Education... The Governors responsibility?

A commentary on the debate our gubernatorial candidates are having over Texas education.

It would appear that once again education seems to be key issue in a political race.  This years contenders are incubate Governor Rick Perry in the right corner vs Bill White in the left.  Gov. Perry says during his tenure, Texas education has improved and more kids are taking college entrance exams, well it would seem he is right.  Mr. White is claiming the the quality of education is less than stellar and kids are dropping out more than previous years, well it would seem he is correct as well.  What does that mean you may ask?  It means that politicians always spin what they say and never give direct answers.  It means that what ever "hot" issue the political machine wants to make "hot", has 2,3,or 4 right answers, and that once someone is elected they will most likely do absolutely nothing to address it.

I may have sounded bitter and disgruntled at politics and politicians, but I am not.  They have a job to do just like everyone else and the bantering and debate just comes with the field.  If I am bitter about anything, it is the dim-witted electorate who allow these types of debates to flourish.  Education is important, and it seems every year more money is thrown at it, like that will fix the problem.  Texas is spending almost 60 BILLION dollars on education, which is the largest expenditure in the budget at over 40%!  Maybe one of the problems could be by 2005 over 50% of students are "economically disadvantaged", or that instead of building a $20,000,000 "sports complex" they spend responsibly, or why don't we realize that not every person is going to get or deserves to get a 4.0 grade point average (you don't need a degree to pump gas).  The most important of all, why don't we hold irresponsible parents accountable for their offspring's performance in school!  Uh oh, did he just say that?  Yes, most of the people who's kids do not do well in school just send their kids to school, don't want the school to discipline their little dirt bags, and expect them to pass with flying colors.  If schools would start holding parents accountable for their kids actions, maybe we would start having better results, parents may actually start parenting instead of treating the school system as free daycare.  Having school administrators that are not worried about getting sued or loosing their jobs wouldn't hurt either, bring back corporal punishment!

In closing, I think Texas (government) needs to focus on the real problems afflicting "our education system" instead of bantering about what they are not really going to do after they win an elected office.  If we really want improvement, we need to hurt some feelings and step on some toes, and quit wiping parents bottoms and hold people responsible for their actions.  Stupid gets what stupid deserves!



Thanks Yall',
Dan-O

Sources:
Dallas News
State Government
State Budget

Hmm...

A critique of:  The Burnt Orange report, written by Todd Hill, titled "Coming Out must be made easier" and "Our new TV add hits Rick Perry...", both written Oct. 14, 2010.

Howdy everyone.  I accidentally scrolled to the wrong blog assignment last time, so hopefully I have it right this time!  Last time I critiqued from a conservative blog so I figured I would switch sides and try a liberal one (from the recommended blog list). 

The first post you come to starts off about a Fort Worth city counsel member named Joel Burns, who apparently is openly gay.  The author continues briefly describing the counsel members words of hope to young gay people and praising his public address.  Unfortunately,  someone who is not a homosexual insider (like myself), is left wondering what the "LGBTQ community" is, since it it referenced numerous times in this post without explanation.  Due to the nature of the article I can speculate, but I am not sure these days what is "politically correct" so if  lesbian-gay-bisexual-transvestite-queer community is offensive or wrong I apologize.  The author continues for the next paragraph describing his own sexual preferences and the struggles a gay person may face when in or out of the closet.
One thing that I have always found perplexing is why gay people are so vocal about being gay, it seems if the "lgbtq community" wanted to be treated like everyone else, than wouldn't it be good to actually act like everyone else (not a reference to sexual preference).  Do people hold "strait parades" and "strait rallies", do strait politician reach out publicly and urge young people that being strait will get better?  My guess is that the "lgbtq community" likes being different and the attention they garnish.  This blog also states that suicide rates for gay teens has spiked, what about strait teens, nerds, or drug addicted teens?  Do "nerds" get a break these days and I am just way out of touch? (I have been out of school for well over a decade).
 On another note, is it even appropriate for an elected official to be using his/her position as an official to address his/her sexual preferences publicly.  What would people say if I was an elected official and went on a tangent talking about some fetish I may indulge in (wow this is hard to write about without sounding like a bigot accidentally).  Continuing on in the post the author tells of the political bantering that is afflicted on basically every minority group on the planet and how harmful it can be.  He does close with a nice and hopeful statement of possibility and prosperity for the future.

The second post is simply a distasteful and intentionally misleading political advertisement aimed at Gov. Rick Perry.  This post and add are both ridiculous and dishonest, stating numerous times that the Texas State Governors mansion is "his" as if he owned it!  Well right along side should be an advertisement bashing Obama for spending millions of dollars refashioning and powering "his" White House!  Just plain stupid, and a bit hypocritical since in the previous post he semi-blames "drastic increase in hate mongering and nasty, spiteful rhetoric we've seen from political discourse today" for the troubles of gay teens!

This article is most likely written for anyone who reads it, targeting no particular demographic as far as I can tell.  I think the author is well written, but makes claims without providing any sort of statistical information for comparison.  I find the blog to be a worth while read, however I do not agree with the political viewpoint of the author.

Thanks Yall',
Dan-O

P.S. If at anytime I came across as politically incorrect or offensive it was completely unintentional, I hold no malice or discontent with the "Lgbtq or gay communities"... whatever that stands for.