Week One

Op-ed article on prop. 30:

http://0-search.proquest.com.library.cabrillo.edu/docview/1036835499?accountid=39584

5. Answer one of the questions at the end of the chapter on any of the assigned readings

John Taylor Gatto: Against School

What, according to Gatto, are the six unstated purposes of public schooling? To what extend does your own prior educational experience support this bleak view of American education?

        The six unstated purposes of public schooling, according to Gatto, are as stated:

1) to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority

2) to make children as alike as possible through conformity

3) to determine each student's proper social role,

4) once a proper social role is determined, the student must be sorted by role and trained only as far as their destination in the social machine merits, and not one step further,

5) to tag the unfit and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes,

6) to train an elite group of caretakers, who will be quietly taught how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down so that government may proceed unchallenged. 

      

         My own prior educational experience both supports and disproves this bleak view of American education in a number of ways. In terms of tagging the unfit, this was very valid. Those who were labeled as inadequate were placed in lower level classes and tended to hang out with students in those classes, socially separating them from the "average" students and effectively displacing them in society. At the same time, my high school encouraged uniqueness and creativity through its extensive and respected art and music program, and even became the second school in Southern California to become a part of the International Baccalaureate program, which promoted students to look at things through a "world lens." 

6. Summarize the article that you researched on Proposition 30 

        The opinion-based piece I read on proposition 30, written by George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times, attempts to have the reader see a generally different perspective of the proposition than they would normally see. Rather than have it being viewed as a tax-hike initiative, Skelton argued that it would also be the beginning for the destruction of most pension plans throughout the state. "Prop. 30 is not just about paying higher taxes," Skelton says, "it's about pensions, parks and perceptions." While Governor Brown has received praise from the business community for his "unwavering commitment" to reform, people like Dave Low, chairman of a coalition representing 1.5 million public workers and retirees, accused Brown of "taking a wrecking ball to retirement security." Brown's plan of eliminating $100,000+ pensions would cap incomes on which pensions could be based at $110,000 for Social Security recipients or $132,000 for retirees not entitled to Social Security. Retirement ages would also be raised and benefits would (generally) be reduced.

      Skelton is also cautious of how the state government will actually spend the money they receive from the proposition, warning that Sacramento has already showed indications of not properly utilizing their funds. Skelton points to the unpopular $68 billion bullet-train project, bringing up that only $13 billion of funding has been identified. The recent state parks scandal is also mentioned, in which the state government stashed $54 million while telling the public that more funding was needed in order to avoid the closure of many parks. Overall, Skelton is trying to persuade the public to look at how the state has managed past funds and use that as a credit score to help determine if it is right to keep sending billions of dollars to Sacramento.

      While I don't agree with any of this article at all, I'm glad I read it to fully comprehend both sides of the debate so I could form my own viewpoint on the issue with as much information as possible.