It's politically impossible to get rid of the Department of Education. Commerce and the Interior are better hills to die on.

Krellin hates education. He wants everybody to be as ignorant as him so they vote for the Repukes.

Lets see what can get cut:

Veterans Affairs: $792 million for "hospitals." Bunch of sissies. Cut it.

Transportation: $50 billion to fix "bridges" and "roads", including those in critical need of repairs. I say, let them fall down. Fewer health bills if citizens just die.

State: $800 million to support political and economic reform in the "Middle East." Please. If they need to be reformed so badly, why are they always gathering in squares and having bonfires? Sounds OK to me.

Treasury: $330 million to "modernize" the IRS business functions. Like anyone does anything online these days. Filling out forms in pencil builds character.

NASA: $600 million for the Webb Space Telescope. Like we've ever gotten anything useful from NASA. Fuck them, they're geeks anyway.

Labor: $125 million to merge Veterans Workforce Investment Program with the Education Dept. Like our veterans need jobs. Can't we just arm them and put them in classrooms?

Justice: $55 million to fight financial and mortgage "fraud." Pfff. Like that's a real problem these days.

Interior: $818 million for wildfire "management". Why do we need to manage them? Obviously not starting them is a cheaper alternative. Morons.

HUD: ~$1 billion for housing for homeless veterans. Can't these guys just bivvy in a park somewhere? I thought they were real men.

Homeland: An awesome show on Showtime.

Homeland Security: $770 million to improve "cybersecurity." Like anybody would steal an identity to ask for user passwords. Not a problem these days.

DHHS: $31 billion for "biomedical research." Vaccines are bogus and not needed. Cut it.

Education: $300 million more for Race to the Top for school improvements. Kids don't need computers or unleaky ceilings. The IRS won't be using computers, so why should kids?

Defense: No additional allocations to their already small and streamlined budget.

Commerce: $100 million toward convincing Americans that the 10th amendment doesn't really exist. BIG GOVERNMENT LIES. CUT IT.

There. Just saved you like $500 billion.

Putin loves to pour money into a broken Federal systems that has demonstrated *zero* to *negative* impact on Education. Putin....clearly a product of said education system...can't grasp the fact that, by the numbers, Federal spending on education has done MORE HARM THAN GOOD.

Putin, also completely ignorant of public education, can't grasp that states would KEEP their money for education, instead of sending it to the Feds so they can siphon off funds from the top and send a fraction back to the states.

Putin....jackass....here....let's try this. I'm going to be the Feds helping you shop for groceries. Before you go to the store, send me $100. I'll send you back $75 and a list of things you must buy. Sound like a deal? That's the Department of Education, asshole.

Why should my tax dollars have to travel to Washington DC instead of 3 miles to my local school district administration offices?


Asstard...

Please, I bet you vote down your local school levies because those turrrible teachers unions are up to no good and why should you have to pay for other people's kids anyway?

You're a pussy zit of a human being.

Putin...you should really go back to sucking on your shit for the rest of the night...because every time you type something, I will *pummel* you with logic and fact and embarass you yet again.

You ridiculous assclown. Go the fuck away, you American hating piece of shit.

The only reason you support Obama is because he is destroying the country. You are only angry because something *positive* is happening....because one party has enough integrity to fight for what is right - to fight for equality for ALL....now hand-out for a few.


Fuck off, you festering douche rag.

Do you know what festering means? Probably not, which is why you want to cut education.

Actually, I voted down the last millage hike becuase I read the list of items they wished to purchase. Not a single item of the millage was intended to benefit my child's education. They wished to replace furniture that we already have, that is hardly worn. They wished to replace the school speaker system, which works perfectly fine. They wished to redocorate a school that is new by most standards. You're damned right I voted down the millage, as did 60% of the voters. And....GASP....my kids are in school, with computers, with school books, with teachers, and they are being educated with a superior education as compared to other districts in the state. Imagine that....everything they were asking for was *unnecessary* to my child's education, and nobody is not being educated today.

It's called common sense, asshole. Sometimes, instead of giving money every time some government fuckwad puts his hand in your pocket...sometimes *intelligent* people ask them what they want to spend the money on -- and they discover it's just a bunch of graft that does nothing to further the goals of the institution...at which point intelligent people say, "NO".

Like I said, you vote against the kids but claim this is all about federalism. Federalism is just the excuse you Repukes use when you want to kick people who are down.

here krellin!! you get a puppy too

http://puppyparadise.com/images/Breeds/jackrussel.jpg

Putin....have you ever seen a pussy? Probably not, because you are a festering douchebag and no woman would ever come within three arm lengths of you.

And if I'm such a moron, then yes, it's a result of the public education system. That being said....idiot that you think I am I *still* make you look like a blithering idiot every time I smack you down....so what does that make you, puss boy?

Go suck some shit, Putin. Fuck of!

Putin....see, voting down a millage increase doesn't mean schools don't get money. It means they don't get MORE money than is needed. Asshole. Maybe if you took a civics lesson once you would understand that.

PE - I own a JAck....great dog. Crazy and neurotic as shit...but adorable none the less. Tolerates the foster kittens quite well....

And you know how much money is needed from your mom's basement? Because you have a master's in education and work in the schools, right?

If it's silly to vote against every measure to give more money to schools surely it's also silly to vote for every one as well? A public school is like any other government organization: it measures success based on how big its budget is. Often that goes to good use, but it certainly doesn't all the time.

I grew up with a Jack Russell, I don't think I could ever have another breed. Crazy is right, it's the best part! Surprised yours does well with the foster kitties though, my parents want to get Skip a companion but they're certain he wouldn't get along with them well.

what a crafty debate- one which I don't wish to engage in fully, but I do have a little something to say on the topic.

I love it how when someone mentions cutting spending on education and actually thinks that it means cutting education. I dream of a world where people realize (or remember) that education is virtually free, save teachers and books and other useful applications. What bugs the shit out of me is when the government throws 100 million bucks into some bullshit tech-integration scheme for an under-priveledged school district, only to find out that it takes 4 years for the students and teachers to learn how to integrate it into the curriculum properly, or they don't take care of the computers, or the "wow" factor overshadows what they're actually supposed to be learning. By the time all these obstacles become workable, then the soft/hard ware is either junk or obsolete, and they all line up for the next hand-out. Adding to this problem is the fact that kids from priveleged districts already have the tech. skills and equipment, the schools are way better funded, they have parental support, and so obviously the high-tech applications show results. The government thinks that keeping public schools stocked with up-to-date technology will fill the gap, but it doesn't even come close- it just wastes a bunch of money. The real way to help fix the problem is to sever the tie between technology and primary and secondary (with some exceptions) education altogether. Start teaching kids how to think instead of how to hit a button. Even I've seen it since I went back to college. People these days are so frikken dumb without their computers. When market competition fuses into our conception of education, then it makes the whole country think that the right of education equals the right to technology, but in the end it is not economically feasible because capitalism is driving the technological advance at a much faster pace. Down with computers in education!!! Up with teachers!!! It's much cheaper, and the effects are far more lasting.

No Child Left Behind should have been called No Child Allowed To Excel.

To COTW:

http://www.reactiongifs.com/tag/orson-welles/

That's what I've called it for years, Draug.

I would be curious to know how many people here have actually taught. I've taught at all levels (for varying amounts of time) and it is fucking hard. It's just as hard as any engineering job I've had. Not only do you have to master the subject, you need to be able to transfer that knowledge to people who have wildly different backgrounds.

I don't think the problem is so much money or policy as it is culture. We live in a society where most people really believe "if you can't do, teach". I really think this is where most of our educational problems stem from. Are there incompetent teachers? Of course, but I don't think they are more common than incompetents in any other field. I think the biggest difference is it's much harder to hide if you're a bad teacher.

I second what abgemacht says, although I would think about it a different way. Teaching definitely is hard, and I know at least one person who turned down what would be to me a cushy teaching job at a liberal arts college because the stress of teaching is just too much. But I do think money and policy are part of the problem, in large part as a representation of the culture. Teachers in the US teach more hours and are paid less than teachers in countries like South Korea, Germany, England, or Japan, because teaching is considering a less prestigious job, because education and learning are not as highly valued.

Similarly, look at the changes in college administration in the last twenty years or so. The people in charge of colleges aren't teachers or scholars and never really have been. That's because colleges are all about different things that society values that increasingly does not include scholarship and learning.

People don't understand that teaching is actually a year-round job and that they don't stop teaching when the students go home. The payment/prestige issue is why I would never consider teaching in a public setting. I spent ten years in public school and the last three in private school have easily been the most rewarding and best years of my life.

Money and Policy are certainly a problem, but I think if we can fix the Culture, the Money and Policy will come. How to fix the Culture when the Money and Policy is bad is beyond me, so it's certainly a cyclical problem...

So while I wait 3 minutes for a meeting...

I have, in the past, said those that can do and those that can't teach. But I've only ever truly felt that way about certain teaching jobs and certain teachers. Most university professors are *not* in that category and, honestly, it does take a special personality to put up with students between 5 and 25, and especially the latter half of that age group.

That said, up until high school, teachers do generally have 3 months off every year. They need it to recover, but 9 months of work deserves 9 months of pay. That's just how I feel. Now when you hit high school, many teachers take on summer teaching work as well, and colleges don't shut down just because summerrolls around anymore.

@bo - I disagree about the summer shut down. below 8th or 9th grade, those teachers *do* shutdown in the summer. I know many an elementary school teacher. Once the kids are out the door, so are they and they do nothing until a week or two before school resumes.

Draug, lots of teachers actually are only paid on nine-month contract. But also: Teachers do work in the summer, including elementary school teachers. They don't work as long or as much, but there is additional training, classes to prepare for, etc etc. Lots of teachers work additional jobs to make ends meet, since they are paid so poorly.

All politicians think about education completely backwards. This happens at all levels - federal, state, and local. More money is better, of course, but its rarely allocated where it is needed most. In the past five years, my old high school completed a $20 million capital investment renovation - new bus dropoffs, new sports complex, new computer lab, a few new buses, rebuilt retaining walls, and a new gym floor after the old one flooded. This was all done while enrollment was declining to the point where having a separate school district was no longer tenable, and last year we ended up merging. Now we have the nicest junior high sports facility in the area. Utterly worthless spending. At the same time, teacher layoffs were happening every year because of the local school budget and the public wouldn't authorize a 2% tax increase, but that capital improvements budget couldn't be touched because the state earmarked it for building and grounds. Throwing money at technology doesn't create better achievement. An iPad is just a modern overhead. You need a good teacher to properly engage students through technology, and that's where we're lacking.

As a licensed teacher myself, I can attest to the perverse incentives inherent in education. The whole RTTT is contrary to the point of education. We shouldn't be forcing schools to compete with each other, we should be helping each other. Rather than bringing the bottom up with NCLB, increase achievement at the top. If students need to be tracked, track them. Egalitarianism is fine, but not at the expense of higher achievement.

They don't do anything in class, sure, but that doesn't mean they're doing nothing. There is prep, there are meetings, there is setup, whatever else you want to consider. I am in a classroom as an instructor for 38 weeks a year and during the other 14 I am writing up lessons and basically ensuring that the next year is better than the last. And I'm a 17 year old that works two hours a week on Sunday with first graders.

High school teachers or professors may do *more* but I assure you with every ounce of blood in my body that there is no three-month break.