California's failed education system and the little red schoolhouse

The Old Leona Valley Schoolhouse was built around 1915.
The school was built by volunteer labor at a cost of only $1,500.

Too much money is the problem with education

• Strange as it may sound, the more money that is spent on California education, the higher the rate of kids dropping out and of illiteracy.
• These endless billions are not spent on education.  The money is stolen by special interest groups from businesses to bureaucrats to administrators to unions.  Everyone is feeding at the trough.

By Gary;

Let's get down to the basics.  What is really required for a child to learn?  Simply you need a room with four walls, a roof, a book and a teacher.

So the next question is, "Where the Hell are the countless billions spent on education going?" 

Stolen by interest groups is the answer.  Education spending has nothing to do with education.  The spending has everything to do with lining the pockets of businesses providing overpriced services, administrators, labor unions and pensions.

The articles below caught my eye.  The articles are about a simple one-room schoolhouse in Los Angeles County.

My mother and millions of other kids were educated in a one-room schoolhouse.  Somehow the world managed to survive and even learn.  Today many kids are being homeschooled.  That is as close to a one-room school as you can get.  Plus they are scoring well on tests.

So when the Education Lobby demands more taxes to feed their broken machine, remember the little red schoolhouse and just say no.

Leona Valley Schoolhouse Seeks Historical Status

 

LEONA VALLEY - A one-room schoolhouse could receive historical status. The Old Leona Valley Schoolhouse was built around 1915 by volunteers for about $1,500, according to the West Antelope Valley Historical Society.
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It is one of the only schools still standing from the region's homesteading boom, when pioneers settled what was then the Leonis Valley. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to ask the state to grant historical status to the schoolhouse.

The wood-frame building, once bright yellow with a red roof, reflects the Victorian ``little red schoolhouse'' tradition and was also used by local ranchers for dances, prayer meetings and other social events. It was moved from its original location in about 1938 and served for a time as a gun club, hosting Hollywood stars who came to the area to hunt and fish.
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The simple structure sits at the top of hilly rural property on Elizabeth Lake Road, next to a museum that houses period artifacts and ancient wine making equipment from the Ritter family's winery. The Ritter family were among the first settlers in Leona Valley.
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The historical society plans to submit an application asking the California Office of Historic Preservation to designate the schoolhouse as a California Point of Interest.
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(avnewstodayonline.com)


97-year-old who taught in one-room schoolhouse


The LA Times spoke to Martha Forth, who obtained her teaching credential at USC, about starting work at a rural one-room schoolhouse in 1938 in an article titled, “Group aims to restore 1915 schoolhouse, teach local history inside.”

Forth, who is now 97, says that her heart sank when she saw the building. “I thought, I can’t do this,” recalled Forth.

The building stood in a field in the remote Leona Valley, about 10 miles west of Palmdale. There were a couple of outhouses, a windmill that pumped water to the building and no electricity.

Forth knew she had to take the job. It was August. City schools had already hired their new teachers in the spring. And with the country still in the Great Depression, it wasn’t wise to be too picky, she figured.

Decades later, Forth, now 97, described her teaching days at the Old Leona Valley Schoolhouse as some of the most rewarding of her life. Today she is among several old-timers, local history buffs and descendants of area pioneers who are supporting efforts to restore the heirloom structure and get it designated as an official California Point of Historical Interest.

“It would be wonderful if they could restore enough of it so that people realize what it really was like when it was a one-room school,” said Forth, speaking by phone from her home in Laurie, Mo.

Leona Valley is in the mountains to the west of the Mojave Desert
community of Palmdale in Los Angeles County.

Leona Valley is still rural today.