April 26, 2006
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School Vouchers
In recent years there has been a lot of talk about private school vouchers. The idea would be that some of the money that is going to public schools would be used for private schools.
Some of the supporters of this position believe that the public school system is failing and this would allow people to take some of their tax dollars and have them used for private schools. These individuals feel that competition is best for the school system.
Others feel that vouchers will hurt the public school system. They say that money will be taken out of the public school funds and be sent to the private schools. They feel this will weaken the public schools.
Is the government the best organization to educate our children?
Comments (161)
Interesting question……I’m going to say no.
Not always. Depends on the child.
I think it is better than allowing private industry to take over.
No. And for the record, I do not like the idea of vouchers.
Public schools hurt enough as is. Parents pay an obscene amount of money to have their children in Private schools. Perhaps some of the money should be going from Private to Public instead.
Depends on if the child may be home schooled as well. Let’s say, for example, the child is going to be taught their parents instead of qualified tutors. Then, what if the parents, know next to diddly shit? What if, ALL they want to do, is teach them the Bible. Well, great, they’ll spout Bible quotes all day, but they won’t be able to count, or worse. They’ll be saved, but dumb.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
best? no.
However, this will never stop bright students from being successful in the public school system.
Vouchers sounds like it’s closer to the idea of me saying where my tax dollars go, so I am in favor of it I suppose.
by their*
“Saved”*
To be honest, their track record kinda sucks.
This is a really difficult issue. My sister has taught in public schools the past 4 years and is ADAMANTLY against school vouchers. She thinks they’re the devil.
Me? I don’t know. The problem with public school is everytone wants ti to succeed but no one wants to sacrifice their own kids by putting them there if they have a better alternative.
I can see school vouchers going 2 ways:
1) Middle-class people who want to send their kids to private school but aren’t *quite* there woukld use the voucher program to get them there, which would result in “good” students being opulled from already struggling schools, leaving the public schools worse than they already are.
2) The gov’t implements a system so that only the poor classes, the ones who are already goping to the mosyt unbelievably poor and dirty schools, would be given the option of going to private schools. This would allow the worst of the public schools to close b/c their students are going to private schools now, and the “good” students at public school would stay where they are and the public school system as a whole gets a bit better on avegare.
Option #2 would be a fantastic dream. Unforutnately the reality would probably be much closer to option #1. My husband and I DO think that competition is beneficial to schools. Parents should have a choice between several styles of school (traditional, montessori, etc etc). I have NO idea how to do this, since the govt clearly hasn’t done a good job but I don’t know how you’d turn it over to the commercial market without screwing over those who can’t help fund this sort of thing.
Unfortunatrly, there are no easy answers. And THAT is the true problem with public schooling. No one wants to put in the effort and the real work it would take to re-structure public schooling into a more suscessful system. Go read the first chapter of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius, where she talks of public schooling and how it got stareted, and how all the advances an findings on how children learn are contunuing to be ignored in schools and go unused and unnoticed.
No, I hardly think that the government is the best to educate our children.
I don’t even think the school system is doing all that great at it.
Education is not going to get any better for our kids until we start paying teachers more and putting more money into the public school system as well as slowing the pace down for our kids. Seriously what happened to the days where you either graduated HS or you didn’t? Know you’re getting a specific degree in HS that marks your path towards your career?????
Gimmie a break!
I like the idea that parents can choose where to send their kids – or not – to school. I personally support homeschooling, though I think that some level of accountability to be organized and actually teach is not completely inappropriate. So, to give parents the right to use their tax dollars as they would choose . . . I rather like the idea. As for how do-able the idea is . . . that I’m not as sure on. I guess we may see!
ABSOLUTELY NOT. Where there is no competition, there is almost always going to be no need for striving for excelence. Look at countries like Denmark, Japan, etc. Where they have some level of competition between private and public education students win. Honestly, when it comes to education in the U.S., students usually are on the losing end. American kids rank no where near the top when it comes to comparison to international kids. Its not the U.S. kids are dumb, but rather that the system has failed them. However when it comes to colleges, we are somewhere near the top compared to other countries. Why is that? Competition!!! When a state has to compete with private industry to try and draw in potential students…then they are going to work extra hard.
I am not saying that individual teachers in public schools do not work hard. I’m just saying overall the system does not work.
I am not a great proponent of Christian schools, I am a believer in public education. The bigger problem is that the basic funding for public schools is faulty and causes an inconsistency in education. A lower income area recieves an education relative to their taxable income. So we need to approach Public education in cooperation with private industry perhaps. Just my thoughts
Probably not. I’d love to be able to afford to send my children to private school, however, I think that the voucher idea is wrong. Public schools do not get enough funding as it is and people who can afford to send their kids to private school….well, they can afford it! Doing vouchers is just another rich get richer, poor get poorer scenario.
I’m from Tennessee and it’s well known the the public school system struggles in the south, not because our teachers aren’t great teachers, but because the standards are so low. I used to love the idea of vouchers….like say when I was in high school and really wanted to go to a private school in my area. But now, having been through high school and college, I begin thinking of the fact that I’ll soon have children and face this dilemma. I believe they should put the potential voucher money into the public school system. Make the public schools better, make them harder. That’s what the voucher system is all about anyway right? They want competition to make the schools better, why not use available financial resources to make the schools better??
no, but we really don’t have much of a choice at this point do we
Taking money out of the public schools to fund private institutions isn’t the answer. Finding a better way to fund the schools is a better idea than just giving up on them altogether. And is this a state issue? Because if it’s the feds wanting to do this, it’s unconstitutional- 10th Amendment gives the power of regulating schools to the states. Not that being constitutional seems to matter much anymore…
It could be, but right now it’s not. As an employee of a government entity, there are a lot of things government is good at, but it usually only gets good at something after something bad has happened. In other words, government has to have a good reason to become competent, and for government, the good reason usually has to be something negative. Just having the idea that it’s good to invest in our children isn’t enough.
Of course not. But the government is the best organization to preemptively bomb Iraq!
Maybe if the government actually cared
Government educating our children? Well, it worked for Hitler, I guess. I mean, if we want to follow in his shoes, I guess this is the way to go.
ew no, I go to a DODDSE school right now, and it sucks!!! If we want a generation of mindless dolts, sure, go ahead. Federalize it. (I thought the point of a PRIVATE school was that it was PRIVATELY owned and operated seperate from the government…)
Add godless before mindless, please. I forgot that part…
how about take the money and pay teachers more….we are entitiled to good free education. private schools specialized in certain areas…academic,christian,arts. why not use the money to pay the teachers who get paid hardly anything….there are some great public school teachers out there. i say put the money into the system we already have to make improvemnts and yes the gov has that power.
no. They need to put more money and focus into the public education system instaed of giving it to private schools.
butterflybeth89, how would federalizing it make “godless dolts?” I’m curious as to your logic.
No. The “government” should put more funding into public schools.
At this point in history, no. The needs and standards of today’s education system are far outdated.
I personally have been to both. I began at public school then was sent to private and eventually graduated from a Christian Academy. The education I received at private school was not even comparable to the education I received / or would have received from a public school. Not to mention the discipline and individualized attention that was bestowed upon me. So no I say the government is not the best organization to teach our children. A privately owned organization that specializes in Education (not politics, foreign policy, national defecit, etc.) Public schools need to keep that money and worry about their own curriculum.
THE GOVERNMENT ISNT THE BEST THING TO GOVERN US, SO OF COURSE THEY ARENT THE BEST TO EDUCATE US. I WENT TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR ALL 12 GRADES. PAST 6TH GRADE IT WAS A JOKE. IF I HAVE CHILDREN I WOULD WANT THEM HOME SCHOOLED OR PRIVATE SCHOOLED. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, WELL IN MY AREA, IS GEARED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. I THINK A LOT OF IT IS A WASTE OF TIME AND THINGS I THINK SHOULD BE TAUGHT ARE EITHER OVER LOOKED OR JUST BROWSED OVER. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE PRIVATE SCHOOLS WITH MORE FUNDING. IT WAS CAUSE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO UP THEIR STANDARDS AND HELP BRING DOWN THE COST OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. THAT OR PERHAPS A SCHOOL TAX BREAK FOR PRIVATE SCHOOL CHILDRENS’ GUARDIANS.
No the government is not the best organization to educate our children. I hate to think about our local schools direction coming from Washington. How about the local elected school board instead.
Of course not, but it’s what we have and it’s barely getting by on the funds it has, it needs everything it can get
Here’s the problem: parents who do choose to educate their children other ways are still forced to pay the same amount in taxes even though they aren’t using the public education system. It’s rediculous that they should have to pay for something that they are choosing specifically not to use!
Regardless of whether or not you agree with the idea of homeschooling or prviate schooling, you have to agree that people shouldn’t have to pay for something they aren’t using.
And no, the government isn’t the best organization to educate our nation’s children. There are too many political things that go along with the beauracracy of the education system. If a student isn’t being educated, ultimately, a parent can be held responsible in court for not educating that child. So why wouldn’t the government give parents a means by which they can make a choice by allowing their tax money to be applied to whatever educational establishment in which they place their children.
Noooooooooooooo! Ben and I had this conversation last night. We both very strongly support Christian education (specifically Adventist) and would never send our kids to public school. The only “good thing” we could come up with about public schools is that they are at least free so people who really really really really can’t afford private school can at least get an education.
But we both believe that until a certain age (I say 10, he says 12) that the parents should be the educators.
NO. NO. NO.
No. Newsflash: The government does not care!!!
I don’t know, but someone better do something. Oprah has been doing some shows exposing some of the school issues, and it’s really sad, disgusting and frustrating. Bill Gates is involved because he cares….maybe he should take over.
The problem is that our public education system is out of date. It was designed for a manufacturing-dominated economy, and we’re no longer that. Even in the manufacturing sector itself, things are more sophisticated and most everybody needs to be well educated. Unfortunately, our education system is still set up to train most of our kids to be assemply line workers, with the exceptional few being trained as managers.
I’m not sure what the solution is. I like the idea of public education, but I hate the idea of forcing kids to stay in failing schools just to prop the system up. A total voucher system would be intriguing, but that would have to be coupled with a system of accreditation which may be a bigger bureaucracy that what we have now. And where would all the necessary private schools come from? And how does home schooling fit into this?
I do think teachers should make more money, but I also think they should be held more accountable. Perhaps that’s a start.
I DON’T THINK THAT PRIVATE SCHOOLS SHOULD RCV PUBLIC SCHOOL DOLLARS AT ALL…THEY ARE SUPPORTED BY THEIR PRIVATE SUPPORTERS & STUDENT ENROLLMENT FEES. TO TAKE THAT MONEY FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS WOULD ONLY FURTHER DEMINISH THE ALREADY SINKING PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM. THAT WOULD TOTALLY SUCK!
public schools are weakening because nobody wants to give up their money and give taxes to them! if we give money to private schools, they’re no longer private. then people are going to complain about forced religion in private schools. too much of a mess, if people want to help they should stop being stingy and give money to the public schools.
No, the government is not the best entity to educate children! Parents are! Besides, education run by the Federal government is unconstitutional. Any power not given to the Federal government by the Constitution is to be given to the states or to the people. Education is never mentioned in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or other Amendments.
I was homeschooled in elementary and middle school and then attended a private high school, and am now attending a private college. It’s better on a personal level, because I like attending freshman-level, general education college courses with 20-40 people that are taught by the division chairs. I think I learned a lot more, especially being homeschooled. In middle school, I was taking 14 classes every day, plus about 5 extras once a week. It sounds crazy, but I loved it. I think that there should be vouchers, since it takes so much money to attend private school, and my parents have been paying the school tax forever for a system we’ve never even used. The only time I’ve ever even set foot in the public school is for voting and SATs. The main reason I didn’t go to my district school was because there are a lot of drugs and gangs, and horrible teachers, and the school has 4000 students.
Also, overall private schools have better results on smaller budgets. Isn’t that what capitalism is all about? Maximizing results while minimizing expendatures. Besides, here in Indiana, we have the highest dropout rates and the best football fields. One school near me built TWO stadiums in one year, but can’t afford their electric bill. Until schools become about academics and only academics, there will be no improvement.
I’ve seen bad track records on both sides. But to be honest, public schools aren’t proving themselves to be ahead of the game by any stretch of the imagination. Our country is about competition, yet there’s no competition for local public schools to any substantial degree without other options. Will they hurt if students go to other schools? Absolutely! That’s the driving force of competition: be better so people want the service you offer over someone else’s. The parents that pay taxes should have some say in where they may send their child, within reason. Unfortunately though, states like Ohio that are choose to fund their schools through property taxes are giving free-rides to too many. But then that’s why Ohio schools are suffering (surprise, it’s not Bush’s fault as they made it out to be in the last election)
*shakes head slowly and sadly* no.
Absolutely not. Parents should be allowed to teach their kids whatever type of heresy best suits them!
Home schooling is the best – probably. Either that or not.
L,r
Government has no buisness educating people. Read the Constitution of the United States and show me where Federal government is given this authority.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html
No. The Government screws up almost everything it touches…BOTH sides of the isle.
Don’t even get me started on No Child Left Behind.
Of course, I’d be even more in favor of private companies and religious organizations providing funds for children to attend private schools. If everyone who wanted to leave the public schools was provided the opportunity to do so, then the public schools would have no choice but to shape up if they wanted to keep their students. I think it’s one of those things where if we just keep asking the government to change, nothing will happen. If the people get up and do something, then the government will have to listen.
Personally, I think “poorer” schools do better with education, anyway. Take my high school – half the classrooms flooded every April, the bathrooms had chronic mold problems, some study halls took place in the band room instrument closet, kids in detention did janitorial work because we couldn’t afford a custodian, and we got our textbooks and desks by asking the public schools for their throw-aways. On the flip side, the school has a 100% graduation rate and a 99% pass rate on state achievement tests (ISTEP). Our sports teams stink, but the philosophy club is growing. Most classes are taught at the college level, and all the teachers are amazing, all 15 of them. I like poor schools much better.
No, I don’t think the government is the best. I don’t like the fact that my tax dollars go to a school system my children are not in.
Private schools charge each student tuition to attend. For those parent’s they are in essence being double whammied. They pay for a school system they aren’t using and then they have to pay for private schooling to boot. Parent’s who homeschool also pay for a school system they don’t use and they must also purchase their own curriculm, which is not inexpensive.
I think tax dollars should not be sent to schools at all. I think parent’s should pay tuition for the school of their choice, be it public or private.
The root problem with public education is one of ideology, not funding. Giving more money to public schools is like shoveling coal into a train that has already left the tracks; it won’t help. I’m OK with funding the public schools, but not if we aren’t going to address the real issues.
“Well, great, they’ll spout Bible quotes all day, but they won’t be able to count, or worse. They’ll be saved, but dumb.” – Kyjo
Right… So put them in a public school: they STILL won’t be able to read or count, but at least they won’t be saved! (I’m curious as to your logic.)
Excuse my snarkiness, Kyjo. I see now you were comparing bad home schooling with proper tutoring.
RYC: I HOPE SO, IM A WRECK AND WOULDNT HIM WORSE OFF THEN ME. THANKS
no… actually, I homeschooled…
Vouchers will give the public schools competition. So I am all for them.
woohoo! thanks for the comment!
well, states have the most power in controlling what happens in their education programs. the federal government leaves most all of education decisions to be left to the states.
the states in turn, give power to local school boards to make decisions. local school boards have a lot of power and control the majority of what happens in our schools system.
competition is always good.
but if you’re a parent or even a student and you’re worried about this issue or any other issues of importance, i suggest you see when the next school board meeting is and attend. usually, if you have a concern you’d like to share they have a time set aside where people can get up and give a discription of the issue they have.
also, in some cases, less than 7% of people in a community vote for school board elections. this stuff is important. these people are deciding what is taught in our schools.
americans/parents/studenst/critics/whoever are always complaining about our eductional programs and such, and yet so few are willing to do what it takes to make changes. most people just like complaining i guess.
but back to the original question…
i think competition is good and it would challenge the public schools to step it up. but i also see the downfall of this program. luckily, i believe, it’s up to local school boards, so if you don’t like it. tell them.
Not all public schools are terrible–I’m more than satisfied with the education I got from my public school district. Of course, it was a well-managed suburban district, and my success might have had something to do with the EFFORT I put in. (gasp! Personal responsibility? What’s that?) Public school districts often go down in flames because of the colossal mismanagement by their administrations. These administrations see no incentive to make better use of their resources; they simply beg the state for more cash when things go wrong. This is usually the case with large urban schools. The other problem with public schools today is that too many parents expect the schools to do their parenting for them in addition to educating their children. Teachers and schools do not have the time, resources, or patience to babysit your ill-prepared, ill-mannered children; but this is increasingly what they’re having to do.
This is a very touchy subject for myself because my family is directly affected by the vouchers. Myself and all my siblings have all gone to Catholic school–fully paid for by my HARD-WORKING parents. In the more recent years, the tuition at the school we attended (I still have 2 younger sibs that go there) has sky-rocketed….the cost per child is now $3800!!! Why? Because the school accepts vouchers and the vouchers only cover so much of the tuition cost and the administration feels that the parents of voucher children should still contribute to the tuition. So, now my parents are paying nearly 3x the amount for 2 of their children to attend school than what they paid for 3 of us to attend there at the same time. Before the school had the voucher program the cost for my parents to send myself & my older brother and sister was only $2800 and now for only two children it’s costing them $7600!!!! Most would just say “pull them out and send them to another school or public school for that matter.” But my parents are devout Catholics and have raised all 6 children in Catholicism and feel that a solid “Catholic education” is valuable. (Whether or not I agree is irrelevant)
The cost of the education is not the only problem. Now many of the classrooms are over capacity, each grade has 3 “homerooms” with 30-40 students in each. The reason this happens is because the Cleveland Catholic Diosease has become greedy (like typical Catholics) and won’t turn the vouchers ($$$$) away. Many of the students and teachers that once enjoyed a classroom of only 25-30 children are over populated. This takes away from the one-on-one time a teacher can spend with each individual child. Many teachers are spending their time baby-sitting rather than actually teaching and also having to deal with parents that do not want their children to be taught the Catholic religion. Now–if that is the case….why on God’s green Earth would you send your child to a CATHOLIC SCHOOL?????
Our diosease actually took this issue to the U.S. Supreme Court because many feel that the voucher program is a violation of the separation of church & state because government money should not fund a religious eduaction. Yes, the voucher program does take money away from the public school systems and God knows that Cleveland’s school need it badly. It’s a slippery slope……
No,
Besides if public money was sent to private schools, the private schools could be influenced more by the states agenda since the state was funding them.
No. They aren’t doing a very good job. Look at statistics. I was homeschooled instead.
That was awesome!
yes, I was in the public school system my whole life and I think the government ran it fine. I liked how standardized everything was between schools.
Private schools need to find funding another way though, public schools really are tight for money as is. My roommate went to private school for grade 12 and her mom dished out something upwards $40,000 (CDN). I seems to me like they’re getting plenty of funding lol
My daughter has attended public school, private school, home schooling and online schooling. We live in a poor area where the public highschool has a college enrollment rate of 6%. They offer no courses outside of the basic requirements. Teachers here spend more time negotiating their salaries than they spend teaching. I can’t blame them.. they deserve to be paid. The school has a beautiful football stadium, but no chemistry lab, very few computers and so few textbooks that teachers will not even allow them to be brought home for homework for fear that one might get lost. On top of paying school taxes, parents also have to pay an enrollment fee for their children to attend public highschool. Then there is the gangs and drugs and all of the other elements that make public school so much fun.
I withdrew my daughter from public school halfway into her freshman year because I thought it was a joke and wasn’t willing to risk her education. I enrolled her in private school and set it up so that she could take required classes that she would need to attend college before her senior year began and then withdrew her for her senior year and enrolled her into an online/homeschool to take extra classes that are suited towards her college goals. She also takes summer enrichment coarses at our state college. ( I recommended contacting the admissions counselor at the college that your child plans to attend to make sure that they will take transcripts from the online school that you choose )
I have spent close to $10,000 on my daughters highschool education so far, none of which is tax deductable and I continue to pay public school taxes. Kids aren’t being educated, they’re being housed for 6 hours a day. I think that each school district should be reviewed yearly, and if they are failing the children then allow the voucher system in that district. Don’t punish the ones that are doing well, but don’t punish the children in the systems that are failing by forcing them to stay there.
ryc – amen to that! The constant desire to learn is the best means of keeping from being ignorant.
Money for education should attach to the student, not the school. Competition would definitely help public schools improve. (It helped the postal service.) At the same time, I think we should stop expecting public schools to pick up the slack when families and communities won’t do their jobs. Also, schools should be more autonomous, which would give them freedom to innovate and tailor their services to their students–the real ones, not the abstract ones the feds imagine when they’re crafting education legislation.
Probably not, but the alternative would lead to schools split along rich and poor lines. The best thing we as a society can give to someone who is underpriviledged is a good shot at an education.
the government is the worst place for the children to receive education. there are some good people in the government, but overall, it’s a sick and twisted system. there’s no standard or right and wrong, no moral or ethical basis. how is the future of america supposed to make wise and educated decisions if they don’t even have a measuring stick, or criteria, for making those decisions?
weaken the public school system?…lol, that’s funny. where i am, it can’t get any worse, and it’s because they’re too focused on money and technology.
Oh my no!
I think vouchers are a grand idea. I did a paper on it in school. I’ve experienced all. The public school system, private, and homeschooling.
What’s wrong with putting a little healthy competition into the school system? Maybe that would give the teachers a little incentive to do a better job instead of just cruising along. And before people start slamming on me, I know there are GREAT teachers out there, but you have to admit, to some it’s just a job, and they don’t give your children the attention they deserve.
And as to the government hurting for money and these vouchers making it worse. Perhaps they need to budget better as everyone in their private lives has to. Are acedemics more important or sports? Just some things to ponder.
And in answer to the real question, no, I don’t think that the government is the best organization to educate our children.
No. as with anything else the government does there is always going to be some one who can do it better and cheaper, thats just the way the capitalist system work. If you don’t believe it do some research on New Zeland. The government used to run everything but nothing was working and the country was dieing so they started use school vouchers and turning over the shipping services and the forest service, you name it, the private businesses and the country now has the highest per capita income of just about any nation on the planet. Look it up I dare you!
Nope!
Your post suck and they are getting really boring
Your post suck and they are getting really boring
This will not hurt the public school system it will hurt the private schools…we don’t need to throw more money at the problem we just need to fix the family and the problems will then go away…for real no doubt…people need to get their heads out of their butts and reallize that….but I realize they have been taught by their mommies that if they had a problem she would give them money….stupid people….get right.
competition is good … everyone wants to provide the best education for their kids they can …
Absolutely NOT! There is no one who can love and nurture and educate their child more than the parent. An educated parent that is, I’m not talking about a disorganized, lazy homeschooling mom or dad.
Your kids are YOUR responsibility, not the governments.
We homeschooled our kids and still had to pay public school taxes…which could have been used on better books and supplies for our own home classroom.
When our kids advanced up to the harder couses like Physics & Trig, I was unable to teach them, so the local University let them enroll in their classes. (They told us they wanted more homeschooling students because they came prepared to learn). It was expensive and we would have loved to have had some financial relief, but it was a sacrifice that was well worth the reward.
Government schools are a shame. Our kids are grown and married now, but we still have it in us to help those left in the system. My husband took a 50k a year cut in salary to become a teacher in the public schools. At first I was beside myself because these are supposed to be our comfortable years. But his heart is for the kids. He said he wanted to give something to the next generation and help make a difference. What good are we if we cannot help others. Every child should have an opportunity to learn.
I think vouchers would enable parents to choose the education that is best suited for their child.
{stepping down off the soapbox)
Have a great day!
No
They are right, in the long run school vouchers would hurt the people involved with running the public school system. Competition forces people to produce results… who in the public school system would want to be forced to do that? On the other hand, the next generation of school children… would gain a great deal from the competition.
The public has been misled to believe that our students are competitive with any in the world. They are not. First year teacher’s wages are kept artificially low (and cited as often as possible) in order to mislead the public into believing that they are getting a bargain. The subject of the average teacher’s salaries are very wisely not mentioned. If you add the average salaries to the benefits and devide it by the hour, teaching pays pretty darn well. C’mon, what should a person expect for working 188 out of 365 days a year? That’s only about half of the time!
And is that enough to provide kids with the best possible education? The days of kids being needed at home to work the farm all summer are long gone- and yet the current school system stubbornly hangs on to its vacation time. This is not in the best interests of the children, their parents, or a superior education. It appears to be only in the best interests of a school system that has its own interests at heart instead of the public’s.
I think that we desperately need some competition for our most cherished posession… the well being of the next generation.
I personally think they need to add money to the public school systems.
They had a special on Oprah the other day about our failing school systems. If the goverment puts more money into the private schools, what is to happen to the children whose parents can’t afford private schools? Should they get lesser of an education because they can’t afford the same? I personally think not. If anything, there should be more money added to the public schools that are in need of better materials to provide a better education to the ones with less of an oppourtunity.
Chelsea
Unfortunately if the government doesn’t run the education system, no one else will pay for it. I don’t agree with many of the government’s education plans (No Child Left Behind, for example), but I do appreciate that the cost of educating my children would be phenomenally higher if there weren’t government subsidies.
i don’t think that public school is good. it caters to the poorest students! i went to public school for my entire education because my parents had no time or money. i was a good student. i was smart. until highschool, i was treated like some sort of evil plague. As a kid, i was somehow expected by my teachers to understand the entire public school system. they sent notes home about how horrible i was (if you read them, you would agree that these teachers were a bit out of line in saying that i was a “problem,” all i did was answer questions correctly and revise our morning proofreading quickly and accurate [although not exactly the way they wanted. . .what was the problem? the sentence still said the same thing and was grammatically correct!] because my bus was always late and i didn’t want to be late for orchestra. It was unfair, other children didn’t even have to do it when they were late). therefore, my kids will be homeschooled. Then they can learn at their own paces and i won’t have to worry about some dumb teacher treating them like a disease.
i hate how oprah is God to some people.
not saying this specifically to anyone…but i’ve seen it in my mom and millions of other women. oprah may be a good woman, but so what? what authority does she have? come on, people. base your opinions on something other than her.
the govt sucks. that is all.
why in the world would they take public school money and put it into private schools??? isn’t that the point of private schools ??? it’s PRIVATE!! not publicly funded!!! that’s ridiculous!!! more money should be put into PUBLIC schools!! i can’t believe this, the poor are just going to become poorer. who great idea was this?!
Heck no.
Absolutely not. It is the job of the parents to train their own children – not the government. If someone is going to bring children into the world, it is their job to take care of those children. It is my very unpopular belief that the government has no place in the education of our children, and the country on the whole would be a better place if we’d do it ourselves.
I can tell you that I want you to make a fish out of a ball of clay, but it’s not going to look exactly as I want it to look unless I do it ourselves. How much more important are the characters, behaviors, lives and souls of our little ones?
It all comes down to personal responsibility – a concept almost forgotten in today’s society.
That “No Child Left Behind” is a catch phrase from the Goals 2000 and OBE (outcomes based education) and the reason our kids were pulled out of public school. It has led to the dumbing down of our children left in the public schools and parents need to wake up and do their homework on the subject.
Nope, that’s why parents have double duty as parents and teachers. If you want your kids *really* educated these days, you have to teach them something.
ya post suck
dan_sucks_big1s
Dear God no.
I know that in Georgia, public education is at an all-time low. Private schools better attend to the individual academic needs of a child, which is part of why I’m going to a private school next semester. I think the idea of the funds going to both is fabulous. Public schools where I live are the worst, and the students don’t learn hardly anything. Is poor grammar and bad morals really what you people want instilled in your children? No. You want them to have an advantage in the workplace, and I think either home schooling or private schooling is the only way they can learn.
better gov’t than to privatize
I think that the private schools have enough money….at least the one’s around where I live. I also think that to take away what little money the public school system has would hurt it a a lot. Maybe it’s just in my state or something that the education system doesn’t have much money…we put in a lottery to help us out, so to take away money would suck. I don’t know….I’m going to school right now to be a teacher so I might be a little biased.
No. Primetime, Nightline and Oprah have aired shocking stories of how 99 % of public highschool students couldn’t even name the first 5 presidents or do simple math problems…
ryc: I totally agree!
Yes….it is the only way to insure that all children regardless of any factor is educated. America is blessed that way since in a lot of countries only people with money can afford to educate their children and that is only if they want to. In a lot of countries, females are not even educated at all. How sad is that.
No, the government is not the best organization. I feel that public schools and private schools complement one another.
Some public schools are falling apart at the seams. literally. public schools need the money. private schools dont, thats why people have to pay to go to them, duh. and another comment on the public school system in general. No child left behind should be called every child left behind. ITS NOT WORKING. bush is a politician, not an educator, and not a particularly bright one at that.
Where, also, is the students responsibility in this? Are the school systems really THAT bad, or are the majority of kids not working hard?
I went to public schools from K – halfway through my freshman year. I got A TON out of it, but it’s because I paid attention, I listened to my parents and my teachers, I did my homework, I read the readings, I studied for my tests and etc. I then attended a private Department of Defense School in London England. My parents didn’t have to pay tuition because we were military, and the education I got there was amazing. The class sizes were small, which gave a lot of one on one time. It was a fantasitic school and I know I got a ton out of it. I worked my butt off and graduated with honors and a 3.8 GPA.
I think that America is not holding our kids accountable for their education. Being a student is their job – and you have to work hard at it. You have to want to learn. Parents are responsible for raising and nurtuiring a childs desire to learn, grow, and develop. There is no accountability with this suggested program for the fact that parents suck and kids just aren’t trying. Making the schools more competitive or dealing with any of that is not going to help. Motivating the children and parents getting a clue is what is going to help – but I don’t see that happening.
Regardless, whatever school a kid goes to, they have the opportuinty to make something of that education. someone posted about the poorness of their school and how study halls were held in the instrument closet, and yet they had a 100% graduation rate. If kids who have that kind of an educational system can graduate and go on to college and have learned a great deal – then so can any other student.
Let’s stop blaming the government, the teachers, the school board and let’s start blamming the real problems, the parents and the kids.
Texas may be forced to go to a voucher system and all private schools… because the legislature can’t seem to figure out how to fix the currently-ruled unconstitutional school finance problems.
and another thing about your last post. No, i would not kill hitler. at that moment in his life he was innocent. And if i was aloud to stay in the past i would try to keep it that way.
Of course not the government. This has been demonstrated in studies that show private-schooled kids consistently doing much better academically than their public-schooled peers– and home-schooled kids consistently leaving them both in the dust! (Socially too, but the question was about education.)
Having experienced public school, Christian school, and home school (in that order), I can say emphatically that public school actually hindered my academic and social development, while home schooling let me charge forward academically and blossom socially. Does it work? Well, my high school diploma is from home schooling, and my college diploma says “High Honors” on it.
As for vouchers, since when is it a bad thing to take your investments away from something that’s doing a terrible job and give it to something that’s doing a better job? It’s called “Free Market.” If the public schools were a corporation, they’d be busted under antitrust laws. Yet somehow it’s okay when the government owns the monopoly.
Would school vouchers potentially hurt the public school system? If so, I’m all for them!
No
NO.
the government has horrible ideas about money and education.
education is not a compromise.
the government should take money away from somewhere else that actually doesn’t matter as much.
public schools need all the mmoney they can get.
No. They have way too much over say over what we must learn and what we must never be taught.
However, I believe that education should be free and available to all, and I don’t know how else that should be done. If funding were cut from public schools and given to already-wealthy private schools, a lot of people would suffer.
I dissaprove of vouchers because they would give the government some control over private schools which in effect eliminates the purpose of private schools. It is my personal belief that the government has no business being involved in education at all as it’s involvement undermines democracy and capitalists. When the government gains control over our children’s education they also gain control over our children’s worldview which could lead to total brainwashing as in the case of Hitler’s youth…
I think the government is the best organization for educating all of the children that it gives birth to. As for the rest, it is primarily the God-given responsibility of the parents to decide how best to educate their children.
No. The parents (i.e. homeschooling) or a private or charter school are all better options. However, not all families have the resources to do this. The parents need to consider all options, including public school, and decide what is the most viable option for each child.
If the vouchers are accepted, then parents will be given the money to keep their kids from public schools. In other words, the parent will have not only the option to put their kids in private school, but the money. Scholarships for the kids. The gov’t will be funding a way out of public schools.
The parents should be handling the public education of their kids. Parents would whip the system into shape if given the opportunity. The gov’t is not doing a passable job, in my opinion, at least not in the south.
Notice that these people who oppose private school are really opposed to their kids being taught about Jesus? It’s what it boils down to. As Kyjo said, kids will be saved but stupid. People who are lazy think everyone is. The comment about Christians being unable to properly home school their kids is a dart aimed towards Christians, and has nought to do with either public, private, or home school.
No. I plan on homeschooling my kids.
No. The problem with public schooling is that there are just so many kids, the only feasible way to teach them all is to teach them all the same way. Unfortunately, not every child has the same needs. Some will point out that there are programs for ‘special ed’ kids and for ‘honors’ kids, but still, these 3 ways to teach still do not satisfy the needs of some. There are those who are a bit ‘slower’ than the average special ed kids, and there are those who are a bit ‘faster’ than the average honors kid, but these special cases are still lumped in with the rest, where they are not having their needs fulfilled, and are therefore retarded by the very system which tries to help them.
I went to public school, I went to private school, I was home schooled, I dropped out.
I dont know enough to answer this question. Reacting, I guess so? Education is what you make of it. I made nothing of it, so all the money, family and government, was WASTED! My mom was a good teacher though.
This is a very conflicting issue with me. i’d say I’m against school vouchers, because it leads to the government paying private schools.
it’s my understanding that here there are already funds made available to some of the private schools. something to do with the students being allowed to participate on public school’s sports teams or not. home schooling, too. not all home schoolers sit around the kitchen table with mom or dad, many are organized and have specific subject teachers, etc. it is just a different environment than either public or private school (low overhead)
i sent my kids to a private school for elementary because the local (brand-new!) school was already over-crowded and at least i knew the teachers were dedicated because we paid them a fraction of what the teachers in the public school system earned. both have been through public school for secondary education.
vouchers? i don’t think so. if you want to send your kid to private school, go ahead, but i already pay enough for the public schools which don’t meet expectations – it’s like robbing peter to pay paul.
No, thats why I home school.
To many problems with public schools these days.
No way, too much is already controlled by the government!
no there are few that i can truly say offer an education in anything
I think a good balance of both is needed. For some kids, public school is absolutely the only way to go. Other kids need private school. But I do not think the government should give money to private schools. That’s just silly.
It’ll weaken public schools…I’m going to go with a resonating “no”.
Well, how can the public schools compete? I mean, they’re not for profit businesses- they get their income from the government. If you take money out of the public school system, it can only get worse, because they have no other source of income. Private schools are supposed to raise their own money. That is their price to pay for being able to go by their own rules and such. Private schools don’t have to abide by all of the rules public schools do, and therefore they should not subject to government monies. Public schools should be a haven for people to send their kids to be educated in a diverse and equal setting. I mean, tax dollars are for the benefit of everyone. Everyone = public. Upper class = private.
You know, this just sounds like more trickle-down shit to me.
If the public school system is failing, then give it more money. It’s just the obvious choice. If you take out money from the PSS, then it will get worse, and then you’ll want to use more money for private schools, and then the PSS will get worse and worse until they have to shut the schools down, and then (as long as this country is still supportive of legislating equality) people will want to make private schools subject to the same laws public ones were, especially since they’re using government money, and then they’ll just turn into public schools anyway, except that the lower class will be more excluded this time around.
Then again, I’m not an expert, nor does this site get recognition from the people who make the laws, so the entire function of this question/answer thing is moot.
vouchers are a good idea, but in modified form. I think that that parents should be given an option of more than one school district to send their child too. they can pay their education tax to the one they chose for their children. they can divide where it goes if their children goes to different schools.
if certain (bad) schools stop getting children they will be forced to downsize. if certain (good) school get many children they will be forced to expand. thus bad schools will be forced to either get their act togeether or close down, where as school who are doing things right will expand to serve the needs of as many children as possible.
the most important thing is to just improve the quality of the system we have now, I think. if city schools were fixed up and turned into proper places of education vouchers wouldn’t be such an issue. in most suburban areas the differenes between schools is minimal. I happene to go to a really excellenet district I know that, but even the slightly lesser off school districts some of my friends go to are not so different that they are getting any less of an education.
~~~megan
Who knows, but I wish I had gone to a private school..I’m assuming it would have been waaaay better than the little schools I’ve gone to.
School vouchers is really about taking money away from the poorest districts and giving it to the rich bastards to fund their little spawn’s private education.
It’s a typical republican ploy to keep the poor under their heel and advance the rich–then BLAME the poor for being poor.
Fuckers, every last one of them.
Would school vouchers potentially hurt the public school system? If so, I’m all for them!
Posted 4/26/2006 at 11:47 AM by Pass_the_Aura
Elitest asshole.
You can say that because t he option of private school and/or home schooling was available to you.
Public school is my ONLY option.
So when you privileged class take the money and run, what am I supposed to do?
Oh, that’s right, shut the fuck up and look forward to a stunning career at McDonalds.
Think outside of your own narrow world for a change, why don’t you?
PS–I get straight A’s in Public School and I’m in the top 5 percentile in the standardized (bullshit) tests.
Money should not be given to private schools. Ever. Total waste of money. Some of the teachers aren’t even qualified; and any religiously affiliated school should NOT recieve money. How about not wasting more money on students whose parents douse them with money? Um.. no.
BTW, I completely agree with Anna Lanche!
For many generations? The goverment did a fine job. If you don’t like it, and I’ll agree that public schools are going down the drain, homeschool your kids…and if you don’t want to because they’re the brats that drive you nuts? Just think of how much they’re lowering the learning quality of the other kids in the classroom.
Awful idea. The public schools are poor enough and bad enough.
Last time I checked, school boards were ELECTED by the people. If people paid more attention to who was serving on them, and what the school board did and the actions they are “responsible” for in planning our child’s education, I think they’d do much better.
no public schools deserve more
The government has a role in shaping, but as primary educators for our children, no. But like with other areas, they are picking up the slack on things that the individual/family/community should do itself.
No.
What does the government do well? Our school district passed a bond referendum a few years ago to build a new science lab and put artificial turf on the football field…$600,000. It passed. They came back the next year asking for new bonds so that they could run electricity into the science building; it seems that they had put turf on the field first then built the science building…they ran out of money. With priorities like this, how can public schools succeed? Athletics have far too much pull in public schools (and many private) to the detrement of acedemics.
I am not sure that vouchers solve anything though. Perhaps some the mandates that are coming from congress for programs like no child left behind should be funded by the body requiring their implementation.
To everyone who said no:
So, you want them overseeing your healthcare also?
Think about that…
It wouldn’t happen as unbiased otherwise. I think the government funded education has the greatest potential to create a more thoughtful generation. Unfortunately, the education system has moved towards making everyone equal intellect, rather than giving opportunity to become the most educated/greatest person a child can be.
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NO…the government is the worst organization to educate our chlidren…we mise well send our 2 yr olds out to play in 8 lanes of traffic..all the government does is brainwash our childern to belive lies..such as we live in a democratic nation…any one who has not been lied to knows that we live in a constitutonal republic..b/c democracy is a unrealistic way of governing..that is just ONE of the lies that our government teaches our children..
britt
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No. Although I favor a completely private answer not involving anyone’s taxdollars, vouchers are a big step in the right direction. They’ve been enormously successful in many European countries.
A recent publication by the United States Department of Education has admitted that the average cost of public education per pupil is slightly more than double the cost per pupil of a private education, even though public schools have more students per teacher.
More than double! You pay more than double, and for drastically inferior quality of instruction.
The whole idea behind the voucher program is that these parents are paying school taxes that go to public schools and then ALSO paying an arm and a leg so that their kids can go to private school. The basic idea is that if they are sending their kids to private schools they shouldn’t have to pay the tax for the public school (or they should get credit for doing so).
I think that parents shouldn’t have to pay twice for their child’s education; however, that begs the question why should people without kids pay school taxes? I mean, we all get taxed whether we have kids or not, or if we never WANT kids. I don’t know. There are too many factors involved.
No!
It’s impossible to “educate” without constantly assuming, addressing, and trying to inculcate answers to ultimate questions (What is man? What is good? etc.). No education beyond the presentation of raw data (2+2=4; water freezes at 32 degrees) can be neutral religiously; every school spends much of its effort teaching students to interpret not just ingest.
Christians and Muslims and Jews and Hindus shouldn’t be compelled at gunpoint (that ultimately is what compulsory taxation means) to pay for anybody’s secular, non-religious (usually anti-religious) education (today’s system). Non-religionists shouldn’t be compelled at gunpoint to pay for anybody’s religious education (vouchers).
Government should get out of the education business entirely.
I think that until parents get back to raising their children instead of expecting the government to do it for them, it doesn’t matter where the money goes. The problem isn’t old books and beat up desks, the problem is countless students who don’t give a shit and are being passed through the system because they are “too far gone to be helped.” Teachers cant help students who don’t think they need any help. If they went to private schools, they’d just get kicked out instead of passed, which would make things worse and increase the number of kids turning to the streets. If parents aren’t going to take responsibility for their kids while they’re little, and teach them respect for themselves and others what school they go to won’t make a difference.
No way! No how…
> I think public school. But there should be no outside influences affecting the proper education. When I was a kid, and even raising my own, there was pressure to move the kid on in school and not hold them back. If the kids are having problems with their learning, classes or teachers attitude, the system should be able to check on itself without coverup, cronyism and denial having an influence. If the kid is having a problem, get or give them help; don’t just move them on and ignore it. We have way too many illiterate people around even now.
Peace
The church ought to take on education. Quality education, of course. If churches provided free quality education, it’d be a great community outreach and it would ensure that kids get educated in matters of the Spirit as well as mind.
Nope. God put parents in charge of children, not government workers.
until we’re given another option, how will we know?
I think school vouchers are an excellent idea. There are hundreds of families that could benefit from vouchers. I also think a minimum tution should be charged at the Public schools and I think the public schools would be better served by private industry. And here’s an even more interesting thought. There are more than 2 million families in the US alone that homeschool, if more people homeschooled, those who couldn’t might just get a good education at the schools. You get a dynamite education at home! OldSage
The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education
I have been a public school teacher for 24 years. In my professional experience, it is the private school that has the inferior product. Public schools, especially in Texas where we are accountable to a State test for results, offer a standardized product created by dedicated professionals. Teachers in public schools are paid adequately, though not what they are really worth. Teachers in private schools do not have learn the same skills in disciplining and offering lessons to ALL students, from kids that are damaged or disabled in some way to accelerated learners who may be brighter than the teacher. These students are often mixed together randomly in groups of thirty or more and given to teachers with a warning from the federal government that NO CHILD WILL BE LEFT BEHIND.
I admit I would like to see teachers paid better, but I would settle for more respect. As a whole, we are doing an increasingly better job of teaching, though the test results often don’t reflect that because the tests are harder every year. Since the 1980′s, education in this country has come a long way. We don’t get much credit for it because we are compared to countries that develop elitist systems that don’t teach every child. Being a teacher is a very difficult job that needs to be glorified a bit in this country so that more of the best and brightest in this country will want to become one. You would not believe how many wonderful teachers I have seen in action out there. If it were on a TV show, the public wouldn’t believe it. They are only used to seeing teachers on TV portrayed as clowns, the butt of every joke, or someone incapable of doing anything else. Bring back Boston Public, and notice how most of the techers on it are NOT Mr. Lipshitz!
i know school system in TX sux ass.
No. I went to public school for seven years, and have now been in private school for three, and the difference is astounding. If the government got involved in my school, I would hate it. The whole point is that it’s separate from the government, so people have more control over their or their child’s education.
no, thats why I am going to homeschool my kids ( when I have any
Some people may criticize me for doing such… or say that I am too protective or trying to brain wash my kids.
First off they are kids not mini-adults! They do not need to be exposed to so many things from other kids or from teachers. They are fragile and need a strong , happy place for them to grow and be whoever God wants them to be… without the fear of peer pressure or bullies. Others will agree with me when I point out that the bad things that happen to us in our childhood affect our adult lives in ways we do not even realize.
And yes, once my children reach the age to leave home … I will let them make THIER own decisions. When they are adults they will be treated as such.
And the brainwashed deal… think of it this way
Public schools teach what they think is best for the children and they have an idea of what kind of citizens they want to create. I am only doing the same thing. Except I will be held more accountable to myself and others because this is my own kid I am raising. Thus, I will try even harder because he/ she is my own child.
I am not saying that everyone who puts their kids in public school is wrong for doing so… I just don’t think that public schools are for every one ( and neither is home schooling
i think that the students of parents who care what their children learn will succeed no matter where they go to school. the children of parents who don’t care would do better in private schools where the classes tend to be smaller and the teachers have the time to be parents as well as educators. unfortunately, the parents who don’t care would not be the ones using the voucher system.
I’m all for school vouchers. It would give kids an alternative to public schools… which quite frankly suck. I would know. I’m in one right now.
Check it out, Think about it, Then act on it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iHJPuthO7M
http://www.invisiblechildren.com
yeah. most of the pirvate schools are small. making it impossible to acomplish anything due to lack of funding, also teachers are very underpaid.
naw I guess
Well, look at what it did to you!
Private schools are just that: Private. This is just something that the government is trying to get its hands on.
government dont give a care about skool. my skool is so old n ghetto its too poor to get new textbooks. they get them for ONE subject every SEVEN years. so math gets one every seven years and so does every other one. So ghetto my skool is.
No. Our government actually allowed “Weekly Reader” to be distributed for years after an article in it revealed the children’s newspaper had long been being editted by the KGB. (1962), Champaign, Illinois.
like I said before………. i soeport publik edukkaton