June 12, 2007

Excellence in Education

Filed under: conservatism, Education — maha @ 3:23 pm

If you want to find the best schools for your children, find out where Jonah Goldberg went. Then send your kids somewhere else.

Today’s he’s calling for public schools to be eliminated, because they’re bad and private schools are better. I went to public schools. My kids went to public schools. If Goldberg went to private schools, he’s a walking contradiction to his own argument.

See Dave Johnson for more.

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14 Comments »

  1. Maha,
    Jonah is as clue-free as a day at the beach is absent of cloud’s

    I’m almost 50 years-old and I went to public school. I’ll match my knowledge against any private-school graduate. (Except for apostrophe’s. I’m weak there, to say the least..)

    Any takers, Maha? Arrange a contest. Outside ot Cathohlic dogma, I’m sure I’ll do well.

    Jonah is a moral and intellectual coward, and need’s to be called on it! So, Jonah, you want a piece of me? Or a “peace” of me?

    38 year-old coward’s who are too scared to serve ought to be eliminated in the ‘first-go-around!’ 49 year-old coward’s, like me, ought to know.

    You shoudn’s advocate a war unless you intend to fight in it, you gutless coward!!!

    Comment by c u n d gulag — June 12, 2007 @ 3:55 pm

  2. The war on public schools has been a much longer standing agenda item than the “war on terror” for the right and I have been screaming about it for some time. It’s appallingly evident here in Texas since our state BOE is completely dominated by rightwingers. Horribly depressing, and way under the radar for most of the American public.

    Comment by Ann — June 12, 2007 @ 4:36 pm

  3. Grrrrr! We are in the middle of a huge battle in our public school system. John Husted, a Republican a-hole who hates public schools and wants to privatize them, has been blocking legislationt that would free up money for our school system. A levy failed in May, leaving our school system in a shambles. 200+ teachers were let go, buses were cancelled, and the school day shortened.

    My son attends a magnet school in the public school district, a school of the arts. My older two sons graduated from this school and have gone on to be accepted at good colleges with scholarships for fine grades. The school is a crown jewel in the system, with test scores rivaling those of richer suburban schools.

    But now, with no budget, they are tanking. In a cost-cutting move, all of the schools in the district are cutting arts, music, and sports. And in a school of the arts, when you cut the arts, you have a pretty grim skeleton.

    We parents are still numb with shock, but we will rally and find some way to make things right. Still, it’s disheartening to be so desperate where our kids are concerned.

    Comment by Donnah — June 12, 2007 @ 5:21 pm

  4. The most unnecessary sentence in the English language is ‘Jonah Goldberg is an idiot’. Still: Jonah Goldberg is an idiot.

    1) Private schools ‘perform better’ than public schools because they’re allowed to cherrypick their students.

    2) Where public schools suck, it’s largely because anti-tax fanatics have been largely successful in eviscerating their funding.

    Comment by Tom Hilton — June 12, 2007 @ 6:34 pm

  5. History is not my strong suit because as an American Indian, I first learned about how the white man did every one such a favor by taking the land away from the indigenous savages. That sort of soured me on history. However, my recollection is that the whole idea of democracy as proscibed by the Founding Fathers was based on every one having an opportunity for an education. Thus, to be against public school is to be against democracy. Unfortunately, we already know the radical right hates democracy.

    Comment by Bonnie — June 12, 2007 @ 8:04 pm

  6. And keep in mind, political correctness pretty much guarantees that Jim Crow and the civil rights movement are included in syllabi

    If Jonah sees the teaching of the civil rights movements and Jim Crow in terms of political correctness..than he’s more fucked up than he’s aware of. Maybe Jonah doesn’t get it, but it’s one of the most powerful pages in America’s history and it defines who we are as Americans. Jonah should reflect on the admonition of Martin Luther King,—”that America rise up and live out the true meaning of our creed” — to understand the significance and importance of the civil rights movement,and not relegate it to the diminutive point of political correctness. Not that we’ve arrived but, America has grown stronger and better because of the civil rights movement.

    Comment by Swami — June 12, 2007 @ 8:55 pm

  7. I went to private schools and had a terrible experience. Public schools are where real people go, whereas private schools are where you find snobby, elitist, bible-thumping s.o.b.’s.

    Comment by Shawn — June 12, 2007 @ 10:57 pm

  8. The daughter of UncleDad’s Drummer (no relation) weighs in on the sad state of today’s media:

    http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=43320

    Ahh hope for Americas youngters after all! Maybe a little off topic, but maybe not.

    Comment by uncledad — June 12, 2007 @ 11:13 pm

  9. I had to stop after a couple paragraphs. After he finished describing the fundamental engine of a democracy as ‘blah’ and a ‘bromide’, and then went on to suggest public education is ‘handing kids over to the government’ as if we ourselves aren’t the government, and participation in local school boards a key part of active democracy, my blood pressure exceeded safe limits.

    Comment by biggerbox — June 13, 2007 @ 1:25 am

  10. […] We’ll see.  And note this comment – “If you want to find the best schools for your children, find out where Jonah Goldberg went. Then send your kids somewhere else.”  […]

    Pingback by The News Dies « Just Above Sunset — June 13, 2007 @ 1:36 am

  11. Whales , like cops, are never around when you need one………..

    Comment by erinyes — June 13, 2007 @ 5:20 am

  12. God Takes Mr. Wizard: No Scientific Explanation Ne

    Don Herbert, who used science to try to “explain” the universe to millions of young people on television as “Mr. Wizard,” was by all accounts a kind and genial man. But his gentle disposition masked a sinister and devious plan: To turn the young pe…

    Trackback by Jon Swift — June 13, 2007 @ 11:01 am

  13. They can get rid of public schools all they want as long as they make private schools free.

    Comment by spaghetti happens — June 13, 2007 @ 7:47 pm

  14. I didn’t see any evidence of what Goldberg meant by ‘better’. Typical republican approach. Keep repeating it and sooner or later people will assume that it’s true. The last study I remember seeing that compared public and private schools had public school ahead. I think Maha blogged about it as well. The worst performing of the schools, and I know we all were shocked at this considering this groups commitment to knowledge and learning, evangelical private schools that way, way underperformed. The school must just show foxnews all day.

    Comment by Bucky Blue — June 14, 2007 @ 8:37 am

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