18 Comments

This study —-while focused more on why some inner city schools spend more per student but have poorer achievement levels then their suburban counterparts —provides some insight into your question about why suburban facilities are often nicer. https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-03-234.pdf.

It’s really a complicated question but the answer is that suburban schools often don’t need to spend as much on the same things as inner city schools because ofthe high needs of children in poverty combined with 1) the fact that more experienced teachers are often willing to work for less to be in a pleasant suburban environment and 2) the ability of suburban parents to provide a free to the school work force in volunteers and other resources.

At my kids suburban school there was heavy volunteerism not to mention that it was a very common practice to donate a book to the library on birthdays and during book fairs….our school thus obtained hundreds of new books at no cost every year …and number of books in libraries is according to the study a very important factor.

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Thanks to Joanie W. for explaining the difficulty in transitioning to a new social role in this culture and the reassurance that it gets better.

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Yikes! I see a quote from Peter Z about Brandon Johnson. I have never made any such quote. Is there another Peter Z or this has to be an error!

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There IS another Peter Z! So maybe I can get you both to use your middle initials (and hope they're not the same!)

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Having the IDENTICAL response as EZ to Steven Mendelsohn's claim to not want to impose his beliefs on others = great minds. As difficult as it is for him to accept, there are probably lots of people like me, who would consider becoming an asset to the planet as our ultimate gift. What I cannot understand is how the writer of a cogent piece, upon reviewing it before sending it off, did not see that he had just done that?

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My guess is that he has a mental dichotomy between the personal and the public. He would not tell an individual person what to believe or do but has no problem with taking a position on public policy (the good of the community). I think this happens in a lot of public policy discussions and works both ways. Which is why libertarians are vilified as being uncaring about the needs of community groups and liberals are vilified for intrusion on personal liberties. In this case, I feel the balance is easily on the side of individual choice.

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There was simply no injustice in Kim Foxx not pursuing the R. Kelly prosecution after the federal conviction and massive sentence. Agree with Eric, better for Cook County to dedicate its resources elsewhere.

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Citizen Disposal Facility didn’t need a back story. The picture alone is hilarious; the story smothers it.

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I agree! I voted for it based just on the photo. The kicker was that it was on Furnace Road. Also, the recent discussions about composting humans.

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My fellow bookstore addicts are clearly to be found reading print this morning, not online. This was the first time I can recall when my favorite visual Tweet was performing so poorly by late morning. Or maybe they haven't seen the "Finding . . " movies. Sigh.

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You wrote: "But the “far left” contains far too many people who don’t understand that the only way to increase the minimum wage and protect working families — not to mention to advance single-payer health care, guard civil liberties and fight the scourge of gun violence — is to realize how the political game is played and not to make the perfect the enemy of the good." I LOVE this and have to remember the phrase "...(don't) make the PERFECT the enemy of the GOOD" when talking to my well-meaning leftie friends.

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Eric - thanks for clearing that up. My middle initial is c. And for the record I did like the comment by the other Peter Z.

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It was Mr. Davidowitz who said he was "certainly loathe to tell others how to live their lives," but kudos for not pointing out his loath/loathe goof.

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I should have just quietly fixed it, in retrospect.

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Re. Citizen Disposal. Long form tweets are rarely effective with me. Should have stopped after the first sentence. Short and sweet is the way to go.

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While ‘Waldo’ induced an out-loud chuckle; I was tempted by ‘citizen disposal’ given the prior human composting comments.

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LOL...a comment on your comment about my comment on last weeks tweet. Who knew you could buy stickers such as the one on the gas pump last week? Oh right....this is America.

And, I still support the composting. If it's against your religion, don't do it. But allow others to so if they wish. Kind of like reading banned books. If people are uncomfortable with reading a book-don't read it. But, allow me to do so If I wish.

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@EZ. I agree with you 100% that people think about the highest deductible that they can stomach when buying insurance. If it helps cope with carrying the risk then every year ask your agent to quote a price of a 1000 deductible and a 5000 deductible. Buy the 5k deductible option and then put the price difference in a special account which you can draw on when you have a loss (up to 4000 per claim). In fact, you can use that account to store savings for every time you decline to buy extended warranties at retailers.

Part of the issue in this thread is that someone's insurer had a much higher deductible for wind/hail claims. It was an amount higher than what the policyholder would have chosen. I work in the insurance industry and cant tell you that mandatory high wind/hail deductibles are common. There are a few companies that do not require them.

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