October 20, Issue

"Student-Tracking Devices Save Money, Raise Concerns"

I think its interesting that Texas is often the place where things are done that would absolutely not be allowed anywhere else. Any kind of tracking devices that are used on people, who have not been convicted of a crime, are clearly a violation of the right to privacy. If our schools are becoming so large or so lax that they can't keep track of their students by conventional means, that's a problem. One that should not be solved by depriving students of their civil liberties. Also, it is a symptom of a larger problem which is the depersonalization of the school experience. This article claims that the schools are saving attendance money by proving that students are on school grounds, even though they are marked absent by teachers for not being in class where they should be. The school doesn't seem at all concerned by the fact that the students aren't in class where they should be--as long as there somewhere on campus and the school can get money for them being there. That seems to be a violation of the spirit of the law that requires them to be in school getting an education for the school to receive federal funds. After all who knows what their doing when they are supposed to be in class. What a disgrace!

"Superman' and Solidarity" presents and interesting slant on the film and the reality of the options. I would find it hard to believe that anyone can question the quality of education being dispensed in our public schools.
It is also true that one of the problems may be the quality of some of the teachers in the system. But this is by no means the only reason our schools are in the shape their in. It's funny lately I've read some articles that suggest that class size makes no appreciable difference in how well students do in school. I guess you can come up with statistics that will support just about anything.
Personally, I think class size, the variety of demands on schools to be "everything to everyone", the desire that everyone should pass and be made to feel they have done well, are just some of the reasons that are to blame for our schools failures, of just a few bad teachers.