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8.29.2004
When starting a post about a topic, you have to decide where to start. Do you just jump right in with your opinion or do you ease into things a bit more? There's always a quote to consider? "It ought to be especially troubling that the NAACP opposes a program designed to elevate poor black students in failing schools. Martin Luther King Jr. believed a good education is essential to a good life. While he fought for the desegregation of schools, today's liberals fight to maintain segregation by income and class. You can bet none of the leaders of the organizations opposing vouchers for the poor would let their own children or grandchildren spend a single day in failing public schools." Cal Thomas, speaking about vouchers which a Florida Appeals Court ruled violates the state's constitution. First, you have to wonder why it is that so many of the right wing's pet causes run into the constitution as their primary road block? Could it be because they are actually working to erode our constitutional system here in the United States? I think that's a fair assumption, considering... To me the issue of education rests on some basic assumptions. Do we think that children should have access to a good education regardless of their parent's financial abilities? Do we, as a society, believe that a good education is essential for a functioning democracy? The answer, for me, is yes on both accounts. Do vouchers address the primary problem of children not learning? Here, I say no. First, a disclosure. I went to private schools. I attended local Catholic schools from kindergarten through High School. I got a good learning there, as you can see by my deft use of the english langauge. My parents sent me to private school for one reason; less kids. When you have less kids in the classroom you have less chance of falling through the cracks and the teacher's are not overwhelmed to the point of not caring. I once asked my dad whether he resented paying for my education twice, directly and with taxes, he said, basically, that his decision to send me to a private school didn't negate that fact that he believed that all children should have access to good public schools, and he didn't resent helping someone else's kid get an education. It hard to talk about vouchers at this stage in the game because what we are seeing now is the trojan horse, with lots of talk about helping "the poor" and "minorities". This should make anyone's bullshit detector go off, especially when this talk is coming from the well funded lackeys on the right. We're getting the sales pitch, as Cal inadvertatly clues us in to: Gov. Bush should actively campaign for a constitutional amendment which allows vouchers. He could be accompanied by poor children in public appearances and in TV ads to drive home the point that children are more important than politicians, judges and education elitists. But taking a step back from vouchers you can see that the main beneficiaries of the proposed system would be education corporations like Edison: Chris Whittle, the company's [Edison] charismatic chief executive and founder, recently told a meeting of school principals that he'd thought up an ingenious solution to the company's financial woes: Take advantage of the free supply of child labor, and force each student to work an hour a day, presumably without pay, in the school offices. ... and religious schools that want government funding for their holy crusade to turn America's youth into Holy Warriors for Christ, a la the Madrasas of Pakistan. Of course these same people will be perfectly cool with my "Tulsa School for Atheistic Studies" getting government checks? I think not. But we'll tackle that sticky mess after we amend the constitution... you know, the document that saw this coming from 200+ years ago? It seems all the rage these days to implement plans that involve the government collecting money and then giving it back to you for the purchase of services from the private sector. And it seems odd that many so called conservatives are spearheading this movement; with social security and education. But then again with all things politics you have to keep your voting base, the religious conservatives who want government money for their churches, and your funding base, the corporate executives that want government money to boast their stocks happy. In exchange you get to smite your political enemies, the teachers, and you get to move education into the realm of the market where prices will dictate who gets educated and who doesn't. Or it could be that once a student learns 2+2=4 they see how backwards the economic policy of the GOP really is? So, hmm.. do we end with a pithy line like that or another quote: The school systems were the Authoritarian Right's very first targets when they started acquiring political power 30 years ago. And, in my experience, education and travel are the two most likely catalysts that drive adult fundies to re-consider their beliefs and seek to de-convert. (How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm...?) Its choose your own Blogventure! If you decide to attack the Giant Squid with your spork -- Turn to Page 48 If you decide to help your friend Ahmed with his homework -- Turn to Page 4 |
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