Students at McCain's $38,000 a year private high school forced to attend McCain speech

Alexandria, VA – On the second day of his week-long bio tour, John McCain visited his alma mater, Episcopal High School, to speak today about the importance of education in the formation of a person's character.

Before the 400-plus EHS student body and faculty assembled in the Flippin Field House, McCain emphasized the importance of honor, the honor code and the values that are imparted at the school. McCain also spoke positively of merit pay and school choice, both relatively safe territory for a conservative candidate.

"We should reward the best with merit pay, and encourage teachers who have lost their focus on the children they teach to find another line of work," McCain said. He added that the country should encourage "military veterans to enter the teaching profession," because of the values learned in the Armed Forces.

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According to one EHS staff member, attendance was required, although it was unclear what the punishment would have been if a student had refused to show.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/04/i_hope_attendan.html

except probably people who can't pass restrictive exams, or people with special needs, etc etc etc

It's nothing but a subsidy for people already wealthy enough to send their kid to a $38,000 a year private school.

I have MAJOR problems with school vouchers, because as the mother of a child with autism, I know my child would not be welcome at most private schools. The concept of a free and appropriate public education for children with disabilities (which is currently the law) would become a cruel joke under the Republicans' plans to privatize education.

from all the rest of the school districts. When people talk about expanding it I always ask if they are going to get the money from Minnesota, since local districts are already shelling out for Milwaukee.

You're right about private schools not taking special needs kids, they don't even have to be handicap accessible. Private schools only want the easy to teach kids or those that come with rich parents.

he has it in his life.

He's just another liar.

is honorable?


"We should reward the best with merit pay, and encourage teachers who have lost their focus on the children they teach to find another line of work," McCain said. He added that the country should encourage "military veterans to enter the teaching profession," because of the values learned in the Armed Forces."

I don't particularly like the idea of "encouraging military veterans to enter the teaching profession". . .if he means giving them special preference. Perhaps McCain can explain how a classroom full of young children should handle a "veteran" with stress disorder? Moreover, he might want to consider paying teachers more if he wants more people entering the profession.

On a serious note, the authoritarian, dictatorial nature of the military may be necessary for maintaining discipline in the military, but I don't think it's conducive to encouraging the type of creative thinking that our kids will need to compete globally.

LOL

Holy crap, $38k a year. How the other half lives.

I'm sweating out college tuition for my son. I can't even imagine paying $38,000 a year for high school. :mad:

while he was taking questions. One student stood up and stated that the students had been told, apparently by the McCain committee, that his appearance was not a political event, but that after hearing him speak she wanted to know how he could characterize it as anything but a political appearance. McCain's answer (caveat - he may have said more, but I did not hear it) was "I knew I should have shut this thing (presumably the microphone the students were using to ask questions) off sooner." He is almost as big an embarrassment as Bush.

to speak to high school students. This was a few months before he lost his reelection bid. Attendance was mandatory and students were not permitted to ask questions about the Iraq fiasco. One student had the microphone yanked out of her hand for asking how much longer we would be in Iraq. Nice lesson in free speech, huh?

And to see the machine denying them even simple honest questions ain't gonna fly with high school students. I hope those kids there learned something from this.

This is a really red area, and the kids voted overwhelmingly for Santorum in a mock election.

How depressing. Guess as long as they get to keep ALL their money and pay no taxes, then what's a little stifled civil liberty now and then?

Then they break for lunch in the Effin Cafeteria?

;)

Teachers deal with burnout all the time. Good ones, even. It's better to help them through it by mentoring, changing up their classes, and giving them sabbaticals instead of just telling them to quit or firing them.

Oh, and I've taught with a retired Army captain. He was a decent teacher for his students, but he was a total jerk to work with. He didn't respect the women teachers he worked with (screamed at one who had the audacity to question him at a teacher meeting--and she had more seniority and was a dept. chair), and he got burned out faster than almost anyone else I'd ever taught with. He was furious with everyone by the end of the school year, and I was shocked he signed his contract to return. Not all vets are good teachers, McSameAsBush.

At least the students learned how to get through horrible meetings when you're screaming at people in your head. I guess that's a decent skill to have for life.