Get on the Bus

By hugo zayas

April 13, 2006 4:00 PM | Link to this

Ron Vincent: you are almost right in everything,except on what you call the illegals claim to the tax coffers.the $500 Billion unclaimed money will answer your Questions. The U.S government is actually encouraging identity theft. In fact, one can argue that the origins of the identity theft epidemic can be traced to the immigration issue. The scope of this problem is vast. Every year, nearly 9 million people pay their taxes using the wrong Social Security number. The name used on W-2 tax forms used by employers doesn’t match the name on file with the Social Security Administration. There can be many reasons why — a data Social Security calls this a “no-match” situation. When this happens, the Social Security Administration collects the money, but the wage credits go into limbo. They don’t end up on anyone’s annual Social Security statement, they end up in something called the Earnings Suspense File. Since 1984, when the Social Security card employment verification requirement kicked in, nearly $500 billion in wages has ended up in that file. Who are all these people paying their taxes using the wrong SSN? Neither Social Security nor the IRS has ever studied this issue in great detail. But there are clear indications that many — if not most — of the 9 million mismatches are immigrants. …Billions..yes 10s of Billions of dollars from these “illegals immigrants” goes into the system every year to pay social security benefits to the current retired population. You thought Social Security was in trouble before? Send these immigrants back to their country of origin and lose those Billions in Social Security fundings and you will see how quickly things will get ugly for Social Security, especially with the baby boomers retiring. The sad fact is that the Government is happy with the idea of illegals using fake SS numbers to work. It is free money for Social Security from a group who will never collect benefits. MONEY IS KING…….. ……………Wow!!, before all you people insult and put comments here that are not appropriate, remember if you are not not an indian, then rightfully speaking you are an immigrant, just because your four-fathers came and fought the indians away and now you all think you have the right to judge who has the right to leave an work in America?? But alot of you right now are talking without thinking.

By Mary

April 12, 2006 8:23 PM | Link to this

Thanks for missing my motormouth, Hugo. I was out of town and need to catch up on the Oprah and Time stuff.

By Todd Bob

April 12, 2006 1:20 AM | Link to this

Urban schools should indubitably be on the concern list. We need to create a desire of the attendees to absorb as much as they can. For this is their only way to salvation. Knowing that they can help themselves and future generations, these folk should provide much love for the educational process and its edification.

By Oldprof

April 11, 2006 7:59 PM | Link to this

Hey Rick. Note that any school can create a positive learning environment if they can select which students attend. Any competent sculptor can make a nice statue out of a prime piece of stone, but it took Michelangelo to work a block of marble that everyone else rejected and turn it into the masterpiece David; so public schools often take students that the privates (including parochials) won’t accept and nurture them into productive adults. Ah well, vouchers might correct this unfair comparison, by forcing your parochials to accept those undesirables. Right?

By Rick

April 11, 2006 10:31 AM | Link to this

Ron, I share some of your concerns, but my advice is to lighten up. We will survive. To Oldprof, you continue to promote the expensive monopolistic public schools. I couldn’t affort to send my kids to those expensive private schoolsl I sent them to parochial schools where the per-student expense was much less than public schools. Yet the results were much better.

By Derwood

April 11, 2006 1:22 AM | Link to this

I disagree with your concern levels over suburban schools.. Have you looked at the sad state that Fairborn schools are in? Their drop out rate is shameful. Before I moved to Beavercreek, I had kids in the Fairborn system, and I would never ever ever even consider sending any child to that joke of a school system again. http://www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcardfiles/2004-2005/DIST/043968.PDF That is a link to their 2004-2005 report.. And, they’ve been under a continuous improvement plan for a couple of years, so some of those numbers are higher now than they were 5 years ago when I lived there. If you want to see how your child’s school, or district rates, go here: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcard/archives/Default.asp

By Oldprof

April 11, 2006 12:38 AM | Link to this

Same old, same old. Those who can afford to pay $20,000 annually for their kid’s private school tuition are getting decent education. Those who must rely on public schools are told “we can’t solve the problem by throwing money at it” by the people who are paying that private-school tuition. I wonder, at what point does someone else get to dominate the discussion? And I answer: money talks and all that other stuff walks.

By Ron Vincent

April 11, 2006 12:12 AM | Link to this

Concerned about the state of education? I’m concerned about the State period. This country is dying and we treat the symptoms. From the executive raking in bonuses while companies go bankrupt, to illegal aliens claiming a “right” to tax coffers, from sports heroes unabashedly flaunting steroid use, to politicians with only one agenda, re-election, to the youngsters trapped in an atmosphere so dysfunctional and corrosive they have no hope and no way out. We suffer from freedom without responsibility.

By hugo zayas

April 10, 2006 7:43 PM | Link to this

Mary: We are waiting for your comments. Where are you ? love hugo

By MandyMo

April 10, 2006 12:34 PM | Link to this

I think that with the ongoing media focus on the problems in urban schools, our suburban and rural systems are getting left out in the cold. Or perhaps the reflex of looking away is ingrained in the suburban lifestyle…it certainly can’t happen to us, right? I’m glad to see Time’s story, and hopefully it will open the eyes of everyone - parents, administrators, and the community - to the problems that lie below the surface. And I think that one point in the story, about the way our kids are pushed to college, should be taken to heart. College is not the be-all & end-all…and it’s not right for everyone. Once our school systems accept that fact and start offering viable options, our kids will be much better off.