US kids getting hammered on Math and Science

[VABills]

I just love the voucher plan... take money away from public schools that are already underfunded, and using this basic math:

 

One year of private school: $8,000.00

Voucher for private school: $4,000.00

Balance owed:                  $4,000.00

 

THIS is the plan to make education MORE AVAILABLE and BETTER?!

 

Undoubtedly people think that normal families can cough up so much extra money a year. The numbers may not be totally reflective in some areas of the country, but the basic idea is that parents who get vouchers have to find a lot of money on top of their college funds for this 'gift'.

 

THESE are the kinds of bonehead plans we are given instead of fixing the problems.

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I pay a little less than 4k per year for elementary private education. Guess what the kids in that school on all the tests are averaging in the top 95% of the country. Education isn't expensive, unless you want it to be. Of course they have limited afterschool activities, but they have some (chess club, language club, girls and boys besketball, science, math, computer science clubs, etc...), more academic in the clubs, but some.

[GG]

I won't.  But I do think that school boards are much more accountable than public officials.  They bring out votes that are a lot more complex, you must agree.  And generally people are much more passionate about it than the government because it directly affects their families/lives.

 

I usually think your posts are on, GG, but I can't quite get what you are saying here.  Mick has already pointed out that the motive here is to get kids into private schools, for one.  But "this is not about private schools, but what's wrong with corporations running them anyway?" seems to be the gist of your argument.  I don't get it.

 

I do think corporations shouldn't be running schools.  Period.  They're fine for making the products we need/want/think we need most of the time, but when it comes to something as essential as the education of our children, I can't surrender that to people who are more concerned with profit than education -- we have already done this too much.

 

As far as parents having choice of public schools, that's fine, but I can't help the feeling that we're just sweeping problematic schools under the rug and leaving the kids there behind.  We should be doing our best to make all schools better for all kids, and it should be a selfless, whatever-it-takes kind of mission.

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The market based reforms that are slowly trying to wind their way into the educational system are meant to give parents who want their kids to get a better education, a choice.

 

While we're talking about "education" as a whole, the reality is that most of these efforts are aimed at reforming the public school system where it has failed the most - the inner city. I don't think that you need to go far and wide to dig up spending statistics in school districts Here's a snapshot, or this, or have a field day at the source.

Any data you mine will show that the spending is fairly consistent within a state, but there are pronounced performance differences across the districts within the states.

 

Your claim that the local school boards are more accountable than elected officials is directly disputed in what's happened in New York City, and the direct failure of the public school system here. Talk about an ideal opportunity for waste, mismanagement and patronage in a system that wasn't accountable to anyone.

 

The charter and voucher school system is not a nationwide movement that is set to displace public education as we know it. It is a mechanism to subvert the entrenched powers that have eroded the opportunity for kids who need the most help in getting through school.

 

The fearmongering that corporate interests will ruin the altruistic nature of education are certainly turning a blind eye to the ruin already leveled on the education departments in big cities by blood sucking no-show jobbers.

 

Of course, you can always continue to parrot the party line and think that the change can come from within.

[Alaska Darin]

EXAMPLES:

 

There are high schools that have no air conditioners, their security upgrades cannot be met due to a lack of funds, art and music programs are cancelled, facilities are in disrepair... need I go on?

 

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Try looking at the big picture for a change. There is more money being spent in the United States on public education per capita than ANYTIME in ANY COUNTRY in history.

 

It's not a fiscal problem. It's a fundamental problem. Your links are so hokey it's actually laughable. Nothing like asking the fox to do an inventory on the henhouse.