Keep school choice as an option for all

While I don't always agree with you Randy, You make many excellent points in your post. As a graduate of Private Education at all levels, I think School Choice is imperative if we are ever going to move our education system out of the bureaucratic rut it is trapped in.

No school choice! No school choice! We need to bite the bullet and focus on fixing the public schools. They are what made this country great.

School choice is so needed in this area it is unreal, you have some parents in Allentown who honestly care for their kids yet have to deal with the problems in the Allentown school district, those parents should have the choice of where to send their children because they honestly care about the education of their kids, then you have parents like me who have tomove and don't want to change their school, it sucks, it should be a choice!

bad wrote:

No school choice! No school choice! We need to bite the bullet and focus on fixing the public schools. They are what made this country great.

If you want to fix public schools you need to create competition. School choice would do that. More competition yields a higher quality education.

Choice? They are getting taken away,
slow but sure. Just don't smoke in public, is a good starter on taking away many other choices by this wonderful government.

Yes Randy! You are so right!
Unfortunately, religious hatred, and the public school teacher's union says NO! They aren't interested in educating our kids--- it's all about money in their pockets.

We can have school choice within the context of public schools ... and in the process, the cost of transporting the children will be shifted from the school to the parent. Just open all public schools up to all children.

Parents can make the decision on what school to send their children too based on their own personal needs --- near their home, near grandma's home, near work ... because it offers a strong science curriculum or a great theatre program, hey, I even support a parent's right to select a school based on the quality of it's football team if that's what is important to that family!

This would, indeed fix just about all public schools (the rest could be closed). Schools would find their niche, and not put up with lousy teachers and adminstrators, as they couldn't afford to!

Of course, we can chose to do nothing and the children whose parents can afford to live in the houses of the great public school districts and those who can afford to foot the bill for great private schools like Swain, will be able to not only form a strong foundation for their children, but assure that their children's neural and cognitive development is such that the rich will just keep on getting richer and the poor will keep on getting poorer.

That may be great for my children ... but it pains my heart!

I really do agree with you, Bad. Public schools are what made this country great ... they used to be the path to the American Dream ... but that dream died back in the late 70s/80s, and researchers in education have known it.

Open up all public schools for all children ... require parents to provide transportation, saving millions of dollars for tax payers, and let the lousy schools close and stinky teachers be fired ... it won't take long until we end up with great schools for our great children, regardless of their parents' ability to pay!

Forks Gal wrote:

..Parents can make the decision on what school to send their children too based on their own personal needs --- near their home, near grandma's home, near work ... because it offers a strong science curriculum or a great theatre program, hey, I even support a parent's right to select a school based on the quality of it's football team if that's what is important to that family!..!

And based on these facts too! Kind of scary the disparity between schools.

Interactive PSSA Test Result Comparisons- Lehigh County
https://s3.amazonaws.com/LEHIGH_CTY_PSSA/Lehi...

Personnally, I like the idea of charter schools. I think it's impossible to make all things equal. We cannot have all schools giving the same quality of education in all the same areas. What we need is schools covering the basics and offering certain differences while maintaining quality education. I send my son to an IB charter school. He is getting a stellar education. He had been going to public school, but the public school system's efficacy in providing for his educational needs falls away after elementary school. Other children have other educational needs, and other families have other circumstances to manage. School hours and number of days also make a difference. We need minimum requirements, and a maximized number of ways to get those requirements met and more.

bad wrote:

No school choice! No school choice! We need to bite the bullet and focus on fixing the public schools. They are what made this country great.

Is that why the literacy rate is lower now than it was before public schools? Actual fact.

The question we should be asking is whether to dissolve the public school system. If a charter school performed as badly it would no longer have a charter. And the growing cacophony of competing special interests and "diversity" groups have made it unbelievably expensive and unweildy. It's time to stop supporting every left wing idea that comes down the education pike...including those that have already failed in numerous places across the country. It's time to completely rethink the viability of the public education syatem, especially beginning in cities where it has failed for millions.

emjoy wrote:

Personnally, I like the idea of charter schools. I think it's impossible to make all things equal. We cannot have all schools giving the same quality of education in all the same areas. What we need is schools covering the basics and offering certain differences while maintaining quality education. I send my son to an IB charter school. He is getting a stellar education. He had been going to public school, but the public school system's efficacy in providing for his educational needs falls away after elementary school. Other children have other educational needs, and other families have other circumstances to manage. School hours and number of days also make a difference. We need minimum requirements, and a maximized number of ways to get those requirements met and more.

Ever think of educating your child yourself in the areas where the public school fails... I mean in a classlike setting.

bad wrote:

No school choice! No school choice! We need to bite the bullet and focus on fixing the public schools. They are what made this country great.

But that "great" is slowly but surely being eroded away. Competition is sorely needed. Tax dollars should follow the child and to any school - private, parochial, or secular.

my wife and i have no children. senior citizens children are grown and have children of their own. why not let us choose to use our school taxes to help fund school vouchers. competition breeds responsability higher grades and accountability for our money. yes the school districts get their money from property taxes' the taxes WE PAY

The Chimp Obama wrote:

Dems only like choice when it involves snuffing out an unwanted baby.

This is the most honest thing written all day