Saint Paul School Board -

Saint Paul School Board - The Saint Paul Green party endorsed Richard Broderick to run for the Saint Paul School Board.

Now, I have nothing against Greens; if you leave out their la-la foreign policy, their rabid-rodent anti-capitalism, their myopia about "social justice", their marriage to multiculturalism (which is really repressed hatred of Westernism), their galloping double-standards about world cultures, their hatred of achievement and puritanism about food and lifestyles and public morality, they actually have a few good ideas about participatory grassroots politics (which, as it happens, the Libertarians had first).

But this press release bothers me. There's a lot of little, piddly points - the type of thing that I'll nick any Green on.

And then you get toward the bottom, to the genuinely scary stuff.

Here it is:

July 20 -- The Green Party of St. Paul has unanimously endorsed Richard Broderick for the St. Paul Public Schools Board of Education.

Twelve candidates have filed for the School Board race. The top eight vote-getters in the September 9 primary will move on to the November general election, where the top four vote-getters will be elected to the board.

Broderick has lived in St. Paul since 1986. He is a journalist and teacher at Anoka Ramsey Community College and the Loft Literary Center. A Minnesota State Arts Board fellow, recipient of three first place awards for journalism and commentary from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists, two first-place awards from the Minnesota Publishers Association, and numerous other awards for his writing, he is the father of two students currently enrolled in the St. Paul Public School System.

He is running for School Board, he said, because he believes that "public education is one of the most powerful -- and one of the last -- great democratizing institutions in America today." He says that he wants to protect St. Paul's public school system from attacks mounted by the forces of privatization, while also pressing the Superintendent's office to be more responsive to the needs of teachers, students, and parents."

Leave aside for a moment the hilarity of the notion that public education is "democratizing" (it's modeled after the old Prussian system - any system that requires eight year old boys to sit in straight-backed chairs for six hours a day is not "democratic". But that's another subject).

No, the notion that the public schools are "one of the last" democratic influences in our society is one I'd like to ask Mr. Broderick about some more.

Other specific proposals he plans to present include calls for reforms in the district's food purchasing system to favor locally produced, whole, natural, and organic foods;

Has anyone done any sort of cost-benefit analysis on this?

a severing of corporate ties that undermine intellectual freedom;

This is lunacy. While everyone's up in arms about the Channel 1s of the education world, I think it's a fair bet that there are plenty of private, "corporate" involvements that enhance "intellectual freedom".

In the meantime, "intellectal freedom" is the last thing that all too much of the public school system wants - least of all Richard Broderick, if the Green Party's press release is to be believed. But more on that in a bit.

...a School Board veto over tax-increment financing and other sweetheart deals between the city of St. Paul and developers that rob financial resources from the school district;

Read taht again. Broderick and the Greens want the School Board to have a veto in the City Council.

Is this making sense yet?

...development of curriculum in non-violent conflict resolution and creation of student-run conflict resolution committees in each St. Paul public school;

Student conflict resolution is an idea that can work - given that the students have access to genuine democracy in other parts of their school life. Without that, though, it's like giving fully functional municipal courts to the Burmese.

expanded, direct teacher, student, and parent input to the Board of Education;

I'd love to know what they have in mind for these (I asked, in the forum in which this release was originally posted). I won't hold my breath.

and conversion of the district to renewable energy sources.

Again - the costs and benefits, please.

Now - here' the part I think is either scary or hilarious:

"The core principles of the Green Party -- ecological wisdom, grassroots democracy, social justice, and non-violence -- are all rooted in a categorical rejection of exploitation and domination as acceptable means to our ends in life," Broderick said. "In order for our society to adopt these values -- as it must, if we are to survive on this planet -- we need to nurture the instinctively Green consciousness of our young people through the comprehensive application of these principles to curriculum, instruction, administration, and district-wide decision-making processes.

Read that again. Broderick sees the school system as the place to "nurture the instinctively Green consciousness of our young people", using the "curriculum, instruction, administration, and district-wide decision-making processes."

I'm not sure about you, but I don't want school board members "nurturing" my kids' political consciousness, Green, DFL or Republican. I want them to teach them to read, do math, reason critically, appreciate our culture and be good citizens. Let them nurture their own consciences, thank you very much.

Greens - what do you have to say about this?

Posted by Mitch at July 21, 2003 07:45 AM