Obama...first african american...would you vote for him?????

[lisah25 3]

ISome parents kill themselves (figuratively) to send their kids to private schools because they want their kids to be properly educated. So I think their tax dollars, which should have gone to pay for their kids' educations but didn't because the public schools aren't up to par, should go to where they're actually being educated.

Which always raises a question for me. I don't have kids, so should I not have to pay taxes to support education at all?

[BJean 16]

darrell: who are you talking about that you think makes Hillary look like Rush? Inquiring minds want to know.

[lisah25 3]

Surprise, surprise. Did you think a left-wing organization would nominate him? Do you think right-wingers nominated Gore? :faint:

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/01/gore.nobel.ap/index.html

Former Vice President Al Gore has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his wide-reaching efforts to draw the world's attention to the dangers of global warming, a Norwegian lawmaker said Thursday.

"A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference," Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, a former minister of environment and then of trade, told The Associated Press.

Brende said he joined political opponent Heidi Soerensen, of the Socialist Left Party, to nominate Gore as well as Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier before the nomination deadline expired Thursday

[BJean 16]

lisah: very good point. Old people in Florida (many of them) believe that since they have no children in school, they shouldn't have to pay taxes for schools.

Do we want to ensure an education for the children of this country or not? If we do, don't we want to make sure that the schools are presenting the best possible education? How is that going to happen if only the people with children attending school are the only ones who pay into the program? What's your feeling about school vouchers?

As a country don't we all have a vested interested in how our chidren are educated? Or are the Republicans trying to ensure that their children are superior when they become adults by keeping the poor down? Isn't that "The rich keep getting richer..." scenario, to a tee?

[BJean 16]

gadgetlady: You never did answer my question: what has Rush Limbaugh done to achieve or preserve peace in the world?

We all know what Al Gore has done in an effort to improve the world. And we also know that he hasn't sat on his throne and spewed hate.

[lisah25 3]

lisah: very good point. Old people in Florida (many of them) believe that since they have no children in school, they shouldn't have to pay taxes for schools.

Do we want to ensure an education for the children of this country or not? If we do, don't we want to make sure that the schools are presenting the best possible education? How is that going to happen if only the people with children attending school are the only ones who pay into the program? What's your feeling about school vouchers?

Just to be clear, I don't have any problem paying taxes for education, even though my immediate family doesn't benefit. So, I don't see why familes with kids should not have to pay those same taxes, regardless of what choices they make as far as educating their kids.

I'm not informed enough right now to have a solid opinion on vouchers. I've seen a lot of different proposals.

[BJean 16]

lisah: I agree. That is my point. Either Americans want to ensure that all children have a good education in this country, or not. If we do want to have good public schools, we must devote the money and energy to it. When people opt out, and send their children to private schools, it should not cause them to opt out from doing their part for the greater good and making sure that all American children get an education. We are a greedy, selfish bunch sometimes.

[Mariah 0]

lisah:. If we do want to have good public schools, we must devote the money and energy to it"

I have always thought there isn't much wrong with public schools that hiring top of the line teachers and paying a decent wage couldn't fix, along with cooperation from the school district and the parents. Education should be the top priority before funding anything else.

We kids did alright in the 50s and the bus didn't even pick us up. I recall walking 1 1/2 miles in the freezing North Dakota cold to get to a one room grade school. It was unheard of for parents not to keep their kids in school, unlike today.

[anonemouse 1]

I have always thought there isn't much wrong with public schools that hiring top of the line teachers and paying a decent wage couldn't fix, along with cooperation from the school district and the parents. Education should be the top priority before funding anything else.

We had a saying at the university where I did my undergraduate work: "The students who can't make it in the other fields get business degrees, and the students who can't make it in business get education degrees." It sounds mean, but it was a fairly accurate description for a lot of the people majoring in education there. The classes required for the education degrees had reputations for being incredibly easy (learning how to make smiley-faces on a computer, etc.). That, combined with having free summers and a limited work-week, was a major attraction for a lot of people. To be honest, it's no wonder our education system is crap.

[BJean 16]

Mariah: I agree!

laurend: I said almost the same thing you did about teaching requirements. It's been quite a while since I was in college, but there were the same standards back then for teachers as what you've mentioned here.

Years and years ago it was pretty accepted that most of the teachers were mothers and teaching was a thing women could do that allowed them to be home when their children were. It was usually a supplemental income and so, lower pay and having school hours were completely acceptable factors for most women going into teaching.

Nowadays, teachers are expected to do so much more than just nurture our children and teach them the 3 Rs. But unfortunately some of the educational requirements have not prepared them as well as they need to.

Another factor in the lower than business pay scale is that public school jobs are paid with public funds. Publically funded jobs are generally lower scale than business-funded ones, both in and out of the teaching profession. We embrace capitalism in this country, remember? Only when we taxpayers agree that we need to raise the teaching requirements and subsequently pay our teachers better, will we have better teachers and better educations for our children.

That is a different argument from the one about all taxpayers paying their fair share for our public schools though, regardless of whether they have a child who attends public school or not.

[green 6]

Which always raises a question for me. I don't have kids, so should I not have to pay taxes to support education at all?

Lisah, I don't have kids, either, and my husband and I are lucky enough that we have to pay a healthy whack of taxes, and I'm talking Canada so our tax burden is higher than yours!

The reason I don't resent paying education taxes is that I believe that a country which has a well educated population is more likely to be free of violent street crime, poverty, one parent families, carelesness, and dysfunctional neighbourhoods.

People who are educated do not behave like people who live in the ghettos of poverty. They are, generally speaking, quieter, cleaner, more law abiding, less likely to have large and fatherless families, live on welfare, kill each other and maybe even the occasional middle class person who gets in the way, and sleep on piss-soaked mattresses.

They are more fun to be around, easier to be friends with, and they save us lots of money with respect to the police and legal systems. Educating other people's kids is an altogether great investment. It keeps them off the streets when one might be in the mood to walk the family dog. And you have got to remember that it was the tax money of other childless folk that contributed to educating our own charming selves, eh.:heh:

[lisah25 3]

Educating other people's kids is an altogether great investment. It keeps them off the streets when one might be in the mood to walk the family dog. And you have got to remember that it was the tax money of other childless folk that contributed to educating our own charming selves, eh.:heh:

And as I tell DH, those kids will be our doctors and lawyers when we are elderly. So I want them as educated as possible!

[bd_pgx 0]

Nope can not vote for him. I'm for a change, but he is way to liberal for me.

[ebony868 0]

This will be an interesting race. I wish somehow he and Hillary could come to some agreement and get on the ticket together! That would be a :mad: for this country!

[bitteroldhag 0]

In a heartbeat.