Tea at Trianon: Are Things Okay In Your Local Schools?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Are Things Okay In Your Local Schools?

From Jan Greenhawk at The Easton Gazette:

If you ask most parents if their child's school is okay, the answer you get is likely to be "yes." Yet, every day we see headlines about poor student achievement, out of control students disrupting the classroom and attacking teachers and students alike, and inappropriate content being taught to young children. Where is the disconnect between what is going on in schools and what parents think is going on in schools? Is it an intentional or accidental disconnect? Or is it both? Most parents I talk to nowadays are extremely busy between working to provide for their families, ferrying children from school to activities likes sports, and doing household duties that must be done to maintain a healthy standard of living for their children.
They don't have much time left to take a deep dive into what is going on their child's classroom much less their school or school system. They rely on teachers and district personnel to communicate with them. Sadly, teacher communication either doesn't happen at all or is skewed to specific purposes such as discipline issues or poor classroom performance relating to the parent's child. It's not that teachers don't want to keep parents in the know, they have no time either. In some cases, teachers are told to restrict their interactions with parents to as little as possible.
District communication, on the other hand, is often used to publicize all the "happy news" of the school system. No Superintendent wants to send out information that highlights district failures. Occasional extreme incidents such as school lockdowns or threats are generally limited to the schools involved. State test scores are revealed as required by the State. (Read more.)