p>

<br />

Education is a reflection of society.&nbsp; The values of the government and the people are the values of their teachers, administrators, and, ultimately, students.&nbsp; For many decades, the American Dream has been that every generation would have a higher standard of living than the one before it.&nbsp; A chicken in every pot was not enough.&nbsp; It had to be a Revere Ware pot on the newest stove, to be served in a bigger house.&nbsp; The field of advertising either led this charge, or responded to it, I'm not sure which, but the goal of &quot;Keeping Up With The Jones's&quot; became a high priority to the citizens of this country.</p>

</pre><pre id="line61"> <p>

It has taken these decades for the problem of this philosophy to catch up with us, but catch up with us it has.&nbsp; More Americans feel as if the right to wealth is written into the Constitution, or the right to a perpetually growing standard of living, than at any previous point in our history.&nbsp; How and why are not at issue, nor is the cost.&nbsp; These beliefs are expressed at all levels of politics - from the White House to State House to Town Hall.</p>

<p>

</pre><pre id="line66"> We have a president who can afford several residences, who vetoes extended unemployment benefits during a recession while approving five airplanes, each of which would cost as much as those benefits.&nbsp; We have a chief executive who wants money for Federal Emergency Assistance to be taken out of low income housing and other social services' budgets.</p>

<p>

In the Massachusetts State House, the Governor eliminated a $150 clothing allowance for welfare children, and has presided over the continuing reduction of state aid for education.&nbsp; He has, on the other hand, produced a budget surplus.</p>

<p>

</pre><pre id="line72"> In Brookline, the school committee has decided not to participate in the school choice plan that might allow too many non-resident children into its schools, and would threaten to reduce the reputed quality of its education.&nbsp; Brookline does allow a certain small number of them to pay tuition, but that's different.</p>

<p>

People without children say &quot;Why should I support the schools?&nbsp; I don't have any children.&quot;</p>

<p>

</pre><pre id="line77">

People with children, in affluent communities, say &quot;Why should I support the schools in other towns?&nbsp; My children don't go there, they go here (or to private school).&quot;</p>

<p>

People with children in poor communities, or in the urban areas say &quot;Why should I support the schools?&nbsp; My children aren't going to college.&quot;</p>

</pre><pre id="line82"> <p>

People everywhere say &quot;Why should we support the schools at all?&nbsp; They aren't doing the job.&nbsp; Not like when I was a child!&quot;</p>

<p>

</pre><pre id="line88"> <p>

So long as the criterion upon which the schools are measured is when you were a child, they will never measure up.&nbsp; Memories are impossible to match.</p>

<p>

So long as your child's future is your sole criterion, your grandchildren will have no future, either.</p>

<p>

</pre><pre id="line95">

If the basis for your decision to support other community's schools is your own town's school's success, your school is failing, and your town is at risk.</p>

<p>

If a lack of children brings you to decide not to support the schools, you might as well die now.&nbsp; You are not a part of the future of the human race.</p>

<p>

</pre><pre id="line102"> Society is a reflection of our schools.&nbsp; If our schools become places in which a person's behavior is more important than that person's wealth, in which a person's health is more important than that person's grades, and in which a person's self-esteem is more important than that person's academic knowledge, then society will reflect that caring.</p>

<p>

But, what's in it for me?</p>

</p> </td>

</pre><pre id="line108"> </tr>

</table>

</p>

</body>

</html>