Only Bad People Want a Good Education for their Children

So says Allison Benedikt of Slate Magazine.   Seriously, she said that.

This article had me laughing out loud.  Of course I was laughing in a way that is really just to cover my utter shock, disbelief, and total dismay.

I am not an education policy wonk: I’m just judgmental. But it seems to me that if every single parent sent every single child to public school, public schools would improve. This would not happen immediately. It could take generations. Your children and grandchildren might get mediocre educations in the meantime, but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good.

Apparently it is perfectly fine for at least a few generations to get a lousy education because down the road it will help all.  Now that is logic isn't it?  Insert primal scream here.

Now correct me if I am wrong, but I thought liberals thought there was nothing better than education.  Matter of fact don't they say that public schools are a human right?  I seem to remember former congressman and convicted felon Jesse Jackson, Jr. talking about that on the floor of congress.  Yeah matter of fact there is video of that conversation, oh and don't forget the constitutionally protected iPad too.

What is really funny about this entire article is that by the end she completely contradicts herself:

I went K–12 to a terrible public school. My high school didn’t offer AP classes, and in four years, I only had to read one book. There wasn’t even soccer. This is not a humblebrag! I left home woefully unprepared for college, and without that preparation, I left college without having learned much there either. You know all those important novels that everyone’s read? I haven’t. I know nothing about poetry, very little about art, and please don’t quiz me on the dates of the Civil War. I’m not proud of my ignorance. But guess what the horrible result is? I’m doing fine. I’m not saying it’s a good thing that I got a lame education. I’m saying that I survived it, and so will your child, who must endure having no AP calculus so that in 25 years there will be AP calculus for all.

Again, correct me if I am wrong, if she is doing just fine without AP classes and no organized soccer teams, why wouldn't future generations do "just fine" as well?  I mean why would anyone need it regardless of what generation they come from?  It would seem to me that everyone will be able to find their dream job, such as working at Slate Magazine even though they learned virtually nothing after 17 years of education.  Now I did take AP Calculus and I don't work at Slate.  So apparently my "better" education didn't really help me that much did it?

She believes that if all children go to public school we will have a better school system.  Lets think about that for a minute.  Because it seems what she is saying is that people are stuck living in the neighborhoods with horrible public schools don't care that their kids are receiving a bad education.  Because after all if they did they would push for change right?  Oh wait, they are pushing for change and the unions stand in the way of those changes and much-needed reforms.  She never mentions that part of the equation.  I guess she didn't get algebra in her crappy public school either.  You know the thing that has you put all parts of the equation together to come to the correct solution.  There are millions upon millions of parents who are fighting to make changes in their local schools only to be met with hostility and resistance.  We have the NAACP suing to keep open the worst performing school system in the country all the while the lawyer filing the suit sends her child to boarding school in another state.  She knows her kid will be cheated if she attends those schools.  She has money, to heck with the poor and struggling middle class that can't afford the same.

Also remember that there’s more to education than what’s taught. As rotten as my school’s English, history, science, social studies, math, art, music, and language programs were, going to school with poor kids and rich kids, black kids and brown kids, smart kids and not-so-smart ones, kids with superconservative Christian parents and other upper-middle-class Jews like me was its own education and life preparation. Reading Walt Whitman in ninth grade changed the way you see the world? Well, getting drunk before basketball games with kids who lived at the trailer park near my house did the same for me. In fact it’s part of the reason I feel so strongly about public schools.

I totally don't get how getting drunk at trailer parks makes her feel strongly about public schools and that leading to the willingness to allow at least two or three more generations to have a substandard education, but that's just me.

Education reform is a passion of mine.  I would love to see every child in this country have the best education possible.  The problem is that, as of today, the last thing that will get us there is the public school system.  We are failing in virtually every measure and it will become a national security issue when people in this country can't compete on the world stage.  The system needs serious reform, unions and the government have far more power over the system than any PTA will ever have.  The current system doesn't allow those types of changes nor does it give parents many options when trying to push for change.

No one is a bad parent for wanting their child to get the best possible education that they can give to their child, for this woman to say that they are makes me wonder if she has any children of her own.  If so, doesn't her great job at Slate pay her enough to live in a neighborhood that has a better school system than say the ones in Harlem or the south side of Chicago?  I would venture to say the answer to that question is yes.

But I have to say I really appreciate one line in the article:

 Don’t just acknowledge your liberal guilt—listen to it.

Ah, the reasoning behind most of what liberals do.

Quote of the Day - Michelle Rhee Edition

Here’s the question we Democrats need to ask ourselves: Are we beholden to the public school system at any cost, or are we beholden to the public school child at any cost?

Michelle Rhee on her transformation of supporting school vouchers.

Sadly, we already know the answer to this question.

Education Reform - Do What Works, Not What Feels Good

Any thinking person in this country has to admit that our public education system is broken.  We only rank #21 in the world for the population with the most high school and college graduates.  The system is stuck on stupid and continues to go down hill.

The literacy rates among fourth grade students in America are sobering. In a recent report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, one out of three students scored "below basic" on the 2009 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Reading Test. Among these low performing students, 49 percent come from low-income families. Even more alarming is the fact that more than 67 percent of all US fourth graders scored "below proficient," meaning they are not reading at grade level.
Reading proficiency among middle and high school students isn't much better. On the 2009 NAEP Reading Test, about 26 percent of eighth graders and 27 percent of twelfth graders scored below the "basic" level, and only 32 percent of eighth graders and 38 percent of twelfth graders are at or above grade level.

No matter where you fall on the political spectrum you must realize that this is quickly becoming an issue of national security.  We cannot continue to perform on the world stage if we can't get fourth graders reading at grade level.  Public schools are not going anywhere and they must be fixed.

The problem becomes how do we fix them.  Conservatives and liberals have different views on how this should be accomplished.  Typically conservatives are for school choice and allowing the money to follow the child.  Liberals are putting more money into the system.  Neither one of these solutions on their own will solve the problems that we have.  We need to move beyond political ideology to find the solutions that are right for the local population of school aged children.

One of the latest trends in education is college prep courses for everybody.  Some children are not going to go to college, and it is not always about money.  Some kids just are not cut out for post-secondary education.  A case in point, I have a family member who had some issues while in high school.  Nothing major, but enough that he could have easily gone down the wrong path.  After graduation and shortly after 9/11 he decided to join the marines.  He signed up for a four-year stint and was given some educational incentives.  After serving his four years and spending some time in Iraq at the onset of the war, he decided to get out of the marines and go to college.  He believed that is what his mother wanted him to do.  His mother wanted him to be happy and a well-adjusted adult.  He went to college for one semester and dropped out.  He then flitted around doing some interesting jobs; including fishing in Alaska.  What he realized is that he liked the structure that the corp provided for him.  He is back in the marines, happily married and a daddy of a beautiful baby girl.  The military is something that works for him.   He has served in a theater of war, he understands what he has committed to.  It may not be everyone else's choice of a career, but for him it is a fit.  He is happy, so his mother is happy for him.

But we continue to push the narrative that a college education is mandatory.  It is not, nor is it the best thing for every kid.

Over time, it morphed into the theology that every child should go to college (a four-year liberal-arts college at that) and therefore every child should be required to pursue a college-prep course in high school. The results have been awful. High school dropout rates continue to be a national embarrassment. And most high school graduates are not prepared for the world of work. The unemployment rate for recent high school graduates who are not in school is a stratospheric 33%. The results for even those who go on to higher education are brutal: four-year colleges graduate only about 40% of the students who start them, and two-year community colleges graduate less than that, about 23%. "College for everyone has become a matter of political correctness," says Diane Ravitch, a professor of education at New York University. "But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than a quarter of new job openings will require a bachelor of arts degree. We're not training our students for the jobs that actually exist." Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun to run out of welders, glaziers and auto mechanics--the people who actually keep the place running.

One of the solutions for our educational system is being played out in Arizona.

Two years later, with the $2.4 million agricultural- and technical-sciences building up and running, Martin says, "It's without doubt the best program we have. It's an alternative way to teach them math, science and reading. They love it. They're attentive, working hard, hands on." McBride imports veterinarians from around the country to visit the reservation and work with the 226 students, who assist in both operating theaters, prepping animals for surgery and learning how to suture, draw blood and give injections. The veterinary clinic has become a valued resource on the reservation, but more than that, the academic results have been spectacular. "Nearly every one of these kids passed the state comprehensive test we give to 17-year-olds in Arizona," Martin told me. "Less than about 40% of my non-vocational-education students passed.

Clyde McBride pushed and pushed to get this program into place at one of the reservations.  These kids are doing well, they are excited to learn and are happy to be in school everyday.  They are learning, but more importantly they are gaining a work ethic that will follow them for the rest of their lives.  Some of these kids are college bounds kids, but they have a step up on many others who go to college, for one thing they have already been given a skill that will be useful to their professional lives.  They have direction in their lives.  They are not in college to go to parties and "find themselves".

School systems are beginning  to see that doing away with career path education programs was a mistake that was made 40 years ago.  They were considered racist, as many in the programs were people of color.  It wasn't that the programs were wasteful, they were just not done properly.  There are many high schools popping up all over the nation that are giving career skills to students.  Not all of these schools are in poor urban areas or have a majority of minorities in them.  One of my local high schools has a career track for students.  I am not sure of all the different offerings that they have, but one is in retail fashion and the other is in hairdressing.  Both will give high school students a marketable skill that they can use immediately following graduation to find themselves a job.  I have not been to this hairdresser in quite some time, but I used to pay $300 to have my hair highlighted and cut.  She and her now husband paid for their rather large wedding themselves.  He is a chef.  My only point being that obviously they made a good living in order to pay for that wedding and still own a home.

What sense does it make for students to take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans when so many don't graduate?  College has become like a rite of passage instead of what it should be; a means to an end.  The end result being an education that will give that person the ability to obtain marketable skills and a job.  Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that college is a waste of time, but it certainly is not for everyone.  There is a student loan bubble getting bigger all the time and sooner or later this bubble is going to burst.

We need to stop thinking in terms of a one size fits all mentality that post secondary education is mandatory for all.  It isn't.  There are plenty of jobs that are good paying and do not require a 4 year college degree.  We need to change the paradigm of education in this country and realize that what worked in the 70's is obviously no longer working.  We need to look at the programs around the country that are successful and adapt them to different community needs.  Obviously a school that offers vet clinic services isn't going to work in the inner city.  But other programs will.  Inner city communities need bus drivers, truck drivers, mechanics, machine operators, construction workers, and a variety of other skilled workers.  It is time that we stop being so snobby and realize that those jobs help make America run too.

Rahm Emanuel Now in the Crosshairs - Closing of Under Performing Public Schools Raises the Hackles of Jesse Jackson

Rahm Emanuel is about to experience for himself that the racebaiters of the world don't care about your politics.  He is planning on closing 17 poorly performing public schools.  Not something that is sitting well with the likes of Jesse Jackson.

“I cannot wait another year and allow a child to be caught in a school system that, for five years running, has been on the watch list or the troubled list with no prospect of getting off of it. … Nothing to me is worse in the sense of discrimination than leaving kids in a system that, year-in-and-year-out, has been scored as failing.”

Not that you are apt to hear me say this often, but he is right.  These schools need to be closed and these kids have the right to get a better quality education.  Jackson on the other hand is calling it:

“educational apartheid,"

No, Mr. Jackson apartheid is keeping these black children in a failing school that gives them little to chance of becoming a productive adult.  It would be apartheid to keep them there.  Jackson is under the impression that just spending more money will solve the problems.  Chicago spends more money per pupil then they do for the students in the public school system where I live.  We have a 90% on time graduation rate and almost 92% rate of students going onto a post-secondary education.  The problems go beyond money.

Someone actually took the time to write down the costs associated with the low graduation rates for the city of Chicago (which is just above 50%) and the results of what it costs the community are staggering:

15% of high school dropouts were in the jail system in the year 2010-2011 overall and rise to 25% for blacks.  More than 50% of the prison population in Illinois are high school dropouts.

Nearly 48% of 18 to 64-year-old high-school dropouts in Chicago did not work even one week last year. The statewide number, 42%, is not much better and is four times higher than the figure of those with bachelor's or higher degrees.

If those numbers are not enough:

The study, based on U.S. Census data, suggests that dropouts nationally will be a net drain on the government, collecting an average of $70,850 more in benefits like food stamps in their lifetimes than they'll pay in taxes. In comparison, the typical high-school grad will make a net positive contribution of $236,060.

About 33% of dropouts will collect food stamps, twice the share of graduates, and fewer than half will own a home. And such bleak figures tend to be passed down to their children.
"Children living in families headed by high-school dropouts face a substantially above average probability of encountering cognitive, health, housing adequacy and nutrition problems that will limit their future, their chances of securing a bachelor's degree by their mid-20s are close to zero."

Now, I don't believe that every person should go to college.  Some people are not cut out for it and they would prefer to do jobs that don't require a college degree.  But they will still usually need some sort of training or education in order to find a job that will allow them to live above the poverty line.  While that is not true in all cases, it is true in many.

So it seems that Jesse Jackson would prefer that these kids just stay in these schools, increase the odds of them dropping out and have a much harder time leading lives that will bring more financially security to them.   He plans on filing a lawsuit to stop the closing of these schools.

There are no words for the stupidity of what Jesse Jackson is doing.  People need to wake up and realize that the likes of Jesse Jackson has lost all relevance and his ideas of what constitutes fairness not only are outdated but dangerous to the community that he says he is trying to help.

This report details the costs to society as a whole in just one state.  multiply this by 50% and it is not hard to see why we are broke.  Our broken educational system is not just drain on us financially, it is becoming a national security issue.  It was just 40 years ago that we had the highest rates of high school and college graduates in the world.  We now rank at 21st.  That is how far we have fallen is such a short time.

Again, you not likely to see this again real soon - Kudos to Mayor Emanuel for having the courage to take on the unions and Jesse Jackson to do what is right for children instead of what is easy.

Yet Another Feel Good Gov't Program Going Awry - Free Breakfast Increases Obesity in School Children

We have heard a great deal about the obesity levels of young children in this country.  I agree they are startlingly high.  But the answers that the government has come up with don't seem to be working.  Who would have seen that coming?  

Turns out that the free breakfast that is being offered to low income children is actually increasing the levels of overweight children.  It seems that these parents are not as irresponsible as the government has thought that they were and the vast majority of these kids are now eating two breakfasts every morning, which of course increases their caloric intake for the day. 

Nearly half of New York’s elementary and middle-school students are overweight or obese, according to a public health official quoted in the news story. Thus the concern in expanding a free meal program created for malnourished kids from poor families that can’t afford food. Parents from low-income New York schools who were interviewed for the piece expressed concern that their kids were getting breakfast in class because they eat at home every morning.

One mother said she actually reduced what her five-year-old eats at home because he has a second breakfast at school. This obviously creates doubts about the need for this taxpayer-funded meal program. Uncle Sam is already feeding a record 45 million people via food stamps and the number is quickly growing, according to the most recent government figures.

It also turns out that many of the school systems in lower income areas are completely skipping the cafeteria and feeding the breakfast right in the classroom.  To remove the stigma.  So we are feeding children who are not even necessarily low income, because they don't anyone to feel bad so every child receives a free meal and the number of these free meals in the morning has more than tripled in school districts like Chicago.  

Wouldn't the money we are spending on this program be more effectively used to improve the education that kids are receiving?  The drop out rate in the city of Chicago was 55.7% in 2008.  Well above the national average of 30%.  Other major metropolitan areas don't fare much better.  In the city of Detroit kids are going without school books in schools that are falling down. 

We need to look at how we are spending our educational dollars and realize that the main goal is educate our children and we are failing big time in giving the next generation the tools that they need in order to thrive in a competitive world.  We continue to lower standards; instead of raising our children up we are letting them down and continue with the dumbing down our kids.  

…the mathematics components of the Common Core State Standards Initiative are a bitter disappointment. In terms of their limited vision of math education, the pedestrian framework chosen to organize the standards, and the incoherent nature of the standards for mathematical practice in particular, I don’t see how these take us forward in any way.

Says Grant Wiggins, curriculum expert.   


But hey, at least they are getting fatter.  

Homeschooling Reaching the Black Community

A dirty little secret that you won't find out about from the U.S. media (shocker, I know) is that more and more black families are turning to home schooling in an attempt to give their children the education that they deserve.  While I am sure it is very difficult in the more urban areas where the public schools are especially atrocious, it is still a growing trend.  Another thing many are probably not aware of the existence of is a homeschool cooperative dedicated to the black community.

 Monica Utsey, who runs a home schooling co-operative for African American children in Washington DC, says: "African-American mothers, especially those who have boys, have a lot of trouble in the school system. The way the classroom is designed is more conducive for girls."
For her, though, the main motivation was cultural - she wanted her sons to learn about their African roots and not "to believe that their history begins with slavery"

Another words, she doesn't want her sons to be taught that they are victims who have no real chance of succeeding because of a racist society that is America.  Derrick Bell will be rolling over in his grave.  How will the left indoctrinate these young sons who are taught they are equal human beings and have the same opportunities that their white counterparts have, they just have to work for it? Oh Al Sharpton, watch out, you may not be able to make a living peddling fear anymore.

It is true that homeschooling is not something that will work for every family.  Some parents don't have the discipline, the qualifications, and some children do well in a public school environment.  I know someone who has one child in public school and homeschools the other.  Her son was just not doing well in school and his teachers were not communicating that to them.  They pulled him out and have him at home.  She works full-time, but works from home most of the time.  He does much of his school work online and if she happens to be away from home she can log in and watch his progress.  She told me the difference is night and day; he is learning --eager even--and is much happier.  Her daughter has excelled in the public school and is a very social young lady, homeschooling wouldn't suit her personality.  It is a situation that works for their family.  It is the essence of choice.  Not every parent who has that choice will pull their children out of public school.

Of course that destroys the narrative that the public school system will crumble.  More homeschooling will make the public school system better.  Competition is a good thing.  If they need to compete for the dollars they make sure that they are giving an added benefit to the parents who are making that choice.  One of the things you hear unions complain about all the time is the fact that the class sizes are too large (they are right, they are in most cases) this will also help with this problem.  The teachers will have smaller classes and will be able to give more attention to the individual students.

Another topic that has come up with these homeschoolers is how they resent that teachers now are only teaching to the test (Thanks Sen. Kennedy and President Bush).  The evil of No Child Left Behind has left children behind.  The school systems are under so much financial pressure to keep and/or improve test scores that the joy of learning has been taken out of the equation.  I am sure it is no joy for the teachers either.  But students are suffering because of this piece of lousy legislation.  Parents are seeing for themselves that their kids are losing motivation:

It was not the violence, or even the fact that he was being bullied, that finally led to the decision to remove Copeland from his public school in what she describes as a "really bad area" of Washington DC, but the fact that he was "losing his love of learning".

Of course this little boy was learning his love of learning - which by the way, is innate in a child - if he is being bullied, seeing violence, and being taught only to a standardized test.

The shift to homeschooling has been much slower for the black community than for the white.  They are under even more pressure to keep pretending that the public school system has their child's best interests at heart:

"For the African-American community there was a huge amount of pressure against it, because in America, the grandparents of today's home-schooled children fought for desegregation of schools. They thought, 'The public schools are going to save us,'" he says.

But Dr Ray, who regularly interviews black home-schoolers as part of his research, says attitudes are changing fast - and it's also a lot easier today for black families to try it than it was 20 years ago, he points out.
Joyce Burges, co-founder of National Black Home Educators, who home-schooled all five of her children, aged 16 to 35, says the practice is growing "exponentially" in the African American community.
"The failings of public schools have caused all of us, whether we are white or black, to come up with creative ideas about how we can educate children.

It is way past time that the black community push back and stop accepting the failing status quo that has become our public school system and take matters into their own hands.  Stop listening to the stories of the past generation that believed that it was going to be public schools that solved the ills of the black community.  Access is meaningless if the school is failing.  Your children will be much better off for it.

H/T Jammie Wearing Fool

1st Annual Virginia Tea Party Summit on Education - Richmond, VA

Education is a topic I care about deeply.  There is no point in working to change this country if the next generation doesn't understand why.  My personal mision falls more within improving the educational system within country with school choice and badly needed public education reform.  But teaching about the consititution is of equal importance.  If you are in the Richmond area, plan on attending.  I have heard NRIE speak previously and they have some great stories and some wonderful ideas. 

1st Annual Virginia Tea Party Summit on Education

Where:


The Commonwealth Club


401 W. Franklin Street


Richmond, VA 23220






When:


Saturday July 30, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM EDT


Dear Fellow Patriots,


(FYI: YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT TO BE ADMITTED, THANK YOU)


We are pleased to present the first annual tea party summit on education! We are holding this event because it has become clear that the heritage and foundational principles that made us the greatest country in the world are not being taught or are being distorted in K-12 education. Our public schools are not teaching kids the importance of the rule of law, economic freedom and individual achievement.


This is perilous and if we don't act, our hard work will be undone by an entire generation that doesn't understand or is actively opposed to individual freedom!


This seminar will provide you with an action plan that you can implement. Our goal is to build a coalition of tea party leaders, activists and educators that can work together to be more effective.


You will leave with a step by step action plan, resources, tools, and a support system to truly make a difference. We have invited national organizations that are 100% focused on getting young people not only the right information but also inspiring and engaging them on American exceptionalism. This seminar will tell you how to do it!


ORGANIZATIONS/PRESENTERS:


HILLSDALE COLLEGE


NEW RENAISSANCE IN EDUCATION


AMERICAN HERITAGE EDUCATION FOUNDATION


LIBERTY AND LAW INSTITUTE


CATO INSTITUTE


CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR FOUNDATION PROGRAM


DR. ILEANA JOHNSON, AUTHOR OF "ECHOES IN COMMUNISM" (LUNCH TIME SPEAKER)


BREAK OUT SESSIONS WITH FACILITATORS TO DEVELOP YOUR ACTION PLAN


You will receive a full action plan and resources in writing from every organization. A comprehensive, literal "how to" guide for each and every program and idea, no matter how small a step you take! There will be follow up and support planned for everyone. Future meetings and networking will be shaped by group need and consensus.


IMPORTANT INFO:


THERE IS A 30.00 DOLLAR FEE FOR LUNCH PREPAID (CREDIT CARD OR YOU CAN MAIL A CHECK) WHEN YOU REGISTER


YOU MAY REGISTER AND PAY FOR GUESTS WHEN YOU SIGN UP!


THERE IS A DRESS CODE AT THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB (COAT AND TIE FOR MEN, BUSINESS CASUAL FOR WOMEN). THOSE WITHOUT PROPER ATTIRE WILL NOT BE ADMITTED PER THE CLUB'S RULES. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.




Get more information


Register Now!



Thank you so much for your inspiration and hard work in the tea party movement. Together, we can build a state wide network of activists and educators to stop the propaganda and truly educate and engage our children, the future leaders of the last great hope for mankind- America! Please feel free to contact us. See you on July 30th!


Sincerely,


Ms. Kerry Scott


Alexandria Tea Party


mail@alexandriateaparty.com


434-825-0609


Mrs. Rita Grace


Constitutional Tea Party


ccteaparty@gmail.com


540-937-3757



Mr. Ed Ametteti


NRIE.org

To Curtis Johnson - Online & Social Media Specialist for the NAACP

You may remember that I did a post a few weeks ago on the NAACP siding with the unions and filing a lawsuit to stop New York City from closing down some of the worse schools in the entire country.  As many of you know I am a contributor to the blog PotLuck bloggers.  A group of diverse conservative women who are trying to get their ideals out into the blogosphere. 

I got a reply from Curtis Johnson from the NAACP inviting me to participate in the Twitterview that they would be doing regarding the lawsuit.  I received the message too late and was unable to participate.  He then invited me to send him questions directly.  So here it goes:

1. It is very obvious that our public school system is broken in this country.  Why is an organization such as yours raising objections to using innovative ideas such as vouchers and charters to help the children get a better education?

2. Can you honestly tell me that you don't accept the reality that unions are part of the problem of school reform in this country?  If so, why?

3.  How long do these families have to wait before we close a school that performs in lowest 1% of the entire country?  Is it 1 year, 2 years, or simply as long as it takes? 

4. Can you look the families of these children who have been in this failing school for years and honestly say that you care about their child's education? 

5.  Are you willing to send your child (or niece, nephew, friend's kid) to this same school why they are waiting for it to "improve"?  If not, how do you justify telling another family that they must? 

6. What do have to say about the report that came out after the DC voucher program ended showing that this program also helped to improve the public schools, by making them compete with the private schools for the money?  This report seems to indicate that vouchers/charters do help all students not just the students that are attending the other schools.  ***

7. Do you think that the result would be different in the public school system in New York than it was in D.C.?  ***

***While the DC officials and many within the democratic party have disputed it, the results for DC have been positive.  I have back-up of this if you need it.  I am very passionate about education reform and have kept a close eye on the voucher program in DC. 

I look forward to your answers. 

Sincerly,

just a conservative girl

Michelle Rhee's Students First

Michelle Rhee has decided on her next move.  She has decided to start a non-proft grassroots organization that will work towards reforming the education system in this country in order to give access to a quality education for every American child, regardless of socio-economic position or race. 



The Mission Statement

Our mission is to build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system in the world.



America's schools are failing our kids. On this point, the data is clear. While some people blame the kids, or simply want to throw more money at the problem, we know that real change requires a better system — one that puts students' needs before those of special interests or wasteful bureaucracies.


To succeed in our mission, we're working with parents, teachers, administrators, and citizens across the country to ensure great teachers, access to great schools, and effective use of public dollars. Together, we'll demand that legislators, courts, district administrators, and school boards create and enforce policies that put students first. We'll make sure politicians and administrators recognize and reward excellent teachers, give novice teachers the training they need, and quickly improve or remove ineffective educators. We'll work to ensure that every family has a number of options for excellent schools to attend, so that getting into a great school becomes a matter of fact, not luck. And we'll make sure all Americans understand that our schools are not only an anchor for our communities, but an absolute gateway to our national prosperity and competitive standing in the world economy.


We Believe: Great teachers can make a tremendous difference for students of every background; all children deserve outstanding teachers.


Once inside the school, a great teacher is the single most important factor in a child's education. While there are many factors that influence a student's ability to learn, a great teacher can help any student overcome those barriers and realize their full potential. For this reason, we're doing everything we can to make sure teachers are supported and all schools are able to hire and retain the best teachers possible.


We Believe: Attending a great school should be a matter of fact, not luck; every family should be able to choose an excellent school.


In cities across America, parents are unable to enroll their kids in the best public schools — there just aren't enough seats. We're working to make sure all families have a range of high quality schools to choose from, because our kids shouldn't have to rely on a lottery or a certain Zip code to get a great education.


We Believe: Public dollars belong where they make the biggest difference—on effective instructional programs; we must fight ineffective practices and bureaucracy.


Schools need smart spending — not more money. Tax dollars should go toward programs that help our kids, ensure their long-term success, accurately evaluate teacher performance, and produce results — not layers or bureaucracy that only serve to protect the needs of special interests.


We Believe: Parent and family involvement is key to increased student achievement, but the entire community must be engaged in the effort to improve our schools.


Parental engagement is critical to ensuring student success, so we'll work to get all families more involved in their schools. But lasting reform requires that whole communities get involved in the fight for better schools. Without a widespread, concerted movement that engages all sectors of society, our country will continue to fall further and further behind the rest of the world.

If you agree with our mission, and want to help transform education in your community and throughout America, join us.

I don't think that Michelle Rhee is the end all of education reform, but she has passion and out of the box thinking, and it is a start.

Is the Tide Turning?

Education is a topic that I feel very passionately about. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum or age group you fall into, this is something that needs to matter to every American. We cannot stay competitive on the world stage if we are raising a generation of idiots.


Some of our school systems are more interested in the coddling of our young than they are in educating them. Part of the educational system in this country needs to concentrate on preparing these kids for the real world. I recently posted on one of my local schools that put a system into place that disallowed failing grades. The school didn't even bother to inform the parents of this until the end of October. A full two months after the school year started. An update to that post is that the parents were outraged to the point that the school has backed down and gotten rid of that program.


Some of our schools that are the worst are the ones in the inner cities. These particular schools are teaching some of America's poorest and neediest. All children deserve a good education, but it is of particular importance to teach these children. A good education is the only way out of the life of poverty that many of them face, some of these kids from generational poverty and public assistance. Sadly, many of these kids see gangs and drug dealing as the only way out. It doesn't need to be this way.


I came across two articles from poorer school systems in California where real questions are being asked about why the schools are failing our young. The first article is about the public school system in Compton. Compton is one of our poorest neighborhoods. Violence is commonplace and it is a life that is very difficult to get out of. A new law in California allows parents to force the school system to make the necessary changes to improve the school system. The parents of McKinley Elementary School have gotten the required signatures to force the school system to become a privately run Charter School. The Parent Trigger Law allows parents to band together and force the lowest performing schools to make this change.


One of the meme's that you hear so often is that there is not enough parental involvement in our schools. While I do believe this to be the case in some instances, obviously these parents are involved and want to see their children and grandchildren to get the education that they deserve.

Ismenia Guzman frets that her 6-year-old daughter is at least a year behind in reading. Victor Barela is worried that his fifth-grade grandson still doesn't know his multiplication and division tables. And Shemika Murphy is determined that her younger daughter get a better education than her older one, who seemed to be doing well in elementary school only to bring home Ds and Fs in middle school.

The Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, wrote an OP-ED piece on Huffington Post requesting that Teacher's Unions get on board for school reform. A full 25% of students in the Los Angeles school system fail to graduate. A number that no one can feel is acceptable. The vast majority of the drop-outs become a drag on the finances of the rest of the country. Many will spend time in jail and others will end up on public assistance in order to survive. Villaraigosa is no right-wing conservative; he is a democrat and strongly supports unions. Matter of fact he was once a union organizer and a former school teacher. It will be very difficult to paint him as someone who is just against unions.

Along the way, there has been one, unwavering roadblock to reform: teacher union leadership.


When we fought to change the seniority-based layoff system that was disproportionately hurting our neediest students, the teachers union fought back.


When we fought to empower parents to turn around failing schools and bring in outside school operators with proven records of success, the teachers union fought back.


And now, while we try to measure teacher effectiveness in order to reward the best teachers and replace the tiny portion who aren't helping our kids learn, the teachers union fights back.

It is a major problem when the unions stick by teachers who are just not performing. In the real world, when your performance is not up to par, you lose your job. There is no reason that teachers should be treated any differently than the rest of us. Especially when you consider what is at stake when they are incapable of doing their jobs. Sadly, they don't see that they lose all creditability when the fight to keep poor teachers. The leadership also falsely claims that reformers are trying to attack all teachers, when that simply is not the case. It is simply the leadership of the unions who keep standing in the way of the real reforms that are necessary in order to right this ship.


Al Sharpton has called education "the civil rights issue" of the day. What I find so hypocritical of him is that he is unwilling to work with the right on this fight as it is in his DNA to stick up for the union employees. There are individual tea parties around the country that are taking up education reform as an issue that they are going to pour energy into in order to obtain awareness. A Tea Party in Arizona rented out theatres in order to air "Waiting for Superman". The hope was to galvanize the community to start pressuring the school boards to make the necessary improvements.


The amount of money that we spend on education in this country we should be getting much more than the lackluster results that we are currently experiencing. The country's resources are limited, so we need to spend our money wisely. There is no one magic answer to the problems our school systems face. The problems differ depending on the individual community. It is time that we start thinking outside of the box and allow individuals to make the fixes that best fit their particular needs instead of forcing these one size fits all answers that have been failing our kids for more than 40 years.


Cross posted at PotLuck

The Average American?

Every three years The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conducts testing on 15 year olds from 34 different countries.  The results of the U.S. is nothing less than disappointing.

 

The U.S. scores of 500 in reading and 502 in science, on a 1,000-point scale, were about the organization's average, according to the report. The U.S. math score of 487 was below the average of 496.

The Department of Education spends $70B per year.  What exactly are we getting for that?  It is time that we admit that our current system is just not working and we look at different way of thinking in order to tackle this problem, because a problem it is.  Our poor educational system affects both national and economic security for future generations of our country. 

We keep thinking that simply throwing money at the problem is the answer, when clearly it is not.  We have recently added dinner programs to some of our public schools.  This after we have been feeding breakfast to these students as well.  The rationale behind adding the breakfast was that students who are not eating well don't learn as well.  While that may very well be true, it obviously has not had the desired effect.  Our scores are not going up. 

The one size fits all program of No Child Left Behind has not worked, and President Obama has come out with a new program, Race to the Top.  At least with Race to the Top the government is allowing the individual states to make more of the decisions, but it is still being federally focused instead of locally focused. 

There are some administrators in the state of New Jersey that get higher salaries than the governor.  That is not an effective way to use the limited funds.  The majority of the money should be going to improve the classroom instead of paying for high salaries and a lifetime of benefits that the average person does not have.  We have done nothing to make easier to get rid of the teachers that are no longer performing up to par.  While it is true that the vast majority of teachers are dedicated and do a very good job, it should be every teacher.  We entrust our children's future to the staff at a public school and if they are not up to the job, then they need to find a new line of work. 

The time has come that left admit that high-flying rhetoric is not only failing our children, but is endangering the future of our country.  We can longer accept the fact that students in major urban areas don't deserve the same education as the students in suburban areas.  One needs to look no further than the cities of Chicago and Washington, DC.  Both school systems spend large amounts of money per pupil and continue to have lower than average scores and graduation rates.  Since, on a whole, our school system is only average, think of how bad the schools in these two cities are. 

If we continue to fail our children in this way, how will we stay competitive on the world stage?  How will we have enough educated people to perform such tasks as national security?  This is road that we no longer can afford to continue going down.  We need to look into using more charter schools and more voucher programs.  We can't continue to wait for the failing schools to improve.  That obviously is not happening. 

For me, it's a massive wake-up call," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday. "Have we ever been satisfied as Americans being average in anything? Is that our aspiration? Our goal should be absolutely to lead the world in education."

Time will tell what steps Arne Duncan will take now that he has his "wake up call". 



Cross posted at Potluck

It Should be About the Children - Chris Christie on School Administrators

This is another man that I just love.  His a straight shooter and says it like it is. 




If you want to see the whole speech go here.  It is close to an hour long, but good.