Another View of Guffanti

I have cut and pasted the views of Oglethorpe who wrote online comments answering Guffanti's ridiculous blather in Guffanti's first "education" column in the North County Times found here:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/01/22/opinion/guffanti/z7361df8a254d6174882575380069869e.txt

Here is how Oglethorpe responds for your enjoyment:

Oglethorpe January 22, 2009 1:53PM PST
January 22, 2009Dear editor:I was dismayed to notice that the North County Times has hired Stephen Guffanti as their “expert” editorialist for education, and that he will be writing a series of articles about education. The reader should know that this man is a physician, not an educator, who was a board member at VUSD. He was recently defeated in his reelection attempt; apparently the people of Vista have had enough of him. I think the community could make a big mistake by considering him an expert on education. He is not. He is a slick media manipulator with an anti-public-education agenda. In his first article he throws out opinions as if they were fact and completely misapplies data. One big piece of propaganda that Guffanti gives us in his first article is the concept that “home schooling is a high performer year after year.” Not so. The fact is that when children are home schooled, they miss out on day-to-day interaction with other children and often become socially retarded. But more importantly, they miss out on competing with the best students, causing them to slide woefully behind academically when the parent actually thinks that the child is learning at a greater pace. Don’t get me wrong, if you don't want your child to be in a competitive environment, then home schooling might be for you. But if you want your child to be able to compete in this global environment in the way that Guffanti suggests at the beginning of the article, then you should have your child in a competitive system. Often home schooling parents will send their kids to public high school with a “4.0 G.P.A.” (These parents want their kids to get acceptance to college and realize too late that home schooled credits are worth less to colleges) and find that their children cannot adjust to the work load (nice kid, though!). The student becomes a “C” student and, of course, public education is blamed for his lower grades. Home schooling is really a form of deregulation. Basically, the parent may teach most anything. Home schooling, like other deregulated things, is often abused; when you go to Albertsons at 10 AM on Tuesday and see a 9-year-old boy with his mother, rest assured, he’s home schooled. The home schooled kid is the one sitting on the chair at the salon waiting for mom to finish getting her hair done. There are many parents out there who have no aptitude for teaching that are out there giving it a try. Private education? If you pay out of pocket for your child’s education, then you can be sure your child will get an “A.” After all, would you pay for an “F” ? If you want the honest truth about your child’s work habits and scholastic aptitude, put him in with all the other kids, not just a select few who have parents who can pay for it. Both the NCTimes and Guffanti have, in the past, been in favor of school vouchers. Vouchers have been slammed every time they have come up for vote. It is a tactic of those like Guffanti to run down public education. If he can just show how bad public education is, then people will want to turn to another system (like vouchers).


Oglethorpe January 24, 2009 9:03AM PST
Guffanti quotes a 26-year old report that blames our society more than the educational process. That report blames our parents' blase attitude toward education and acceptance of mediocrity from our society itself. It also blasts ourselves as producing far too many Masters of Business Education majors and not enough science based majors at the college level. Check out the quote he gives. It never singles out public education. To quote: "...the educational foundations of our society." This is just one of the examples of how this slick guy, Guffanti, misapplies statements and data. Are you actually reading that article and saying that Guffanti is not slamming public education? It appears to me that public education is the direct object of his "Schools' lackluster results" theme," as he sings the praises of home schooling and private schools. The truth is that, while public education can always be improved, home schooling and private schools are no better. And, again, it does no good to anyone to try to undermine confidence in a system that most of us send our kids to. It actually hurts the system, and Guffanti is smart enough to know it, and that's what he's trying to do. And I think you know it too. I visited Sierra Vista High School a few years ago. It used to educate all of the "special needs" kids of North County. There was a child there who won all arguments with other special kids because his mother taught him all the states and state capitols. Memorizing things is something that even those kids can do. Memorizing facts, while important, is not an education, and I'm not impressed with home schooling just because it produces some good memorizers. While all of our schools are doing their best to produce students who can think at high levels, our free society itself seems to encourage a mediocre level of achievement. However, there are areas where, according to studies, America is far ahead of all other nations (Guffanti will never tell you this): The areas of originality of thought and inventiveness. The rest of the world looks to the United States for new ideas and inventions. I repeat, Guffanti is not an expert. The people of Vista, after a few years, saw through him and voted him out. Now the NCTimes is promoting him as an expert. It is deceiving and it should stop. Let him continue his diatribe, fine. But he should be put on the same field as I: He gets his 200 words in the "Letters" column or he can join this forum. Again, the promoting of him as an expert is deceiving to the people of our community.


Oglethorpe January 23, 2009 7:06PM PST
Think4yourself- Did you read Guffanti's article? It is a direct slam on public education. As a father of two children with a public school education that was fantastic, I was able to easily see the propaganda. I have met Guffanti and have been a recipient of his emailings, all slick propaganda. All were meant to give the public a feeling of mistrust in the public education system(and implying that he was the only one with any sense in all of VUSD); all were meant to undermine confidence in the system in which most parents have enrolled their children. What is the purpose of that? And what good does it do for anybody except for those who want to tear down the system? I would much rather hear someone's opinion about what to do about improving the schools. This is not a liberal versus conservative thing. I do not wish to discuss with you my political beliefs.You are also attacking the public school teachers. Many are conservative and are offended by your lumping them in with the liberal ones.I don't have a problem with someone having a different opinion than I, and I have never written a comment in a forum like this before. But I do have a problem with someone like Guffanti purporting to be an expert, being promoted by the NCTimes as an expert, and then pushing his agenda on the public. I feel the public is being duped when such a thing happens, and it lessens the trust that people have in the media to report the unbiased truth. I stand by my statements. He is not an expert on education. Sorry, he's not. And he shouldn't be put up as one.