Growth and Expansion Highlighted at BAEO's Second Symposium

Education Week ^ | 3/13/02 | Catherine Gewertz

[LarryLied]

Though you might find this of interest. BAEO is looking for help too. One of the jobs pays $50K.

[mafree]

Thanks Larry- vouchers aren't perfect but they sure have saved some families trapped in awful public schools.

[LarryLied]

That is the way I feel about vouchers. They can't hurt and they will help some. Roberta Kitchen is awesome and deserves any help she can get. Somedays I've been down about just taking care of myself. I can't imagine what it must be like to take in five children. Nothing wrong with America a couple million Roberta Kitchen's couldn't solve.

[summer]

Larry, thanks for the flag on this! :)

[summer]

BTW, this took a lot of guts to say, and I hope some black leaders were listening:

The achievement gap has been caused in significant part, he said, "by black folks not caring about their own."

[LarryLied]

That line did get cheers. But I believe not caring is not nearly the whole story. Blacks were trusting. Democrats did see they got good jobs in government, liberals did say all the right things. The idea Democrats would put unions above the welfare of black kids was unthinkable. But it is not unthinkable anymore. Black parents know it is true.

[summer]

Who is more to blame, I don't know; but, many black parents -- and most of them are raising one or more kids on their own, without a partner -- need to do more.

[LarryLied]

Florida already has a chapter of this group. Imagine if every state and large city did.

[floriduh voter]

I know this is a serious topic but is that a big cake in the photo? I must be hungry.

[summer]

LL, You gotta love FV's wit.... :)

[Recovering_Democrat]

BAEO is a nice start, but universal vouchers for students in failing schools is a better idea. The best idea would be vouchers carte blanche to allow parents REAL CHOICE in the schools their kids attend.

Of course, though, demon-rats are only pro-choice when it comes to KILLING KIDS, not educating them.

[LarryLied]

Selling them as for poor inner city kids is a astute political move which is impossible to counter. Once they have them, parents who are paying property taxes and don't have them, will demand equal treatment. If we can get 20% of the kids out of the government system, every parent will know somebody will a kid out of it. And that will cause the monopoly to implode.

I hope.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Without the voucher program, I think these children would be on the streets. I know they would be lost. They would have no desire to learn. I look at my girls and they are beautiful and I know they would be caught up with the baby thing and being on welfare. My son would be in the drug world."

"Parents need the right to give their children a chance. We are the ones who know our children. We should be working in partnership with teachers who can actually take our suggestions and make them work."

Thanks very much for posting this, Larry!

Indeed, Roberta Kitchen is doing a formidable job!

[Amelia]

"My daughter couldn’t read. She was in the sixth grade. I had been back and forth with her since the fourth grade. I noticed as I tried to help her with her homework that she couldn’t read. But she was getting Bs and Cs on her report card."

"I asked the school to hold her back because she wasn’t ready to go on to the next grade. They said they couldn’t do it because she wasn’t failing."

The mystery to me is how some of the kids get through school with Bs and Cs when they can't read. But I'll guarantee you they do...either because they are "good kids" and some misguided teacher is afraid of hurting their "self-esteem", or because a principal somewhere has told the teachers that no child can be allowed to fail - whether they can do the work or not.

I think vouchers are an excellent idea. One problem is going to be, in cities there are generally plenty of private schools to provide choice. In more rural areas, the only thing available (especially for single parents who can't afford to drive their children 30 minutes to an hour each way to school) is often the public schools.

[LarryLied]

I'ld like to see the day when private school lease public school facilities. Or buy them out :-)

Schools will spring up when more vouchers are available. That is a danger too. The far left is very good at getting government funds. They won't get a lot of customers but they will be bad PR for the movement.

[Recovering_Democrat]

good point, ll. ya gotta start small. :)

[Grampa Dave]

Sounds like a great dialog and discussion went on!

How does Je$$e get by with his stands against vouchers and the other options to improve the education of inner city children?

[Amelia]

We teachers talk among ourselves from time to time about starting a school, but most of us are better at the actual teaching than at teaching and running a business...Lots of us would love to teach at a place where we could really teach.

At a high school level, so many of the kids need remediation we are not trained and/or don't have the time (because it doesn't fit in with our subject matter or curriculum) to provide. Also, so much time is taken up with discipline.

I really think that if the discipline is strong and consistent, expectations are clear, standards are enforced, and the basics are stressed, schools - and students! - can and will be successful.

[LarryLied]

We teachers talk among ourselves from time to time about starting a school, but most of us are better at the actual teaching than at teaching and running a business.

Hire me! Hire me! I'll even see that I and any other administrator needed make less than you teachers. Wouldn't that be a novelty?