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May 8, '01
Vol. 1, No. 10
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T H E S C H O O L L I B E R A T O R
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Alliance for
the Separation of School and State
-Permission granted to forward in its entirety.-
--Please distribute widely.--
1) Parent/Student Rebellion
2) Challenging Charter Schools
3) Daniel Greenberg on Computers to the Rescue
4) Florida expands Edu-welfare
5) EduAbsurdity: Saunders on Success
PLUS
* Sepschool.org needs your generous support
* SepCon2001 Set for Nov. 16-18 in Arlington VA
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THIS WEEK'S LINKS
1-----1-----1
Cracks in the Edifice: Rebellion against the testing craze is growing.
Parents in wealthy communities in New York and
California prevented their children from participating in standardized
state tests. Somehow, I don't think fear of failure
is the reason.
Eighth-graders skip state test
http://www.dallasnews.com/national/35
6865_boycott_04nat..html
Marin students boycott state test
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg
i?f=/c/a/2001/05/04/MN231705.DTL
2-----2-----2
Charter Chatter: Several states look to rein in charter schools. Says one
state representative: "We've had some great abuses of the taxpayer
dollar, and you just can't ignore it." (Then why have they
been ignoring the abuses in the traditional public schools all these
years?-Ed.)
Challenges to Charter Laws Mount
http://edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug
=33charter.h20
3-----3-----3
Computers to the Rescue: Sudbury Valley School founder Daniel Greenberg
gives his prediction that "technology will
eventually destroy the way schools are run now." (Could technology
lead to destroying public schooling in the process? That's what I read
between the lines.-Ed.)
The Trojan Horse of Education
http://www.technos.net/journal/volume10
/1greenberg.htm
4-----4-----4
Vouchers and tax credits. Wow. Florida is well on its way to destroying
the independence of its private schools.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/
050501/met_6096455.html
5-----5-----5
EduAbsurdity: "In Edu-Land, nothing sinks curriculum as quickly as
success," says commentator Debra Saunders. Saxon Math torpedoed by LA
school districts and many think it has to do with... politics. Surprise,
surprise.
"If It Isn't Broken"
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/de
brasaunders/ds20010506.shtml
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HELP UPGRADE Sepschool.org
Each day, we get from 4 to 6 new signers of the Proclamation via the
Internet. On peak days when we are mentioned in a popular on-line
newsletter, we have gotten as many at 100 new signers. I am
convinced with effort, we can make 100 per day the standard. That's 3,000
new signers per month.
Here's our two-step plan:
1) Upgrade the website so it looks better, is better organized, and sells
merchandise on-line.
2) Start pushing to get more traffic.
Steve Brock is already hard at work redesigning www.sepschool.org.
Take a peek.
http://sbrock.hobbiton.org/clients/sepschool/
But he can't continue without funding. Can you please donate some part of
the $25,000 webpage budget we have for this year? Any amount is greatly
appreciated.
Please email your contribution amounts to
mailto:Morgen@psnw.com If you pay by
credit card, have her call you back for the number so all is secure.
We're winning...
http://www.sepschool.org/Other/Fritz_
Winning.htm
...but we can't continue this invaluable
outreach strategy without your financial support.
Thank you, Marshall Fritz
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SepCon2001 is set for Friday-Sunday, Nov. 16-18, 2001, the weekend before
Thanksgiving, at the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel in Arlington VA. Pencil it in
your calendar now.
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SCORECARD
Total Proclaimers (as of April 20, 2001): 12,523
New
Proclaimers year-to-date: 893
New Proclaimers in week ending May 8: 133
Top three states in Proclaimers per million population: Minnesota, 184;
New Hampshire, 142; Utah, 124.
See all states at
http://www.sepschool.org/cgi/ranking.c
gi/PPM0
SIGN THE PROCLAMATION or get a family member to: "I proclaim publicly
that I favor ending government involvement in education."
http://www.sepschool.org/Proclamation
WANT TO SOUND OFF? Discuss education issues with fellow articulate School
Liberators. Go to
http://www.sepschool.org/Other/eGroups
Discussion.htm
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? Send us your message at
mailto:ccuthbert@fix.net
WORD OF MOUTH is the most efficient means of marketing the Separator
philosophy. Please forward this newsletter to your family, friends and
associates.
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FINAL THOUGHT
"Harder work is more interesting to teach, but academic challenges
can be threatening to insecure children. Acting out masks ignorance. Work
that makes students comfortable and feel successful causes fewer
discipline problems. . Dumbing down is a discipline technique
that keeps children who prefer entertainment to instruction orderly
and safe." --from New York Times article "A View From the
Trenches" (Registration required.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/08/edu
cation/08ED-KING.html?pagewanted=print
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THE SCHOOL LIBERATOR is currently a FREE service of The Alliance for the
Separation of School & State 4578 N First #310, Fresno CA 93726 (559)
292-1776. We are a non-profit, grass roots educational organization
dedicated to informing people worldwide
how education can be improved for all--not only the poor--by liberating
schools from politics.
For more information go to http://www.sepschool.org
Publisher: Marshall Fritz
Editor: Cathy Cuthbert
Copyright 2001, The Alliance for the Separation of School & State,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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