Hard to teach civics in NYS...

ha! (0.00 / 0)

nice one.

TODAY is day one. It always is.

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by: phillip anderson @ Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 17:44:41 PM UTC

Can of worms! (4.00 / 1)

What a can of worms you have opened.  Start with straight talk in the schools about how state government works, and you are just opening the door to straight talk about how the U.S. government works!

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by: NYCO @ Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 14:06:40 PM UTC

But Congress at its worst (0.00 / 0)

still seems usually better than the State Legislature.  Their committees actually make it look like they're doing something even when (maybe especially when) they're trying hard to look away from something they should be doing.

Of course, I don't think they passed a budget at all last year, something I don't think Albany's accomplished.  Or has it?

At the presidential/governor level, I'm guessing Bush wishes he was a steamroller now... oh well.

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by: simonstl @ Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 18:01:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Talking straight is where education gets interesting (4.00 / 1)

My son accompanied me on lobbying visits (for childcare funding) to the legislature from the time he was in 4th grade or so.  We went to Washington together to "Stand for Children" when he was a teen (my daughter was always more interested in riding bikes and raising chickens-- that is another good story!).  So, eventually, my son got a Masters from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and is now working in Chicago, another place that needs citizen activists as well as trained pros.  Particularly for kids with an interest, telling it like it is only makes them ready to pick up the burden of informed citizenship and activism.

My son had the good fortune to attend a public alternative school for middle and high school, and so was exposed to direct local democracy in his school, too.  A plurality of opinions and positions on governmental affairs was a staple of the teaching style-- my sympathies to the "embarrassed" civics teacher who feels he must be the only authority or example in his class.  There are other options on how to run a civics class, that make it easier to get kids interested in the real world, not just rebellious/drop-out disgusted.

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by: robinia @ Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 15:15:27 PM UTC

I know it's fashionable to deride (4.00 / 1)

the Legislature, but the fact is that legislators have habitually delayed, and added money to, the budget, for things that their constituents generally approve of -- especially more state aid for public schools that effectively lowers local property taxes.

This did not change on Day One, and may never change. In New York state and everywhere, legislators always want to bring back as much money as possible to their districts.

In New York, the governor can say no; he (so far) has the line-item veto, and should use to zero out obviously wasteful spending.

But the vast majority of state spending is for popular health and education programs, and for state workers, who are the mainstay of the Albany area economy.

I expect that Spitzer will somewhat limit the most egregious stuff, but it will be pocket change in a $110-billion-plus budget.

I agree that redistricting should be less political, but expecting legislators to give up that essential power is a fool's errand.

I also agree that taxes in NY are too high, but they are clearly related to the high cost of education and healthcare here.

Which is what the budget dance is about this year, and every year.
 

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by: devtob @ Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 00:45:54 AM UTC

If the legislature ran remotely like what's taught in civics (0.00 / 0)

we wouldn't be having this conversation.

It's one thing to be cynical.  It's another to let that cynicism paralyze you, and yet another to argue that others should let it paralyze them.

Asking for democracy is merely "fashionable'?

If this is a fool's errand, we should definitely revise the civics textbooks and stop putting such silly ideas in people's heads.

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by: simonstl @ Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 14:31:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]