Land of the Free or Land of Local Fiefs
- on 01.25.06
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On Real Clear Politics there is commentary by John Stossel. It is a segment from his latest show, Stupid in America. I want to highlight a few excerpts (Emphasis mine):
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Illegally. False pretenses. Sounds like the kids are criminals. All they’re doing is trying to get a good public-school education. Don’t the public schools’ defenders insist all children have a right to a good public-school education? |
I would really like an answer as to why Public Schools continue to say all kids have a right to a good education while preventing these same kids from getting one by forcing them to stay in bad schools?
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Granted, Tapang broke the rules. The rules said her grandson, because of where he lived, wasn’t entitled to the quality education Fremont Union schools provide. But which is worse: a system that traps students in bad schools, or a grandmother who lies to save her grandson from being denied a decent education? I asked her, “Isn’t it creepy that they force you to go to the black market to get your kid a better education?” She thought it was. “I was crying in front of this 14-year-old,” said the grandmother. “Why can’t they just let parents get in the school of their choice?” |
Why don’t the parents have the right to choose? We do live in a free country. The education establishment doesn’t want choice, why? Are they afraid of competition?
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Why can’t they? Changing schools can change a child’s life. In Florida, Patty Bower’s kids were stuck in a school that wasn’t teaching them. But then they got vouchers, which let them attend a private school that works with kids who have special needs. “Joey has been brought up four grade levels in reading,” Bowers said. “He’s gone from C’s, and D’s to being an honor roll student.” But the Florida Supreme Court this month killed a similar choice program, and Patty fears her kids will soon be forced back into public school. “If they take the McKay scholarship away, I don’t think — I’m sorry. I don’t think Joey will finish school.” |
To hear the education establishment talk, there aren’t any private schools that work with Special Needs children. Again, they are misleading the public. In Florida, Big Ed has gotten the courts to rule vouchers unconstitutional. Instead of Big Ed helping children they are trying to prevent the competition so they are the only choice. This is plain wrong. They are hurting children for their own political and financial gain.
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That’s right. In public education, our land of the free is now a bunch of local fiefs, where petty-bureaucrats-turned-lords-of-the-manor decide whether you can get a decent education, and parents must go to them, begging for their children’s future. Meanwhile, in Belgium and much of the rest of the world, students and their parents have the freedom to choose their schools — and the opportunity that comes with that freedom. |
When it comes to education why is the free market unacceptable? Why do we allow our Public Education system to be run like a Socialistic monopoly? Wake up America and tell your legislatures to stop funding the bureaucracy and start funding the child.
