I saw it. Perhaps we were a few of the 100,000 or so poor souls parked in front of our boob tubes @ the local ABC affiliate on a Friday night.

Unfortunately when tax $'s support schools--charter, vouchers, or other alternatives--controls will be imposed that serve the purposes of the masters of the mini universe rather than ideal mind development contained in an atmosphere of free inquiry. Free inquiry would lead to unpredictable outcomes, which is anathema to the educationist and corporatist status quo. Madison Avenue and their proxies in congress won't allow confiscated wealth to be allocated in such a slipshod manner. In short, the ABC story really is advocating more of the same mind slavery, albeit under a different set of self annointed, educational swamis.

If Stossel was truly interested in educational revolution perhaps he could present us with a show that argues for the ELIMINATION OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS, PERIOD! Anything short of this is certain to bring us more of the same: illegitimate mind colonization leading to state (corporate/political)easily manipulated robots. No thanks!

It was a pretty scathing attack on the teachers, teachers unions, and government school monopoly but emphasized the "need" for "good" schools. It seemed like a big pitch for vouchers, and I'm with :)), vouchers will have all kinds of strings attached to be sure to perpetuate dumbing down in private schools. Although Stossel highlighted several private schools achieving good results on a shoestring, there was not one mention of the obvious: homeschooling. The kid who couldn't read but was raised 2 reading levels in 72 hrs at Sylvan Learning Center was pretty good, as was that Kansas City district (2 billion?) with a state of the art school with Olympic pool, workout room with track, computers, all the frills- and test results declined! I also liked that numbskull teacher who claimed that no amount of money would be enough, she thought they should get THIRTY THOUSAND per kid per year. The arrogance is mind-boggling!

Stossel doesn't go far enough but let's be real and take what we can get. 76% of Americans are dissatisfied with government schools. You can't get a poll saying 76% of people love their mothers! It's time to prune back the monster. A little bit is a good thing! Then let's not rest there. Keep going. Incrementalism.

I don’t think this Stossel/ABC documentary went far enough, either. I also think the network bigboys most likely had a hand in setting limits as to what they would allow, in terms of upsetting truths. Ratings, you know (and good friends in high places as well, most likely).

I think if religious freedom is predicated on the absence of interference or regulation by government, then educational freedom, if it is to be realized, must be based on the same absence of governmental involvement. Any state involvement will diminish freedom.

That being said, I am still very pleased that this program *happened*. I think it’s remarkable and noteworthy that a venue so mainstream would create and air what they did. It was indeed a scathing attack on the system --- the players on the gov side were shown to be inept and irrational at every turn. A hundred years of propaganda, in the most negative sense of the word, has rendered the vast majority of Americans entranced by the illusion of good things happening in their children’s’ schools. I think Stossel and (even) ABC deserve kudos for the show. I feel certain that some percentage of viewers had the blinders lifted at least a tad. For that I am thankful. A little bit IS a good thing.

Listen, JT, Spatacus, I'll take whatever I can get, incrementally speaking. But a one hour segment on 20/20 on a Friday night, with a couple thousand viewers, is about as incremental as it gets.

I'll speculate that the show has no measurable reasonance whatsoever relative to exacting a popular movement for a changing of the guard. Schools are viewed by the plebs the same way congress is viewed: "Yours is bad, mine is good, shame on you, run YOUR rascals out on a rail even as we vote for the tax levy to support our troops."

Schools have been criticized for ages in copious venues (media, politcal, school board meetings), and what has come out of the criticism? WORSE schools, in aggregate, subsequent to the criticism.

Incrementalism will never gain enough steam to exact meaningful change...never!

As long as the locals can legally, illegally pick your/our pocket to fund the charade, they will. They ain't stealing your money to committ personal economic suicide, rather they're stealing it to foist on us more of the same statist, mind control, clap trap.

The "crisis" that we viewed on 20/20 is just the tonic the gestapos need for more of the same ($'s) to fix the "crisis". It's a merry go round going nowhere, just as was intended by those standing to gain the most.

I'm with you :))). I didn't see the show because we don't have TV, but my first thought upon hearing about it was, "OK. What national initiative to increase a: teachers' salaries, b: funding for schools, c: more federal involvement with local schools, or d: United Nations involvement is going to be coming down the pike soon that we need to be indoctrinated about."

I gotta tell ya. These kinds of shows don't happen in a vacuum, especially when they are produced by one of the Big Three shills for the liberaligentsia. Someone, somewhere put a bug in some ABC mucky-muck's ear about his desire to propagandize the failing public school system. I predict there will be a follow-up show highlighting the need for (a) through (d) above, and how the American people need to get behind new measures to prevent this decline in the public school system.

I'll believe that ABC produced this show out of a altruistic concern for exposing a failing public school system when I see them produce a show exposing the myth of evolutionistic philosophy and recommending that creation be taught to children.

Call me cynical ... but there it is.

Dave

Hi Dave
I'm glad JS brought this program to our attention. We have TV here but we don't get 20/20 or ABC.

Thanks to our puter we were able to print transcripts and read responses on Mr. Stossels' message board. Wowsers~~~there are a lot of teachers with their knickers in a twist. They just don't get~it, it's not them, it's the flippin system that's the problem. Like that arrogant superintendent arsss playing golf in his office bragging to the teachers that he has no problems, about whatever they complained about in the lunchroom.

Want a chuckle Dave? Sure you do, you're always ready for a chuckle. LOL Kiddos' store made the "big move" after 25 years of being in the same location. She (rookie) ragged~on a guy about the poor (discusting) back~room facilities in the new store. LOL I guess this arrogant englishman whimped to the other staff because when kiddo went back to the old store everyone was chearing her for standing up to this shmuck. She didn't know he was a big~wig from Toronto. Like she said , I don't care who he is, the animals in the new store aren't any better off. The workplace is discusting, worse than the old place. Less places to bath puppies, and more.

I'm proud of kiddo, that whimpy englishman from Toronto needed to be put in his place. Call it a tune~up. This morning we took Little Bowlegged Billy into the NEW store, a puppy kiddo saved. That arrogant englishman, got the message , I hope when the staff loved seeing little Billy walking and running. Five Weeks ago , he couldn't WALK. WHY, because puppies are caged and if they don't get out to move, they ....ummmmm , you KNOW..... Kiddo works in the backrooms taking care of little animals in a huge petstore. What a learning experience. We took Billy to the "Grand Opening" today, the staff was THRILLED. Little Billy was a hit, he can walk .

It's been a long coupla months,