Child abuse, as in abusive use of children:

Little lobbyists to protest at Capitol

Hundreds of Bay Area kids will be heading up to Sacramento this morning for a field trip on democracy -- with their first lesson being how to lobby.

Classes from San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley -- some with students as young as 10 -- are being bused to the state Capitol to protest the education spending cuts recently announced by Gov. Gray Davis.

As of last count, nearly 300 San Francisco students ranging from the fourth to 12th grades were scheduled for the "field trip." Over in Oakland, at least 19 busloads will be taking more than 500 kids -- plus 450 adults.

All courtesy the state teacher, education and service employee unions -- with a helping hand from the local school districts themselves.

Just to make sure the trip has an "educational" component, Oakland school officials insisted that their kids first write an essay explaining why they wanted to go.

I am so sick and tired of every other political campaign ending with (or containing an element of) "for the children."

Leave the little tykes alone, for God's sake!

And this is just plain stupid, given that Davis actually increased educational spending. (In the article, a spokesman for the guv says Davis increased spending on education by 37% and is now taking back 3%, leaving that net increase of 34%.) Then again, the California Teachers Association has a long-running string of ads demanding higher pay for teachers, smaller classrooms, increased spending across the board, etc., "because everything child deserves a chance to succeed, and no child succeeds alone."

Arf!

I'm a product of a San Francisco education, with 10th through 12th coming from a public high school (Mission High survivor, boo-rah). One of the most telling moments was the validictorian for the Class of '74 (not mine), telling everyone to go out and demand their fair share from the government. The government, you see, owes everyone a living; you don't have to earn it yourself.

The research regarding smaller class sizes is questionable and subject to much dispute. Teacher salaries in my little neck of the woods seems awfully good. As regards education, the last thing on God's green earth that I want is CTA union input into what should be taught (something the CTA ads also demand). If it were one of my kids going to Sac on this trip, their sign and message would be, er, different.

Of course, that wouldn't be allowed. Free speech, in this regard, only goes so far. Or so it seems.