Public schools and vouchers

Pond reflection

Public schooling has been taking up a lot of my time lately. During an e-mail back and forth with my brother-in-law in California i asked him if there was anything positive he could say about Democrats.  He responded back that he was supporting what Jerry Brown was doing there for public education. Although surprised, i was thrilled to read his response.

South Shore

Here on St. Croix i volunteer three days a week in a public elementary school helping kids to read. i’m working in a second grade classroom with twenty nine students, a few of whom English is a second language.  With that many children the slower ones stand out like a sore thumb and need an incredible amount of individual attention that they aren’t getting.  i can see how children, even in the first few years, get left behind.

But to get to my point, all good politicians need a wedge issue to drive a stake through the status quo. In order to achieve the end goal of total privatization of education baby steps must occur.  Inflaming those who hate paying anything for anyone else through taxes is easy when you use vouchers as the wedge.

Hibiscus Show

First you start by claiming that public education is a socialistic regime and needs to be dismantled.  Claim that private education does a better job and you can get your children into a private school through the simple process of vouchers.  Don’t tell anyone that vouchers won’t pay the whole private school bill nor will the schools accept you if you are not an A or B student. Do tell them that this is a bipartisan issue and it will make education better for everyone.

In order to achieve the goal of total privatization and the evisceration of public education vouchers are the gold standard.

Historically public education was created so that schooling could be under the control of the government, free from religious biases, and available to all people irrespective of their status in society.  Jefferson saw that education was highly localized and only available to the wealthy; i'm going to say that again, education was localized and only available to the wealthy.  Jefferson wanted to change that scenario and make it available to all children regardless of wealth.

Pretty Chicken

As the state and federal government’s got more and more involved in financing public education the percentage of educated Americans increased. By 1996 the number of teenagers that had graduated from high school increased from a low of 6% in 1900 to 85% today. That is one heck of a statistic that is not ever talked about.

The reason it’s not talked about is because the voucher folks don’t want you thinking about the positive aspects of public education. All those educated folks came to be because of public schools. If Jefferson and his supporters hadn't supported public education those numbers might be significantly different. If you think about that statistic from 6% to 85% it makes public schools look pretty successful. 

i'll bet many of you reading this were public school students.

According to government data only one tenth of the total student population (55,203,000 in 2010) attends private schools. Where are all these private schools that you will use vouchers to attend coming from? Who is building them?

Well you already built them with your taxes but the voucher folks want you now to flip them into private institutions so they can start making money off of educating your child. Remember, making money is the only goal in life.

A voucher is a government issued certificate which allows parents to apply the amount given toward tuition in a private school.  Now keep this in mind, a voucher does not pay for the complete bill involved in private education.  It only pays for a part of the bill.  The main argument in favor of vouchers is that it allows choice and will create competition that will increase savings and educational outcomes. Makes you wonder who is going to save and get better educated?

The argument against vouchers is that they will decimate public schools.  Those same public schools that are graduating 85% of the nations children. That there will be a lack of accountability to the taxpayer, and that the real risk is not everyone will be able to afford school if all of them eventually become privatized; meaning a larger population of uneducated citizens.

Jonathan Kozol, a former public school teacher and prominent public school reform thinker has called vouchers the "single worst, most dangerous idea to have entered education discourse in my adult life.”

Please also keep in mind that private schools select their students; they are not mandated like public schools to accept everyone.

Working in the public school system this is abundantly clear. These kids are all across the board in ability levels, some of the kids i work with in second grade could be in fourth grade they are so skilled while others would be barely starting kindergarten their skills are so lacking, but they are all in one classroom and learning regardless.

In private schools this kind of broad ability in one classroom is an oddity.  Most of the kids there are working at the same approximate level.

Sunset

Remember vouchers are a wedge issue to get to the final point of no public education.

“Whether or not the public generally supports vouchers is debatable. Majorities seem to favor improving existing schools over providing vouchers, yet as many as 40% of those surveyed admit that they don't know enough to form an opinion or don't understand the system of school vouchers.” Wikipedia

Although this was very brief if you are at all concerned about educating the nation and not just your own child, do more digging. An educated nation means less poverty, more skilled workers, longer life spans etc. But if your pining away for tax cuts then by all means support the dumbing down of America.