• The Iraq war : Texas school funding The Iraq war : Texas school funding The Decatur (Ala.) Daily — Aug. 23, 2005 Annoying or not, comparisons between the Iraq war and the Vietnam War convey a message that President
• The Iraq war : Texas school funding
The Iraq war : Texas school funding
The Decatur (Ala.) Daily — Aug. 23, 2005
Annoying or not, comparisons between the Iraq war and the Vietnam War convey a message that President Bush needs to understand.
When lawmakers and activists seem determined to make the comparison, as did Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., over the weekend, the temptation is to say, “So what?”
Whether we like the war or not, we are in the middle of it. Vietnam comparisons might have been helpful before we invaded, but now they are demoralizing.
The so-what temptation, endemic in most legislators in either party, needs to be overcome. Vietnam provides important lessons that remain relevant to the war effort.
In April 1975, U.S. forces left Vietnam in desperation as Communist troops marched into Saigon. Despite heroic efforts by U.S. troops, the chaotic helicopter escape made clear that we hadn’t won the war.
The casualty numbers were horrible. A quarter million South Vietnamese troops died. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died. Almost 60,000 U.S. troops died.
Most Americans understood the hopelessness of the war effort long before U.S. troops escaped. Thousands died as politicians tried to prove America never loses a war.
And this is where the Vietnam lesson is important. If it becomes apparent we are losing the war in Iraq — and it still may be too early to know — we need to drop the bravado and get out.
Expending U.S. lives is a sad but necessary sacrifice if we have a realistic expectation of winning the war. Expending lives after we know a successful conclusion will evade us is tragic and wrong.
The Dallas Morning News : Aug. 24, 2005
That’s the mood around Austin, now that legislators have given up on a funding fix for Texas schools. Everyone is focusing on the Texas Supreme Court because its justices could rule at any time in a case that questions the state’s method of funding schools.
The suit involves close to 300 school districts that believe the system fails to meet the state constitution’s standards for schools. …
The Supreme Court has heard numerous examples of the breakdown between the state and students. In Austin, for example, the district had to cut $42 million from its 2003-04 budget. That meant 55 teaching specialists, 74 reading teachers, higher student/teacher ratios and cuts of more than $6 million in supplies and travel.
Austin’s test scores for that year showed the impact. Only 43 percent of the district’s fifth-graders, 47 percent of eighth-graders and 37 percent of 10th-graders met the standards of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.
That’s straight from sworn testimony presented to the Supreme Court. And Austin isn’t the only problem district.
Each plaintiff, plus others who testified, has a horror story. All confirm that Texas schools aren’t giving students the special attention necessary in areas such as math to meet the state’s exacting standards.
Yes, legislators should have solved these problems. But they lacked will and vision. Texans can only hope their Supreme Court justices don’t suffer the same malady.
- Provided by The Associated Press
