LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Schools bailout would really help economy

Keith Baker, Heber City, Utah

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 | 2:02 a.m.

Parents and students are rightly upset about the Clark County School District’s pending budget cuts. After the Wall Street fat cats destroyed the economy, President George W. Bush bailed out Wall Street with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.

After people stopped buying Detroit’s gas guzzlers, Bush bailed out Detroit with $25 billion of the taxpayers’ money and Congress is considering giving Detroit another $25 billion. The schools have been badly affected by the economic crisis, but Bush has ignored the schools. Why should parents, teachers and students suffer for the mistakes of others, others who got bailed out of the mess they made? It’s time for a school bailout too.

A school bailout would be good for the economy. In fact, a school bailout is just what the economy needs.

The basic economic problem is that businesses and consumers have stopped buying. Restarting the economy requires spending government money to create more buying. Schools are uniquely positioned to buy, if they had money. There are lots of things schools need to buy, and mechanisms are in place for schools to spend money. All they need is more money, and they will buy, exactly what the economy needs.

Save the cheerleader. Save the students. Save the schools, and that will save the economy. Tell your congressmen: Bail out the schools. Do it now.

The writer is a retired U.S. Education Department researcher.

Discussion: 6 comments so far…

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By vsestini

Nov. 22, 2008

5:59 a.m.

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It was ineresting to read the specifics that paraents wanted the school distict to emphasize in saving programs: athletics, extra-curricular activities, busing. These appear to be the priorities that the public is most interested in.

Few mentioned saving teacher preparation periods or teaching positions. Few were that strong in emphasizing the need to first eliminte the top heavy central office administration.

Maybe it is time to turn all of our schools into big recreation camps...sports, and fun and games all day long. Forget the books, teachers and all that serious study stuff! Hire coaches and recreation directors not teachers and principals.

Parents really don't want to burden their brains with having to worry about helping with homework...it is much more fun to help junior learn to bat, pass a football, or dribble a basketball. Junior miss needs to know how to twirle a baton, learn to dance the latest teen craze, socialize with her friends than worry about her academic achievement.

It's America folks! Sports, fun and games, TV, and recreation is more important than all that serious learnin' stuff... Let's get real America is a service nation, not an industrial nation any longer. We no longer are world leaders in science and technology...that is gone...it now belongs to Japan, China, India. We can't educate our own students well enough for them to be leaders in science, math, technology, medicine and computers so we simply import them from other countries.

In this country we only produce babies and hamburgers and we are doing a lousy job in both categories. Education matters not to Americans. The NFL, NBA and MLB are most important to the lives of our children...
By azsk8fan

Nov. 22, 2008

9:43 a.m.

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When will all this 'bailing out' end? It seems to have really started a new 'fad'......if you need anything just ask the government to 'bail you out'.......so much easier than WORKING isn't it!
By uddeboda

Nov. 22, 2008

10:15 a.m.

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Of course there are countries that have excellent education systems. The Nordic countries are amongst the best in the world, and one country in particular offers FREE education right thru university no matter how old the student is, even foreign students can get free university education.
By azsk8fan

Nov. 22, 2008

12:37 p.m.

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And there are also countries where the students actually go to school to LEARN something, unlike here where school has just become a place to socialize. It comes as no surprise that kids in other countries, esp. Asian countries are light-years ahead in the 'smarts' department.
By cmon

Nov. 23, 2008

4:48 p.m.

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Until parents remember that they are the parents and not friends to their offspring, and as long as we've decided that taking away junior's X-box or cell phone is akin to abuse, and as long as parents blame the schools for their child's education and behavior, instead of looking in the mirror and actually VERIFYING that junior has done his homework and is not a little S@@t at school, the schools will remain little more than cheap daycare for the masses, while a small number of students whose parents actually and actively care about education prosper.
By uddeboda

Nov. 24, 2008

11:09 a.m.

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CMON,

Its true what you say, but the problem in many cases I'm sure, is that the parents have had very little education themselves, and are unable to judge or help or guide their children, or perhaps just dont care a s##t.

A very good friend of mine over here, has 2 boys, well they are grown up now, but whenever we were visiting them, the children were never to be seen only at meal times, they were studying or reading. One is now chief architect for a big city and the other doctor. The childrens parents were a psychologist and chief environmental officer. It usually "rubs off" on to the children