Public Schools are already too political.

Why do you suppose school children in America are twice as likely to have a Special Education plan than children anywhere else in the civilized world? Could it be that parents here are unlikely to accept the concept that little Bobby is as dumb as a post! After all, he does take after uncle Bob who is still doing time on that bad rap!

Can you imagine the political storm resulting from a thoroughly trained and experienced teacher suggesting to parents that their child is a nitwit? No, the teachers must be careful not to offend, the administrators, burned out teachers without the courage to look for jobs elsewhere, are scared to death and all of us have been fed this absolute nonsense that there are no stupid children, just inadequate teachers.

And Public Schools, unlike the private schools always being touted as superior, have to take all these kids, absolutely all of them. And nowadays that includes many children with multiple handicaps who need constant attention from several adults.

All of this costs millions and millions if not billions of dollars every year. Which politician, do you suppose, wants to discuss these issues?

On top of this, misguided administrators advocate for young adults to remain in school until they are 18. It’s somewhat understandable. Dropouts end up in prison, the unemployment line, the homeless shelters. But one of the tragedies and realities of life is that not every young punk can be saved. Why should they go on attacking teachers and disrupting classes and corrupting other students well beyond the time they should have gotten the boot. Does anyone have scholarship that suggests this approach really works for anyone?

There isn’t a school teacher alive who can’t tell you just why smaller class sizes help students, especially in the early grades. But the Heritage Foundation says class sizes have shrunk and national test scores haven’t improved. How about this view: if class sizes hadn’t shrunk a bit while the society struggled with drug addicted and absent parents in larger numbers than ever before, how much lower might the scores be?

The Latest Version of the Power-Mad Politician

So, let’s talk. Teachers and public employee unions in general, except police and fire fighters, are under attack in much of the country. Angry politicians of the moment say these unions have become too powerful because power-mad politicians like them in the past have given away the store to these unions to gain their political support for additional campaigns for higher office. This, today’s power-mad politicians say, has led to obscene pay and benefits for public employees.

Is that necessarily true? While I worked for an insurance company and a very large law firm for years, I did spend about thirty years working as a public library director for three large cities in the Northeast. My late wife worked as a librarian for two different high tech companies. I never earned more than two thirds of what she earned and much of the time not quite half. Granted I have a small pension and she would not have but she had a 401k that was substantial. I have two Master’s degrees, she had one. And even if we discount for the fact that she was wicked smart and I’m not all that bright, I still don’t get this latest argument that the salary and benefits of teachers and librarians are killing cities and states.

And unionized public employees, with the exception of police and fire, have already said they are willing to negotiate higher health insurance costs and pension contributions.

Notice that police and fire fighters are not included in this round up of the usual suspects even though they have some of the damnedest collectively bargained contract provisions I have ever seen. Could that be because these paramilitary organizations are still too tough for politicians to take on face to face? When was the last time you got paid for sleeping through the night?

Tea Partiers, the old hippies from the 60’s, whose kids are grown and whose lives are easier than any other elderly group in the history of mankind, don’t want to pay for anything they don’t currently use and so whip up this hatred of educated public employees while insisting that Wall Street robber barons pay little or no income tax. And in the midst of this frenzy, pity the poor politician who suggested we all pay a little more for our civil society and the future of the children.

A Dunkin' Donuts is coming...and the sky is falling.

So a couple of weeks ago I’m reading a letter to the editor of our daily newspaper from a retiree in Wellfleet lamenting that a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise had snuck into town on the main drag, Route 6A. This, he tells us, is the beginning of the end for Wellfleet, a place formerly of great scenic beauty and historic charm. And, apparently, a place where you couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee! This guy must drink tea with the little finger elevated.

We have no WalMart on Cape Cod. Instead, we can buy every cheaply made product from China at the dozens of enormous Christmas Tree Shops, a “local” outfit! The smallest Home Depot in America is located in an old defunct store front in Hyannis. A larger store would have been the end of the Cape for sure. There is no Lowes.

The airport in Hyannis is expanding as are airports everywhere. If more people fly, airports will get bigger. This, too, is reported to be a sign that the end is near. The hospital in Hyannis uses valets to park patients cars because there is very limited parking on site. Parking garages would cause us to think we were in a “city” and who wants that. A developer proposed a five story Hilton hotel for the airport only to be turned down flat. Imagine, five whole stories! Meanwhile, dozens of homeless drunks wander the main street of Hyannis lured there by the enormous shelters set up for them.

I have lived on and off on the Cape for going on 50 years. Twenty years ago this stopped being anything other than a suburb of Boston with salt water. The busiest business here is the bus company, with dozens of buses taking Cape Codders to Boston every day for work. Get over yourselves.

Do Good, Don't Pay Property Taxes?

In my humble opinion: It’s time for property taxes to apply to everyone, including non-profits of all stripes, governmental, religious and otherwise. I was listening yesterday to the Mayor of Harrisburg, PA and she mentioned that 45 % of the property in that city is property tax exempt. Harrisburg, of course, is the state capitol and the state burdens it with all those governmental buildings. And all the other “non-profits”, real or imagined, have to have a presence in the state capitol.

I can remember hearing that same lament from the Library Director in Concord, NH, also a state capitol. Even in Nashua, NH, the two hospitals that paid their chief execs millions of dollars avoided property taxes. Colleges are at least as bad, charging enormous tuitions and fees, paying football coaches millions and skipping property taxes. And don’t get me started on Churches, again real or imagined. Property taxes might even give some of them pause before they decide to build another gigantic monument and scale back to a more practical building.

In Boston, tax-exempt non-profits were encouraged to make payments to the City in lieu of taxes. Some did, some didn’t. In all these cases, I assume someone making an emergency call expects a City department to respond. I don’t care if it is arranged through some sort of sliding scale. It is time for these institutions to begin to routinely pay their fair share for municipal services for the buildings they own.

OMG, is that snow?

It’s raining on Cape Cod. Apparently it is snowing lightly throughout the interior of Massachusetts. It’s eight in the morning. Since day break all four Boston stations have been broadcasting nothing but weather related reports. No Today Show or any other news for us. We are not sufficiently alarmed: after all, the sky is falling!

This is what I refer to as “weather hysteria”. Every school in New England is canceled for little or no reason. Probably because Superintendents are advised by Public Works Directors, and worse yet lawyers, that the television station is reporting the end of the world as we know it. Children better not venture out although I would bet every parent in New England will shortly tell the little shits to put on a snowsuit and get outdoors before they kill them.

Why do the TV stations do this? Because people, hearing the end is near, will then tune in to hear the weather report and advertising dollars will rise.

As these things go, this storm is a fairly modest little affair. No real accumulations, roads a little slippery but quite usable. Everyone should be going about their business. This is not Whittier's "Snowbound". 

Just another indication that, without even thinking about it, we have become weather wusses, pushed around by the proclamations of a 12 year old weather girl with a nice figure. Unbelievable!