Correcting Public Schools Through Competition With Private Education

Canada Free Press ^ | 04/04/08 | Yomin Postelnik

[Yomin Postelnik]

The way to solve any problem is to analyze its causes and propose common sense solutions that don’t exacerbate it further. In this case, the educational crisis stems from three factors. First, many urban children are brought up without guidance and direction. Second, children have been raised to “do what feels good,” with a focus on instant gratification and without regard for what’s best long term (even if this was not the parents’ intent, children often learn by example). And last, the school system has stopped stimulating academic growth and fails to deal with the student’s specific needs. As a result, school has become a boring drudgery and a chore that is, in the mind of the student, best gotten rid of.

To correct the first two causes we need to motivate parents to take an interest in the upbringing of their children. To correct the final cause, real and meaningful improvements must be brought to the school system. Such improvements should not consist of pie in the sky ideas put forward by sandcastle academics (those in academia who contemplate the building of sandcastles upon clouds of marshmallow to cure all of society’s ills).

[purpleraine]

vouchers

[Yomin Postelnik]

100% agreed!

[ThomasThomas]

I fully understand why some parents want vouchers, but I also believe if these same parents were involved with their kids schools and where there at the school letting their wants be know there would not be a demand for vouchers. Parents non involvement with there kids education is why public schools are in such a mess. If these parents get vouchers they will bring the same “teaching them is Your job” attitude to private schools. And there will be plenty of private schools spring up to fill the needs and take the money of these lazy parents.

[doc1019]

Dump teacher unions (NEA) and grant vouchers … would only take one generation and our education system would be back on track.

Just granting vouchers would eliminate the NEA in short order. ;-)

[purpleraine]

The voucher system shines the light more clearly on student and parental responsibility. It expands the concept of competition to education. It provides a choice. It also gives the school the upper hand to remove recalcitrant students.

[Yomin Postelnik]

The problem is that there are parents who are full time advocates who get nowhere. The public school system is broken and needs competition. They are already experts at ignoring parental advice.

[ThomasThomas]

Once you start getting government money, government demands always seem to follow. Getting vouchers would be only the first part of the battle. Keeping the government out of the private schools would be a never ending war. The government never gives us back our own back money without making demands from us to get it back. The courts have determined that children have a right to an education up to twelfth grade. Vouchers would make it harder for a school to remove recalcitrant students. End the end the only thing that will change schools if that enough parents the time to make the school change.

[purpleraine]

The money belongs to the individuals. The government is granting tax money back so that the individual can choose the type of shcool they want. The school may be college prep or trade or whatever. Students are not required to enroll there. If we pass the properly worded initiative it will become state law after the teachers union loses their court challenge.

[WOBBLY BOB]

tuition tax credits would avoid opening doors to gubermint bureaucrats that vouchers might.