Stop The Blackmail � 65% Solution and Lesson from New Zealand

So much to choose from here, it is hard to write about only one thing.

The 65% solution has been proposed in a number of places, most prominently in California by Sen. Tom McClintock (see my post on this). But that is not what caught my attention was this list:

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  Give specialized instruction for the hard of hearing, the blind, and the neurologically impaired in the “least restrictive environment”.
• Teach gifted students
• Conduct eye testing
• Give inoculations
• Provide pregnancy counseling
• Instill morals, ethics, and values while avoiding any mention of religion
• Search for and exclude all items defined as weapons
• Help students develop political awareness and know-how
• Dispense surplus milk and other commodities
• Perform job placement, provide career information and develop work skills
• Provide counseling and psychological services for grief and conflict assistance
• Assist with bilingual language development and assistance in translation for non-English speaking students
• Counsel delinquents
• Provide transportation
• Follow due process
• Protect student privacy
• Provide computer literacy
• Eliminate sexual discrimination and harassment for students and staff
• Prohibit smoking anywhere on school grounds
• Assist in bladder control
• Develop the ability to reason
• Provide suicide counseling
• Maintain birth information and age certification data
• Close school for selected ethnic and national holidays
• Maintain often extremely costly programs to manage or remove asbestos, lead and pesticides – including notices to the community.
• Foster integration
• Ensure civil rights and racial tolerance
• Detect and report child abuse
• Eradicate head lice, scabies and other diseases
• Assist in charity fundraising
• Serve hot lunch and breakfast
• Develop an appreciation of other people and cultures
• Build patriotism and loyalty to the ideals of democracy
• Build respect for the worth and dignity of the individual
• Involve parents in the creation and review of student discipline policies
• Promote an understanding of the heritage of our country
• Train all staff and provide protection from blood-borne diseases
• Provide individual tutors for students who are hospitalized or recovering at home
• Abide by conflicting state and federal accounting standards
• Develop curiosity and a thirst for learning
• Develop skills in the use of leisure time
• Build a feeling of self-worth or self-respect
• Meet all life safety code provision for school facilities
• Retain student records for 60 years
• Administer ISAT and IGAP tests in accordance with ever-changing rules
• Account to the penny for the spending of federal funds
• Pay for criminal background investigations for all staff

Those task that I don't think schools should be doing are in Red. Now don't get me wrong, some of these services should be performed, including safety of facilities and similar matters, but they should not be provided by schools and should not be part of the school budget. Many of these "parenting" requirements result from the abdication of parents for their duty to raise, care for, and discipline their children. I find it incredibly shocking that Illinois schools must perform these functions.

I will take some time to read about the New Zealand lesson, but the little tease we got in the posting provides some incredible guidance.

Stop The Blackmail--65% Solution and Lesson from New Zealand