Posted on 11/24/2008 5:09:07 AM PST by FreeKeys
A few months ago, Barack Obama told a gathering of the American Federation of Teachers that he opposes private school choice programs, adding: We need to focus on fixing and improving our public schools; not throwing our hands up and walking away from them.
Its not clear whether or not the president-elect will be able to fix our public schools, and I dont know if hes thrown up his hands, but he and his two daughters have just walked away from the public schools. Again. When they move from Chicago to D.C., Malia and Sasha Obama will be moving from the prestigious private Lab School to the prestigious private Sidwell Friends school Chelsea Clintons old stomping ground.
Not that theres anything wrong with that. In fact, its wonderful that the Obamas had such a broad range of public and private school choices available to them. Whats puzzling is that the president-elect opposes programs that would bring that same easy choice of schools within reach of families who lack his personal wealth. By his actions, Senator Obama is demonstrating that he is not willing to wait for his own policy prescriptions to fix and improve public schools, but he expects folks with less ample bank accounts to patiently await his hoped-for change.
And while many reports will no doubt trumpet the $25,000+ tuition at Sidwell Friends, implying that this is extravagantly beyond what is spent in D.C. public schools, they will be mistaken. As I wrote in the Washington Post and on this blog, D.C. public schools also spent about $25,000 per child in the 2007-08 school year.
Its not that president-elect Obama is against spending a lot of money on other peoples kids hes just against letting their parents choose where that money is spent.
Wouldn’t fault the president for using a private school, but then he should help others especially poor blacks attend private schools.
And I wonder if all the Congress and President used the public schools, wouldn’t that result in better security and education for all students?
You may be correct on the security issue.
However, is this another example of Obama’s change? The more things change, them more they stay the same.
The Obamas did NOT “walk away” from the public schools.
They NEVER EVEN CONSIDERED sending their daughters there. That is NOT the same thing.
While I understand why the Obamas do not want their children in the hell-holes that are DC public schools, I am appalled at the hyposrisy of this man and his wife for wanting to basically FORCE so many others to go attend them.
“the obamas walk away from private schools...”
one can not expect that the most brilliant people in the world expose their children to the likes of all of us down here in the trenches. and all those brilliant, all-knowing, intellectually superior legislaytoors in congress shouldn’t have to rub elbows with the likes of us either. (it’s all a matter of maintaining the social heirarchy dontcha know.)
IMHO
I would. Hypocrisy has it's price.
Unfortunately, this is just more evidence of the hypocrisy of the left. Nothing new!!
Well, I suppose he could have aborted them!!/ducking
And we’re supposed to surprised by this?
I’m sure he won’t be redistributing HIS wealth either.
“These children have no future, Edna. Uhhhh ....” Principal Skinner
Public schools are for the proles, not the children of Inner Party members.
They met with the woman who heads the pubic schools in the district, so they did walk away from the public schools.
They met with her just so they could say they did.
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