Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on August 5, 2009 at 11:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)

So why not pool our resources? good now the private schools can get aid and free lunches.yeah.

Posted by jimi (anonymous) on August 6, 2009 at 9:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What a good write, Julie Cooper...thank you.

And what a good idea, not only for the students, but for our community as well. Working together, certainly a novel idea, and the strength of commitment heard Monday morning will only provide good things for Natchez.

Seems the Chamber of Commerce board made a great hire when they got Deborah Hudson. My wife has been involved with her and some different aspects of the Chamber's business, and she has nothing but praise for Ms. Hudson's innovation, enthusiasm, and imagination. Thank you Ms. Hudson...people like you and Woody Allen are hard to come by...especially Woody, he's free. Our community needs a hundred more just like ya'll.

I still think we need neighborhood schools, less busing, and total intergration of the kids and the teachers.

When you put all the teachers together, the cream will rise to the top, and their example can inspire the others to aspire, and all will benefit from the sharing.

Same thing for the kids.

Can you imagine what we would have lost as a National Treasure if Michael Jordan had made his high school basketball team on his first try, and he'd been just another mediocre team player? By being cut, he worked harder to bring himself up to the best ball players level. And in the process became better and better until he became the best basketball player in the world.

Everyone will not achieve the level of greatness of Michael Jordan, but through the inspiration of the best among us, we will be inspired to be better than we are, to be better than average.

And working together...praise the Lord!

peace and hope..........jimi

Posted by Yeahuhuh (anonymous) on August 6, 2009 at 10:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The only way it is bad to share like this -- or share "technology and equipment" would be if a private institution sought to use public infrastructure to do something that excluded a significant part of the public. Duh!

In a purely hypothetical sense, say people decided they wanted to racially segregate their childrens' school, and they would have to pay a lot to get the materials they needed to do such, so they decided to say that they just wanted to educate "their" people and should get public funding. Most people could recognize that they just decided to "omit" the concept that they are racially segregating as a primary purpose of their schooling effort. Yet they then sought and used public funds to help them discriminate. That is probably actually illegal.

Of course, a private school with a calculated reduction in minority attendance could claim to not racially discriminate, and still acquire the teaching environment that they prefer by eliminating numbers of minority students. That would still be racial segregation. Or fees could be used to alter the racial makeup of the school. That would still be segregating, though more acceptable as a method as the perpetrator could claim racially equal offering.

I don't suppose it would be much different to use public funds to segregate people by religion, willingness to pay for schooling or any other cause, but let's acknowledge that the racial motivation is the pink elephant in the living room here in Natchez, followed closely by a parent's desire to have teachers leading prayer or teaching God concepts to the community.

Sharing information is one thing, but sharing equipment and expensive proprietary software or curricula could make for public subsidy of decidedly non-egalitarian private goals. If that is their aim then private institutions should always pay their fair share of taxes or fees for such information whether they get it through a public effort or not. Yet our society rightly provides and taxes for a lot of information that private institutions might use already. And actions on a purely local level may be more palatable to a population depending on demographics.

To act like all private institutions simply have educating their children as a goal would be a little dishonest, though many teachers rightly take that attitude about their work. We are required by law to educate our children, and we must have a public system. Those who do not want to support a public system should not use public moneys to help them discriminate, and if they do they should compensate.

Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on August 6, 2009 at 1:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Though not the first, but the most recent, Ronald Reagan, Bush I and "W" all asked for public funding for private schools. The purpose, however stated, is to provide "vouchers" so people with lower incomes can afford racially segragated schools. And now, even Obama is saying private school vouchers are a good thing. Of course, his kids are in a private school. I never fail to be amazed by politicians.

Private and parochial schools have always been around as long as we have had education in this country.

Catholic kids of the parish were allowed to attend their Catholic schools. It cost a small fee to the parents, but mostly was paid for by the diocese of that parish. These school provided for their kids of all races within that parish an education steeped in Catholicism and Catholic tradition.

The private academies and college prep schools were, before forced intergration, were very expensive, very selective, and very elitist. Very rich people paid tons of money to keep their children separated from the rest of us and insure they married into the same class and all that bunk... And a lot of them, like the Kennedy's sent their kids to these schools to make sure their kids got accepted at the Ivy League and other schools with very high academic standards or catered to the very rich. I mean, even George W. Bush got into Yale as a legacy of his Skull and Crossbones Daddy...where he excelled as a cheerleader.

But now private and parochial schools in Mississippi are not so much in those strains, but rather to segregate the black and white students. According to localschooldirectory.com, Natchez Public Schools are 95% Black; Cathedral is 85% white; ACCS is 95% white; and Trinity is 98% white.

There are probably more Baptists and Methodists attending Cathedral than Catholics...and the tuition is right up there with Trinity and ACCS. They still get a course in Catholicism, and have mandatory mass. But the class is only one period a day, and the masses amount to 4 times a year. We had religion twice a day, prayer, and went to mass every month. And I don't remember any kids that weren't Cathollic.

Natchez, these statistics are embarrassing in the 21st Century, 250 years since they fought the Civil War. It's no wonder we can't get any major industry to locate here. Times have changed, people have changed. And if we don't change we are doomed.

Every one of the SEC football and basketball teams I see so widely supported are nearly 100% black...except the head coaches, right? I see LSU hat's, caps, bumper stickers...and what, there are less than ten white faces in the team picture. Same goes for Ole Miss, USM, MSU... That's the way it is once your kid leaves Natchez, so why wouldn't the desegregation of our school system work? Then we could pool our resources and improve the education we are offering to our children.

It is ABOUT THE CHILDREN, right?

--mojo

Posted by Yeahuhuh (anonymous) on August 6, 2009 at 2:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

That was a great piece of writing mojo.

When Brown vs Board of Education was decided the principle was that separate is inherently unequal -- that there are too many ways to discriminate when separate facilities are set up. I guess it will always be that way where 51% of a population is one group or another -- the majority seeks to give itself exactly what it wants and if anyone is lacking it won't be them.

I know almost everyone who thinks about it carefully comes to the same conclusion. Separate facilities are inherently unequal. Doesn't have to be true but it is. Trouble is, a lot of people think they are better than other people in a lot of ways.

A lot of people -- in this town -- would say that if white schools were identical to black schools, the learning experience would still be different, and that if blacks want to get better, or smarter, or whatever they should act differently -- that the white population should not be required by law to raise up or bail out the black population.

Seems to me if we tax everyone by the same rules, and public education is mandated, then we owe everyone the same application of their schooling dollar. If there is inherent inequality in some sector in the excellence of schooling for any reason, then that is just as damning as shorting a group of funds or shorting them on qualified teachers.

I sent my kids to this public school system and they both went on with their education and did above average work in the real world. But then my kids are probably better than most kids he,he! (a little humor there)

Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on August 6, 2009 at 6:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When one child who wants a good education can't get it because of a school system that doesn't provide the ability for that child to attain that education, we all fail.

It's that point at which the chain will break. In this case the metaphor means our nation is weakened to the point of breaking because for nearly 4 decades our public education system has been left to its own destruction.

Most states began to see the cracks early enough and took the bull by the horns and pushed ahead. But here in the deep south, in the big cities where the inner city has been left to decay, and in the most depressed places in our country...those places which needed all of our help the most and have received the least, we are in such awesome disrepair nothing short of a complete revamping of the entire dying system will help. But it seems there is too much ego and pride to admit mistakes.

Right here in Natchez our public school system has failed...utterly. But as long as we continue to acquiesce to (doctor) Morris, we will continue to fail, not only at education, but as a community as well.

--mojo

Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on August 6, 2009 at 11:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Why would anyone pay thousands of dollars to send their kids to private school and then share that with folks that wouldn,t pay a dime,or mooch off of the ones paying the bills,or let the goverment pay. The reason they send them is because they feel like the schools are better.Why are Obama,s kids in private school?? They should be in a public school like everybody else unless they are discriminting against others.

Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on August 7, 2009 at 6:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Natasha---these days it's not about a better education, it is about segregation and safety. Segregation is not always about race..some people merely want to separate themselves from their perceived fears. ie.. "you're poor and my kid might like your kid, fall in love with your kid and want to throw their life away on your kid".

Mr Obama is clearly worried about the safety of his children...or that they might start liking some gangsta rapper...........

--mojo