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Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 2: We're just for fun here. I heard this comment that

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Speaker 2: was made by Alexandria or Cassio Cortez AOC. She was

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Speaker 2: speaking at a Munich security conference, talking about being in

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Speaker 2: over her head. If you haven't heard this sound bite,

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Speaker 2: this is an actual SoundBite. We're not going to talk

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Speaker 2: about it, to be honest with you, because but I

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Speaker 2: want you to hear it. I heard it when I

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Speaker 2: was away. This is AOC. Some people think that the

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Speaker 2: hope for the future of nationally the Democratic Party, either

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Speaker 2: on the presidential ballot or on the vice president. As

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Speaker 2: a vice presidential candidate, she's asked a fairly straightforward question

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Speaker 2: about Taiwan. Long time usl ally cut three A this

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Speaker 2: is a long and wind and winding word salad. She

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Speaker 2: had no idea what she was even saying. This is

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Speaker 2: it's almost pathetic when you listen to it. AOC and

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Speaker 2: Munich last week, would.

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Speaker 3: And should the US actually commit US troops to defend

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Speaker 3: Taiwan if China were to move You know, I think that, uh,

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Speaker 3: this is such a you know, I think that.

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Speaker 2: This is a.

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Speaker 3: This is of course a very long standing policy.

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Speaker 2: Well, listen to that. Then she doubled down on it again,

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Speaker 2: criticizing uh the removal of Maduro as the dictator of Venezuela.

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Speaker 2: And I've seen a little bit of a geography issue

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Speaker 2: with Venezuela being below the equator. But I want you

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Speaker 2: to hear for yourself. Cut fifteen AOSI.

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Speaker 3: Is not a remark on who Maduro was as a leader.

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Speaker 3: He canceled elections, He was an anti democratic leader. That

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Speaker 3: doesn't mean that we can kidnap ahead of state and

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Speaker 3: engage in acts of war just because the nation is

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Speaker 3: below the equator.

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Speaker 2: Wow, they don't send the best and brightest to Congress anymore,

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Speaker 2: in my opinion. So I'm reading the New York Times

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Speaker 2: last week and it came to my attention that Nicholas

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Speaker 2: Christoff had written a very interesting article about education in America. Now,

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Speaker 2: I happen to think that Christoph is a self identified Democrat,

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Speaker 2: himself a progressive, has worked for many years in journalism

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Speaker 2: and has a stellar reputation. So we like to think

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Speaker 2: of ourselves in Massachusetts, as you'll see these surveys that

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Speaker 2: say that Massachusetts ranks number one in the national assessment.

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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, the governor's office has put

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Speaker 2: out a press release in late January, January twenty ninth,

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Speaker 2: to be exact, talking about the nation's report card and

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Speaker 2: last year, Massachusetts students received the highest numeric score of

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Speaker 2: any state and all four assessments fourth and eighth grade,

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Speaker 2: math and reading. Fine, that's a study. Then I read

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Speaker 2: Christoph's article, and it was a very detailed article in

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Speaker 2: which Christoph concluded, according to the headline, again, this is

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Speaker 2: an opinion piece by Christoph Nicholas kristof Crystal, Christoph, excuse me,

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Speaker 2: I was thinking of Bill Crystal for a moment, something

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Speaker 2: that Bill Crystal might have thought. But Nicholas Christoph said,

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Speaker 2: three states are the best hope in schooling. So how

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Speaker 2: does he make that argument? Well, it was an interesting

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Speaker 2: argument that he came up with. It's a long article.

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Speaker 2: Who was in the February ninth edition of the New

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Speaker 2: York Times. If you'd like to see it in greater detail,

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Speaker 2: I'm happy to refer you to it. But he basically said,

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Speaker 2: a ray of hope is emerging in American education, not

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Speaker 2: among Democrats or Republicans, each diverted by cultural wars, not

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Speaker 2: in the education reform movement, largely abandoned by the philanthropists

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Speaker 2: who once propelled it, not in most schools across the country,

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Speaker 2: still struggling with chronic absenteeism and a decade of faltering

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Speaker 2: test scores. Here's what he came up with. Louisiana ranks

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Speaker 2: number one in the country in recovering recovering pandemic losses

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Speaker 2: in reading well. Alabama ranks again number one in the

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Speaker 2: country in recovering math losses. So the demographics in Massachusetts

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Speaker 2: or what we know, and the demographics in other states

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Speaker 2: are what we know, and we have a highly educated

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Speaker 2: workforce in Massachusetts of which we should be proud, But

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Speaker 2: it would seem that the that we're not doing as well,

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Speaker 2: particularly for poor kids, is what Christophe's argument is. And

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Speaker 2: he said, for anyone familiar with civil rights history, and

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Speaker 2: on this day where we mourn the passing of Reverend

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Speaker 2: Jesse Jackson Hawaiian viewed on several occasions as a reporter,

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Speaker 2: for anyone familiar with civil rights history, national testing results

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Speaker 2: are astonishing. A black Mississippi child is two and a

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Speaker 2: half times as likely to be proficient in reading by

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Speaker 2: fourth grade as a black California child. Likewise, low income

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Speaker 2: children are more likely to test proficient in reading in

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Speaker 2: Mississippi or Louisiana than in California, Massachusetts, and New York,

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Speaker 2: and a low income fourth grader is almost twice as

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Speaker 2: likely to be proficient in math in Mississippi as an Oregon. Now,

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Speaker 2: that is, to Christoff's point of view, all the more impressive.

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Speaker 2: What he writes is, what's particularly impressive is that the

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Speaker 2: southern surge state's lifted student achievement achievement with only modern budgets.

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Speaker 2: Spending for pupil in Alabama and Mississippi was below twelve

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars in twenty and twenty four, while in New

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Speaker 2: York and probably in Massachusetts as well. That's my parenthetical comment,

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Speaker 2: average spending per pupils almost thirty thousand dollars. Christoph writes,

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Speaker 2: that's worth celebrating and emulating. Yet unfortunately there's not much

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Speaker 2: sign of that. So what it comes down to is

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Speaker 2: that in Massachusetts we're losing we're losing population, we're losing

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Speaker 2: businesses in Massachusetts, and we're not recognizing that we're leaving

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Speaker 2: kids behind. And we have a very strong teachers union

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Speaker 2: here in Massachusetts. Teachers union that a year ago spent

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Speaker 2: literally the entire month of January on strike in the

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Speaker 2: city of Newton. I mean that was a huge slap

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Speaker 2: in the face to Newton residents who paid, who pay

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Speaker 2: very very high taxes in Newton. One other set of

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Speaker 2: statistics here which and the article always statistics are tough

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Speaker 2: on radio. But in Alabama in twenty nineteen, chronic absenteeism

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Speaker 2: as defined by students missing ten percent of school days

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Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen before the pandemic, was eleven percent now

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five. It jumped up in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: two and twenty twenty three, came down in twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 2: and now is twelve percent chronic absentee in Alabama. In Massachusetts,

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Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen, Alabama's was eleven percent. Massachusetts was two

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Speaker 2: percent higher at thirteen percent, again as defined by missing

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Speaker 2: ten percent of days. That that defines chronic absenteeism in Massachusetts.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twenty five, the study that christoff in the

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Speaker 2: New York Times sites is our chronic absenteeism is nineteen percent,

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Speaker 2: So it is nearly fifty percent higher now than it

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Speaker 2: was in twenty eighteen. Whereas in the state like Alabama,

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Speaker 2: it is, I guess, mathematically insignificant. It was eleven, went

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Speaker 2: up as high as eighteen percent for a couple of years,

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Speaker 2: and is now back down to twelve percent. So those

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Speaker 2: are ways in which you can judge. I think the

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Speaker 2: progress that a school system has made or a school

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Speaker 2: system has not made. And I don't know. I would

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Speaker 2: love to talk to some parents out there, and if

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Speaker 2: you're happy with your school system and with your kids education,

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Speaker 2: that would be great. We'll love to hear from some

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Speaker 2: people want to brag about their school system. If on

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Speaker 2: the other hand, and again it's it's easy to brag

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Speaker 2: about the school system. It's tougher to criticize the school

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Speaker 2: system because you are concerned then about teachers taking it

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Speaker 2: out of your kids, which is part of the game unfortunately.

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Speaker 2: Six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty. Let's talk

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Speaker 2: about school six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty

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Speaker 2: six one seven nine three one ten thirty. If you

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Speaker 2: read the Nicholas Christoff piece, and I don't know how

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Speaker 2: many of you have, you should, uh, if not tonight,

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Speaker 2: at some point in the next couple of days, fill

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Speaker 2: up the lines. We'll be back on. I think it's

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Speaker 2: always important to talk about the education of kids at

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Speaker 2: any given time in whatever state we live, particularly at

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Speaker 2: this time, because the kids truly are the future and

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Speaker 2: the other thing that you have to realize and I

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Speaker 2: know I realize it, and I think I realized that

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Speaker 2: back then. Most kids are only guaranteed a little more

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Speaker 2: than twelve years in school. Once they get out of

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Speaker 2: high school, for many, the formal education is over. Now

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Speaker 2: many will go on to college and maybe even go

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Speaker 2: on beyond that to postgraduate study. But your kid, if

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Speaker 2: you have a child now who is yet not yet started,

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Speaker 2: it's incredibly, incredibly competitive, incredibly competitive, and it's a game

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Speaker 2: that I hate to use the word game, but it's

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Speaker 2: it's a situation where your child only has this one

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Speaker 2: with social promotion and all of that. They're going to

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Speaker 2: be there for twelve years now, maybe they're going to kindergarten.

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Speaker 2: Me with the go to pre K, so instead of

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Speaker 2: being twelve, it'll be thirteen or fourteen. But by time

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Speaker 2: eighteen comes around, it's either college or work or the military.

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Speaker 2: Those are the three choices. Back on Nightside after this.

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Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's

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Speaker 1: news radio.

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Speaker 2: One of the things I like to do one night

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Speaker 2: side and I need I feel that I need to

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Speaker 2: explain this is I like to bring topics to you

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Speaker 2: that I see that are interesting ideas that others have

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Speaker 2: written about or at least contemplated. As they say, the

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Speaker 2: Nicholas Christophe piece well known a writer journalist and made

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Speaker 2: interesting points, and we should not recoil from them. We

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Speaker 2: just say, Okay, Chris sees things that Mississippi and Alabama

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Speaker 2: and Louisiana not places that you think of. As you know,

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Speaker 2: the Harvards of the South are doing successfully. What can

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Speaker 2: we do to preps replicate what they're doing? What can

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Speaker 2: we do that's better? That's all I'm saying. I'm not

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Speaker 2: trying to say that I want to live and my

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Speaker 2: kids to go to school in Mississippi or Harvard or Louisiana,

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Speaker 2: nor do I want your kids. But we should be

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Speaker 2: able to demand more in Massachusetts and also in any

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Speaker 2: state in New England, which brings me to Bob and

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Speaker 2: Rhode Island. Bob, welcome back.

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Speaker 4: Hi Dan. Have you checked out what the education's ranking

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Speaker 4: is for the state of Rhere Island.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty close to Massachusetts, to be honest with you, Yes,

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Speaker 2: but it's improved with Dan McKey as.

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Speaker 4: The governor and the's democratic. And that's all I'm just saying.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well most of the governors.

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Speaker 5: When was the last time you had a Republican?

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Speaker 4: Whoa, whoa whoa.

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Speaker 2: California, Bob, Bob, when was the last time you had

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Speaker 2: When was the last time you had a Republican governor

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Speaker 2: in Rhode Island?

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Speaker 4: Not that long ago? Lincoln Shaving, John Javis, he was

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Speaker 4: an independent. Well, he was certainly one that let me

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Speaker 4: tell you that it's the.

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Speaker 2: Last name was Chafy. How many how many Republican governors

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Speaker 2: have you had in Rhode Island? You've only had Democrats?

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Speaker 2: What Bob, Bob, we're just arguing. I don't want to

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Speaker 2: argue with you over something that is just factually correct.

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Speaker 2: You love that you're getting close. If you want to

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Speaker 2: have a conversation, Bob, we can have a conversation. If

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Speaker 2: you don't, that's okay. Trying well, well, listen to my

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Speaker 2: question and then answer my question.

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Speaker 4: Everything of you is.

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Speaker 2: Do you well? Do you want thirty second? Bob? Do

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Speaker 2: you want to do your thirty seconds in the want

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Speaker 2: the plank? Would that be easy?

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Speaker 4: If I want to talk about why you are such

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Speaker 4: a person.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna give you.

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Speaker 5: I'm gonna give you thirty seconds to say what you want.

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Speaker 5: Go ahead, Bob.

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Speaker 4: I think you're all wet on the education you're talking about.

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Speaker 2: Oh, actually, you're gonna be all wet, Bob tell you.

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Speaker 2: Oh that was a perfect segue. Bob, I jipped you

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Speaker 2: a few seconds there, but I couldn't resist. I just

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Speaker 2: couldn't resist, Bob, simple as that. Let's go from Bob

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Speaker 2: and Rhode Island cross country to David in San Francisco. David,

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Speaker 2: you called it early. I hope you're on topic. We're

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Speaker 2: talking about education for kids and getting them their best

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Speaker 2: education possible. Go right ahead, David.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, Well, San Francisco, where I am is just finishing up.

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Speaker 6: It's a teachers strike, and I believe my girlfriend's going

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Speaker 6: to go back to work tomorrow, so i'll strike out there. David,

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Speaker 6: what's that?

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Speaker 2: How long? I'm unfamiliar with the teachers striking, say Francisco,

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Speaker 2: how long has have the teacher's been on strike?

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Speaker 6: It was a little over a week. I think they

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Speaker 6: started last Monday and finished out. I think their return

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Speaker 6: to work on Wednesday.

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Speaker 2: Here, So let me let me just learn a little

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Speaker 2: bit as about San Francisco. What was the strike about

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Speaker 2: in San Francisco.

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Speaker 6: Well, we're one of the most expensive cities, not only

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Speaker 6: in America but in the world, and their cost of

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Speaker 6: living was only going to be two percent when inflation

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Speaker 6: is what three or four percent, So they have actually

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Speaker 6: had to have some compensation. So it's a simple math

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Speaker 6: as that goes how much I was going to go?

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Speaker 2: How go go to David? David. I'm just looking for

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Speaker 2: some information. How well compensated are the teachers in San Francisco.

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Speaker 2: What what does an average teacher make out in San Francisco.

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Speaker 6: Well, it's not nearly enough to survive, you know, when

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Speaker 6: we've got five and give me a number.

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Speaker 2: Dollar a month, let me, you know, give me a number.

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Speaker 2: I understand that teaching that teachers don't make the same

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Speaker 2: amount of money as professional athletes. I'm smart enough to

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Speaker 2: understand that. But I just was wondering if you could

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Speaker 2: give me some idea about what they make. I have

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Speaker 2: a pretty good grasp.

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Speaker 6: I know what they make her paycheck. I don't get

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Speaker 6: to see her paycheck, but I understand it's somewhere slightly

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Speaker 6: over fifty dollars an hour, and when you've got to pay,

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Speaker 6: you get three.

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Speaker 2: Fifty dollars an hour that they work a forty hour

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Speaker 2: work work out there, I assume.

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Speaker 6: No, not necessarily, because school days are short. You know,

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Speaker 6: you've got the summer to deal with. They don't, they're

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Speaker 6: not entitled to unemployment. There a whole lot like get screwed,

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Speaker 6: a whole bunch of different ways.

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Speaker 2: So, David, look, I'm smart enough to understand that when teachers'

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Speaker 2: unions negotiate contracts, they don't negotiate contracts on an hourly basis.

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Speaker 2: They negotiate contracts on what the teachers will receive over

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Speaker 2: the course of the year. So, for example, in Massachusetts,

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Speaker 2: most teachers, and I say most because you're talking about

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Speaker 2: you know, some teachers who are starting their first year

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Speaker 2: and some teachers who have been there for you know,

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Speaker 2: twenty five or thirty years, most teachers in Massachusetts are

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Speaker 2: making somewhere between eighty and one hundred thousand dollars. And

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Speaker 2: I assume that in San Francisco, even though you have

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Speaker 2: never looked at your girlfriend's paycheck, which I think is

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Speaker 2: quite you know, quite polite of you, I would assume

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Speaker 2: that at some point you might have had a conversation

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Speaker 2: or maybe it was even publicized in the newspapers, and

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Speaker 2: I just don't know. I'm asking you if you happen

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Speaker 2: to know. If you don't know, feel free and tell

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Speaker 2: me you don't know.

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Speaker 6: Well, I don't know, and I'm not sure if I

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Speaker 6: would broadcast it over the airwaves, but well, it would

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Speaker 6: be public.

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Speaker 2: It's going to know it, Ben David, it's public.

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Speaker 6: Number named Ben Franklin. Are you still there?

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Speaker 2: I am still I'm trying to get an answer out

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Speaker 2: of it. It's public information. Go ahead. If you don't

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Speaker 2: want to answer the question, what make whatever point you

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Speaker 2: want to make, go right ahead.

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Speaker 6: Well, a famous Bostonian fellow named Ben Franklin once talked

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Speaker 6: about penny wise and pound foolish, and when you underpay

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Speaker 6: the teachers, then you're going to end up with lesser

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Speaker 6: grade school districts, and those school districts are how you

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Speaker 6: keep the value of your city.

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Speaker 2: Do you know who Nichol Lanchristoff is.

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Speaker 6: I'm familiar with his name, I don't know what.

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Speaker 2: He's a progressive. He has identified as a progressive Democrat.

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Speaker 2: I think you would be very comfortable with him. He

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Speaker 2: wrote this interesting piece. Uh An opinion piece in The

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Speaker 2: New York Times that was published on February ninth. You

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Speaker 2: might read it or maybe even share it with with

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Speaker 2: your girlfriend. He talks about three red states are the

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Speaker 2: best hope in schooling. Those are states where they do

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Speaker 2: not spend as much money as either Boston or San

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Speaker 2: Francisco does, but they're doing pretty well under the circumstances.

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Speaker 2: I think you'd enjoy it. You might not agree with it,

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Speaker 2: but it's coming from a person who is kind of

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Speaker 2: on your side of the fence politically, and I offered

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Speaker 2: to you as a kind culture.

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Speaker 6: I was going to go to just the property values issue.

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Speaker 6: When I was a kid, I was brought up in

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Speaker 6: the suburbs of Saint Louis. We had a triple A

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Speaker 6: school district, and so the property values were high. And

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Speaker 6: whenever you do an interview with a real estate person,

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Speaker 6: ask them about the school districts and property values. If

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Speaker 6: you've got high property values, then it's because your school

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Speaker 6: districts are good. And if you underpay the teachers, you're

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Speaker 6: going to lower your property values in your neighborhoods. And

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Speaker 6: so it's penny wise and pound foolish to pay or

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Speaker 6: to underpay the teachers. You want them, keep your property

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Speaker 6: values high, you pay your teachers.

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Speaker 2: Well, I would suggest to you that I live in

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Speaker 2: a community which has very high property taxes, and in

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Speaker 2: the community where I live. In January of I believe

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Speaker 2: it was twenty twenty five. I might be twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 2: but it was January. They came back from Christmas vacation

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Speaker 2: and they went on strike. The mayor is a liberal Democrat.

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Speaker 2: Here was Mayor Fuller, and she thought that the teacher's

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Speaker 2: demands were outrageous. So again, sometime when you get a

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Speaker 2: chance to ask your girlfriend, how you doing. I hope

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Speaker 2: she's doing well. What does she teach out there, David?

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Speaker 2: What sort of does she in elementary high school? Which level?

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Speaker 6: Oh, she is now doing substitute teaching, and so she

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Speaker 6: covers it all. So she's a sports or whether it's math,

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Speaker 6: whether it's the sciences, or whether it's name it, she

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Speaker 6: does them all.

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Speaker 2: She's a renaissance woman. You're very lucky, David, very lucky.

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Speaker 2: She's lucky to have to.

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Speaker 4: Finish up well.

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Speaker 2: The problem is three minutes name David, David to be

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Speaker 2: a favorite. We've had a nice conversation. It's ten thirty

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Speaker 2: three here, which means it's seven thirty three there. I'm

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Speaker 2: three minutes late for my news so I got to

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Speaker 2: run for that. But give me a call next week

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Speaker 2: and we'll pick it. This was a nice conversation, and

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Speaker 2: I appreciate it, but I got to run.

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Speaker 6: For I can't take a bath with that other collar.

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Speaker 2: If you'd like to, we can put you in the water.

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Speaker 2: Would you like to? We could, we could, We could

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Speaker 2: do whatever you whatever you'd like. What would you like?

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Speaker 4: Well?

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Speaker 6: I was gonna end up with a few states that

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Speaker 6: are pushing ahead.

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Speaker 5: Why don't we just blow them?

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Speaker 2: Okay, sorry, they like that. They actually seem to like it.

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Speaker 2: We'll be back on Night's side. Didn't even understand that.

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Speaker 2: You know, we got a newscast coming up.

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Speaker 1: With Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 2: Okay, let me keep rolling. You're gonna go to Rachel

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Speaker 2: and Quincy. Hey, Rachel next on Nightside. How are you?

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Speaker 7: Hey? Dan? I'm good, thank you, and I'm sitting here

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Speaker 7: going okay. Maybe I misunderstood when you mentioned, okay, Massachusetts

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Speaker 7: kids with the education whatever, and then you said something

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Speaker 7: about Alabama children. May I I'm just gonna say something.

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Speaker 7: It's completely different down South, because when these kids are

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Speaker 7: born and raised in the farmland, their whole thing is like, yes,

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Speaker 7: we're gonna take care of the farmland. And if they

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Speaker 7: can't get to school kind of not there. It's not

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Speaker 7: on them. But they're doing what they have been taught

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Speaker 7: to do as far as the cat the animals, and

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Speaker 7: I mean that's education with what they're doing.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, the point I was trying to make was

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Speaker 2: that again, I may I may have talked about a

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Speaker 2: column that do you know who Nicholas Christoph is by

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Speaker 2: any chance.

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Speaker 7: Or no, I'm sorry I do not.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, he's fairly he's very well known journalist. Okay,

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Speaker 2: And he wrote a piece in the New York Times

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Speaker 2: on February ninth, and I happen to have read that piece,

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Speaker 2: and Christoph, who is a self described progressive Democrat, basically

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Speaker 2: said that there were three red states Alabama, Louisiana, UH

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Speaker 2: and Mississippi that are the best hope in schooling. And

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Speaker 2: what he the point he was making that they were

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Speaker 2: bringing their kids a better educt. He was suggesting they

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Speaker 2: were bringing their students a better educational experience in those

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Speaker 2: states Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, which we don't think of

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Speaker 2: as states that are you know, like Massachusetts. I mean,

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Speaker 2: we pride ourselves on education here.

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Speaker 4: M I.

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Speaker 5: T And Harvard and all of that.

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Speaker 2: Okay, And so Christophe was essentially saying that absenteeism from

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Speaker 2: school in Alabama, okay, which as you said, you know,

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Speaker 2: has some very rural areas. Before the COVID pandemic, absenteeism

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Speaker 2: meaning kids who were missing ten percent of the school days,

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Speaker 2: stood at eleven percent, and during COVID, understandably, absenteeism was higher,

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Speaker 2: got up to eighteen percent for a couple of years,

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Speaker 2: and then last year or in twenty twenty four was

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Speaker 2: fifteen percent, and then last year was twelve percent. So

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Speaker 2: basically Alabama now is back to where its pre COVID

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Speaker 2: absenteeism was. And I know statistics are tough to talk about,

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Speaker 2: but it went from eleven, it went up, and now

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Speaker 2: it's back to twelve. In Massachusetts. In twenty nineteen, the

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Speaker 2: same year, our chronic absenteeism in Massachusetts was thirteen percent,

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Speaker 2: and it went up as high as twenty eight and

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Speaker 2: twenty two and twenty. It's now down in nineteen, but

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Speaker 2: it is still higher substantially higher than Alabama, and Nicholas

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Speaker 2: Christoff found thought that was interesting, and I find it

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Speaker 2: to be interesting that in Alabama chronic absenteeism amongst kids

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Speaker 2: in school their public schools is lower than Massachusetts. And

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Speaker 2: in Alabama, then.

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Speaker 7: I agree with you. I agree with you that, yeah,

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Speaker 7: where are kids?

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Speaker 2: Well, that's the question that Christophe asks. And in addition

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Speaker 2: it the average student in Massachusetts, the education cost for

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Speaker 2: a student in Massachusetts, whether they're in Boston, Cambridge, Quincy, Berkshire, Springfield,

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Speaker 2: or whatever, is about thirty thousand dollars a year. In Alabama,

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Speaker 2: Mississippi and Louisiana, do you know what they spend on

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Speaker 2: public education about twelve thousand dollars a year. So for

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Speaker 2: a heck of a lot less money. It sounds to

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Speaker 2: me like Alabama and Louisiana and Mississippi are doing something

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Speaker 2: that we could emulate, that's all. And I think that's

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Speaker 2: what Nicholas Christopher was saying.

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Speaker 7: Nope, and I will absolutely read that and I completely

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Speaker 7: agree because when you go down down South, right, it's

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Speaker 7: all about the family, and it's all about listen, we

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Speaker 7: have these animals, they're farmers. Whatever it's this is what

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Speaker 7: it is now. You come back up here and I

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Speaker 7: don't know if what's going on with the immigration stuff

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Speaker 7: that it's been cut our kids up here to be educated, whatever.

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Speaker 7: But when you go down south, it's a completely different lake.

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Speaker 2: It's a different part. You're absolutely right, You're absolutely right,

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Speaker 2: different part of the country. They're doing it a little differently,

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Speaker 2: they're not spending as much money on it, and they're

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Speaker 2: getting better results. And that's from Nicholas Christoff, who's a

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Speaker 2: longtime journalist. He writes off ed pieces for the New

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Speaker 2: York Times, used to work for the New York Times.

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Speaker 2: I just found it interesting, and thank you for allowing

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Speaker 2: me to explain it to you and for you to

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Speaker 2: get it. I tried, unsuccessfully with the first two callers

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Speaker 2: to have them understand the point that I'm not trying

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Speaker 2: to make, but the point that Christoph was making.

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Speaker 7: You know what, Dan, I completely get it. What happens

434
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:28,480
Speaker 7: is then the enabling. Yeah, you know what, just because

435
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 7: you're a child whatever, you're not enabled these is down south.

436
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 7: If they could only understand what these children go through. Yep,

437
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 7: we have arms, we take care of right.

438
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 5: Oh, I got it.

439
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,080
Speaker 2: They take care of their animals and we do have

440
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 2: some farms in Massachusetts, not as many. Rachel. I'm up

441
00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:48,800
Speaker 2: my break and I gotta let you go. Thank you

442
00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,200
Speaker 2: as always for calling in. I appreciate the opportunity.

443
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 7: All right, Thank you, Dan, So bad.

444
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 2: Night, good night. Six one seven, two, five four ten

445
00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 2: thirty one line there, six one seven nine. Right back

446
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 2: on Nightside, I'm going to try to get everybody in,

447
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,200
Speaker 2: which means everybody's going to have to be a little

448
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 2: tighter than I've been. I'm kind of been liberal with

449
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,600
Speaker 2: my first three callers tonight. Just want to tighten things up.

450
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 2: Whatever you want to say. I want to hear what

451
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 2: you have to say, but say it's sexcinctly. Back on night.

452
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 1: Side, Night Side with Dan Ray, I'm Boston's news Radio.

453
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 2: We are going to try to ask everybody to tighten

454
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,000
Speaker 2: it up here, if you'd be if you would be

455
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 2: so kind, David san Antonio, Dave, go right ahead.

456
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,719
Speaker 4: Yes, sir Dan. I'd just like to say on the internet,

457
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 4: when I talk to I talk to a lot of girls,

458
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 4: believe me, a lot of them. And I find that

459
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 4: the Asian girls who are over here from Asia and

460
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 4: China and speak better English, and the American girls speak

461
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 4: at that age twenty five to thirty, et cetera. It

462
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 4: seems like borner speak better English and we do.

463
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 2: Maybe what causes you to talk to a lot of

464
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,040
Speaker 2: women on the internet, David, I'm being careful when I

465
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 2: asked that question.

466
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:08,400
Speaker 4: My granddaughter put me when my wife died, my grandmother,

467
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 4: granddaughter put me on TikTok and Instagram, and I didn't know. Okay, okay,

468
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,200
Speaker 4: And I all of a sudden, I love it as

469
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 4: long as.

470
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 5: It's not rumble or something like that. Dave, We're okay, go.

471
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 4: Ahead, you know. And I thought, geez, you know, I

472
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:28,440
Speaker 4: got thousands of followers. I can't believe it.

473
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 2: That's great.

474
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:32,120
Speaker 4: I talked to these I talk to these gals. Where

475
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 4: to God, the Englan girls speak so much better English.

476
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 4: Study American girls all.

477
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 2: Right, and.

478
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 4: The girls from Europe they speak better English than we do.

479
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 2: I don't know how that.

480
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 5: How does the connect that to what we're talking about tonight?

481
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 4: If you would, well, our school system mis teaching our kids.

482
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 4: Lous me. This this school here is San Antonio. My

483
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 4: grands my great grandchildren are leaving it in guing to Orlando,

484
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 4: and I think they'll be taught much better because here.

485
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:04,720
Speaker 4: These teachers have to teach three or four different languages

486
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:05,719
Speaker 4: in that's classroom.

487
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a that's a challenge. That

488
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 2: that's a challenge, that's for sure. Well, if I could

489
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,800
Speaker 2: suggest to you find the Nicholas Christophe piece in the

490
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 2: New York Times from a February ninth, I think you'd

491
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 2: be interested in it.

492
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, yeah, I sure will.

493
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 2: Thanks Dave, all right, good night, good night. Let me

494
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 2: go to Joe and Waymouth. Joe's the first time calling

495
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 2: Joe next on nightside. Welcome.

496
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,520
Speaker 8: Hey, damn, I can't stop laughing for the last call.

497
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 8: That was a little comical. This is this is a

498
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,480
Speaker 8: perfect perfect time to bring up to the article. I

499
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,440
Speaker 8: haven't seen it yet, but the experiences from Central Berkshire.

500
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 8: Great school system out there in the Berkshires, yep. And

501
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 8: I was also on the select board for six years

502
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 8: and that's fifty six percent of our budget, right, Well,

503
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 8: go to schools and they have every dime. And it

504
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 8: was quite interesting to see we go deeper into the

505
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 8: analysis of why the southern states such as Alabama have

506
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:04,560
Speaker 8: a lower per people costs and see what the educational

507
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 8: outcomes are.

508
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,960
Speaker 2: Ye, well, they have, they have a lower educational costs,

509
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 2: but they also are keeping kids from from becoming chronically absent.

510
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 2: By the way, we've got to give you a round

511
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,480
Speaker 2: of applause. It's the first time caller here. That's you know,

512
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 2: some of our regular callers end up walking the plank.

513
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 2: But uh, you know this, I just think the Christophe

514
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 2: piece is really interesting because of his perspective. If this

515
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 2: had been written by I know, some some conservative who

516
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 2: wanted vouchers in schools or whatever, you'd say, well, they expected,

517
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 2: but he's basically saying that these southern schools in Red

518
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 2: states are actually doing better also for poor kids, because

519
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 2: you know, rich kids get to go to private schools.

520
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,480
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you know my kids went to

521
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 2: public schools and then my son went to Roxbury Latin School.

522
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,920
Speaker 2: My daughter went to the Windsor School in Boston. And

523
00:33:55,960 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 2: that's an advantage if you, if you can afford to

524
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 2: pay your taxes to support the public schools, but also

525
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 2: send them to perhaps what might arguably be considered better schools.

526
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 2: But I'm concerned about the kids at the lower end

527
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,359
Speaker 2: of the economic ladder. You know, I think a kid

528
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,600
Speaker 2: who and you you have kids out in the Berkshires

529
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 2: who were born into very difficult circumstances. They deserve the

530
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,839
Speaker 2: same minimum right as anybody.

531
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 8: Oh, absolutely absolutely. We're blessed to have great education out

532
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,279
Speaker 8: there in the Berkshires as well. And I think one

533
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 8: thing that he does in the article is that you know,

534
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:33,719
Speaker 8: he may have political belief bas looking up the data

535
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 8: and yeah, it doesn't lie exactly.

536
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:39,279
Speaker 2: That's it's very data oriented, which makes it tough for

537
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 2: a talk show to be honest with you, because it's

538
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 2: tough for statistics. I learned that a long time ago,

539
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,439
Speaker 2: but I tried to break it down simply that Alabama

540
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:51,360
Speaker 2: has recovered most of the kids who were chronically absent.

541
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,319
Speaker 2: That they were eleven percent of the students. Now you know,

542
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 2: five years out from COVID, they're twelve percent. In Massachusetts,

543
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:05,280
Speaker 2: we've gone from thirteen to eight direction exactly exactly.

544
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:06,439
Speaker 9: Joe.

545
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:07,440
Speaker 2: Thank you for taking the.

546
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,400
Speaker 8: Time to call, great topic and have a great night,

547
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:11,759
Speaker 8: and I'll call again another day.

548
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:13,960
Speaker 2: I hope you will call more off because they need

549
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,480
Speaker 2: people like you. I really do. Okay, you need to

550
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,920
Speaker 2: refresh every once in a while, get new voices. Thanks Joe.

551
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 4: There you go.

552
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 5: Let me go to GEO and reading GEO. Go right ahead.

553
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 9: The first thing I did, Dan was google population density

554
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 9: of Alabama Mississippi. They have ninety people for square a mile.

555
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 9: We have a thousand or twelve hundred. We have ten

556
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 9: times as many people. The woman was, I think you

557
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 9: were missing her point. My point is that there are

558
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,879
Speaker 9: many blacks in Alabama and Mississippi who have never seen

559
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 9: a school, and the educators don't want them to come

560
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:54,160
Speaker 9: to school.

561
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 2: They are wrong on that.

562
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,560
Speaker 9: You know, I'm not, Dan, I am not I have

563
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:00,920
Speaker 9: a back education.

564
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:02,960
Speaker 2: Oh I'm sure you do. Do you have a background

565
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 2: and everything you're you're you're one of my most expertise callers.

566
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:08,960
Speaker 6: I certainly am.

567
00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 9: Yeah, the blacks, the blacks are invisible unless you find

568
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 9: a ply a prize black in Alabama or Mississippi and

569
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 9: you want it. Do you want them to leave the

570
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 9: farm and come to school because they're eventually going to

571
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:24,840
Speaker 9: go to the university and play a sport.

572
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 5: Well, that that's a little racist.

573
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:29,760
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this. You're an expert on Alabama education.

574
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 2: What's the population of Alabama?

575
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 9: I can't tell you what. I can tell you what

576
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,319
Speaker 9: the population density is. That's well, tell me what the

577
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:43,360
Speaker 9: population is the population is irrelevant. Population density is the

578
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:44,240
Speaker 9: relevant fact.

579
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 2: Now, uh you.

580
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:48,440
Speaker 5: Know what the population?

581
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this, Jill, do you know what

582
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 2: the population of Massachusetts is? You live in Massachusetts, you're

583
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 2: an expert.

584
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,960
Speaker 9: Well, at one time it was uh uh a nine million,

585
00:36:58,040 --> 00:36:59,799
Speaker 9: but it's probably six million.

586
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 5: Now it's seven point one million.

587
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:02,640
Speaker 4: Okay.

588
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,760
Speaker 5: Alabama is five point two million.

589
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:06,400
Speaker 2: Okay.

590
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:08,440
Speaker 5: A larger land mass.

591
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:12,439
Speaker 2: You're correct on that. You're correct on that. However, it's

592
00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:16,720
Speaker 2: a different type of land mass, meaning we have urban

593
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 2: land masses. They have a lot of farmland down there,

594
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 2: which is not which is going to make the density

595
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 2: of your correct. But that's it. Do me a favor.

596
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:26,840
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you to do me a favor.

597
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 2: Go read the Nicholas Christophe article.

598
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,600
Speaker 9: I know, you know, I'm reading an analysis of it

599
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:34,520
Speaker 9: on my cell phone.

600
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:36,840
Speaker 2: As I say, he want you read the original article

601
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 2: and you're you're small enough to understand Christoff, Go ahead,

602
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 2: go ahead.

603
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:50,920
Speaker 9: Christoph is regarded as an educational tourist and superficial to

604
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 9: by whom degree, by whom, by you bye, by educators.

605
00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:57,240
Speaker 5: Geo.

606
00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,279
Speaker 2: Let me tell you do me a favor. Uh, you know,

607
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 2: no one knows who you are, Nicholas Christof.

608
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:06,800
Speaker 5: You could refinish my point.

609
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 2: Let me finish my point to you. Okay, no one

610
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,960
Speaker 2: knows who you are. I accept everything you tell me

611
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 2: every time you call. You're an expert on this, You're

612
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:19,759
Speaker 2: an expert on that. I accept your qualifications. I can

613
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,400
Speaker 2: tell you that if you go do a Wikipedia search

614
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,920
Speaker 2: on Nicholas Christoff on his experiences, what he's done in

615
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,800
Speaker 2: his life, and I think you'd be more impressed and

616
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,560
Speaker 2: you would not call him an educational tourist.

617
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:39,920
Speaker 9: Being that it says Nicholas Christoff ignores systemic factors. He

618
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:47,360
Speaker 9: does an over reliance on misleading metrics. Articles are incredibly superficial.

619
00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 2: I see you're very successful. Do me a favorite rob

620
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:57,839
Speaker 2: use the device here. You have been very successful in

621
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,799
Speaker 2: denigrating someone who is much better own and much better

622
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:05,160
Speaker 2: respected than you. You've used language which is inappropriate. You

623
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 2: haven't read the article. You're telling me you're reading some

624
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 2: analysis of the article. I know what Christoph's perspective is.

625
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:15,160
Speaker 2: I have no idea what the analysis was, and I

626
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,879
Speaker 2: have no idea where you're coming from on this one, GEO,

627
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 2: As in most cases, I have no idea where you're

628
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:21,279
Speaker 2: coming from, but.

629
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:22,279
Speaker 5: I know where I'm going to.

630
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:29,160
Speaker 2: The eleven o'clock News plank them back after the eleven