Say No to Year Round Schools

Would year round schooling make a difference in Michigan education? Apparently at least two districts, the Madison School District in Lenawee County and the Port Huron Area School District, think so. They have accepted money from the Michigan Department of Education in order to implement plans for year round schooling. Others have already taken state money for such purposes while one district, the Watersmeet Public Schools, have elected not to take state money for such purposes due to a lack of community support.

Call us skeptical that year round schooling is worth the effort. While it may be true that the first part of a typical school year involves refreshment courses we feel that point unimportant. Given that American schools typically don't actually teach, an extra few weeks in the classroom won't make much, if any, difference. Given also that summer vacation is seen as a boon to many Americans, especially the schoolchildren, we see no reason to buck the tradition.

If Michigan would be any better off with year long education we might encourage the idea. But knowing that education isn't much more than propaganda these days, we don't see the sense in giving schools even more time to indoctrinate our young. If schools were to actually teach kids to think for themselves and by themselves the idea might have merit. As it is, more of the same old same old simply won't make a difference.

Really, the fact that this idea has even come up reflects poorly on our schools. If they can't get the job done in the time they have (education isn't actually that difficult) then more time certainly can't be the issue, especially in the younger grades. Demonstrating that two plus two equals four or that George Washington was our first President just isn't all that mind bending, folks. And yes, we know full well that not all parents are supportive. But would two and a half extra months in the classroom mend that problem?

Leave the school calendar as it is. Changing it only feeds the notion that action, any action, actually helps make things better. It doesn't. Generally, it only stirs the pot.

Recall Snyder Again?

There is another effort in the works to recall Governor Rick Snyder. That's not surprising; there are groups of far left radicals who simply don't like the democratic process and will do anything to undermine it. In this case, it's really the same group but with a different name.

They were originally the Committee to Recall Rick Snyder. Now they're called Michigan Rising. But call them what you like, or let them call themselves what they like; the bottom line is that they're simply trying to disrupt the business of the state for no useful purpose.

Why try again, after their first initiative fell far short of the necessary signatures? Because you have to 'chop the head off the beast to slay the dragon', says Marty Townsend, the head of her own beast. What has that other beat been up to, the beast she's fighting? Cuts to education, and the emergency manager law, among other things.

It's interesting hat there were no such efforts to recall then Governor Jennifer Granholm while she too was cutting education budgets. This is important, because this recall group, reorganized into Michigan Rising, claims to be non-partisan. But a look at their website shows that they are anything but. The charges against Rick Snyder dominate the site, and they argue that there are 80 anti-union bills before the legislature. In short, their non-partisanship is fully anti-Republican.

Their leadership is dominated by community activists, social justice seekers, and worriers about corporate politicians (whatever they are). And interestingly enough, their CEO, one Julius Muller, doesn't even live in Michigan. He lives in Florida. But he lived here for eight years, so apparently he's qualified to keep his hat in the Michigan ring.

This effort is as doomed as the first. Those wanting to recall Snyder are simply a group of dissatisfied liberals who eat at the slops of the government trough and are seen by the voting public as such. Michigan Rising is doomed to fall hard.

Snyder's Education Cuts Strike a Chord

Protesters, around one hundred in number, showed up at Woodward and Nine Mile to call attention to cuts to public education passed by the Michigan House Thursday. They claim to have the best interests of children in mind, yet some of what was said there gives us cause to question their real intent.

One of the protesters held a sign which read, 'Public education and unions made our country strong'. 'Closing schools, that's not healthy. Get the money from the wealthy," a man called out over a bullhorn. As a bit of the cherry on top to this clearly self aggrandizing mix, the event was organized by a local chapter of Jobs with Justice. A quick study of that group's website shows it to be something of a modern day socialist front.

That tells us all we need to know about the nature of the protest. They aren't for the schools, they're for the workers. There's nothing wrong with that so far as it goes. But it is galling that they operate under the pretense of helping the schools when they are really for the teachers and the unions.

Nothing wrong with that, either, only call it what it is. Snyder doesn't support education because he seeks to cut the education budget. Yet how is it that the people who most directly benefit from public education, namely the school employees, are not seen as selfish for wanting to keep funding at a level high enough to keep their wages where they want them to be?

Especially as you consider that education is primarily a parental and not a societal issue, notwithstanding American tradition on the matter, and the protest can be seen for what it really is: people living at the public trough demanding the public continue to pay their wages on their terms, and democracy be damned. Yet they are not called selfish.

It is a matter which speaks for itself. And it indeed speaks volumes.

Paring Education Budgets

Many districts in Michigan are undergoing financial stress. Cuts in state aid are the main culprit, forcing districts to cut programs at various levels. But it seems that one easy area to cut, an area where there should be little fanfare let alone controversy, would be transportation. The school buses ought to be stopped.

There is no inherent reason why schools should have to pay to get students in the classroom. Parents are the ones primarily responsible to get their kids to class. Why the public must pay extra for what is essentially a middle class perk is beyond reason.

Private school parents make the effort, generally. Why can't those in the public education sector? Yes, yes, some moms and dads won't get their kids to school, but be honest: if their dedication to the enlightenment of their own kids is so small, those students need a lot more help than a bus ride. Besides, sacrificing true educational goals and programs just to get Johnny to school is asinine. What can eventually be left of the schools in that light?

The needs of the many at times outweigh the needs of the few. This is one of those times. Stop the buses. Make people take responsibility for their own progeny.