Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Posted by Bill Smith at 12:14 PM | 5 comments

Your condomnation of the State is deserved...
 

Condomnation? Glad you're practicing "safe" newspaper criticism Bill. (Sorry...I just had to!) Anyway, I saw this new topic while I was at work, and had made up my mind that I would not post a comment on this time around. I have written so often and so passionately in here about the disastrous condition of public education in South Carolina that I'm sure there aren't many that don't already know how I feel, and I'm also sure that I'm viewed as a wingnut or kook by many. (Not that I care much, but I know this is true) My mind got changed however when I saw the local news tonight after getting home from work. The two lead stories tonight on WIS News concerned incidents that occurred at local schools this week. WIS reported that a day or two ago, some yahoo/pervert (not sure which) attempted to enter Batesburg-Leesville Highschool and get a kid out for some nefarious purposes, and was caught. The other incident happened just today at White Knoll Highschool, wherein a ninth grade girl slashed another girl in the neck with a razor blade. Not sure why she did this, but neither am I sure that "why" really matters much. The good thing about this story is that the victim is in stable condition and the idiot assailant is in jail. By the way, White Knoll is the same school that caught a student last week with a weapon and a bag of marijuana in his bookbag. This has just got to be a great little place, doncha think? Now, here is why I changed my mind about posting: Let's face it, many of these schools are simply hell-holes. To be fair, I know that not all of them are, and the ones your kids attend may not be ~ TODAY ~ but many are hell-holes right now and just about ANY public school has the potential to become a hell-hole in an instant. I don't lay the blame for this at the feet of school administrators, it is a function of the society from which these little criminals come, but does it REALLY matter whose fault it is? Public schools are dangerous places, no matter where the fault lies. But here is where I DO find fault and place blame: Brad Warthen, Cindi Scoppe, Inez Tenenbaum and everyone else in this debate on the anti-school choice side know very well that public schools are dangerous places. They also know that public schools are dismal failures where academics are concerned, but forgetting that for a sec, just the fact that many of these places are dangerous hell-holes ought to be enough reason to try and give parents options that they can exercise to get their kids into a safe learning environment. I don't have any kids, but if I did I'd think LONG and HARD about sending them into one of these places. Parents just want, and deserve, choices. And those that would deny them these choices and condemn kids to academic failure and force them to attend places where violence and lawlessness are rife should be ashamed. Period. Dave
 

I told ya we made the news...in the wrong way. The White Knoll school incident is up on the Drudge Report as of 4:30pm today. dave
 

Can you drop me an e-mail when you get a chance?
 

'Doh! Addy: rboots at allianceREMOVETHISforschoolchoice dot org.