School Choice or Public-Education Abandonment?

Everyone has the right to a free public education – THAT’S IT! No more or no less.

Just as when the United States was created, the Constitution of Texas also allows for the right of a free public education through high school. It also allows parents the right to put their children in a private school and/or to home school if they so choose (at their own expense).

These days we are seeing an even bigger push away from the public education system in favor of other alternatives. Alternatives such as Private Schools (religious or secular), Charter Schools, Alternative Schools, and Home Schooling. All of these options have their positive attributes and all have shown to have positives as well as negatives.

Which is right for you or your children? It’s hard to say because each child, and each family is different. Are public Schools broke? That depends on which schools you look at, but it has as much to do with the community around that school system as it does the school itself.

Not a single school system can be successful without community/parental involvement in the education process. Schooling our children is an active process. It must involve the parents as much as it does the children and the teachers. Unfortunately, far too many parents only become involved in the education process when there is a problem. Far too many parents are absent from their child’s daily school life.

Regardless of the many issues facing Public Education, removing resources from the public education system is not the way to handle the issue. Our problems with public education have come from the state and federal government confusing oversight with micromanagement.

Unfunded mandates, mandatory testing, and financial manipulation by the state and federal government are the root causes of the educational failure in this country and this state; furthermore, robbing the public education system of more resources will not change that. Stripping away at these resources will only serve to deteriorate the already frail inner-city schools, weaken strong schools, and steal from the small-town local education that is a key part of the very fabric of rural Texas.

I hear many folks say that they want to use the tax money they pay for public schools to pay for a private school for their children. OKAY, but there are so many flaws with that system. First, take me for instance; let’s say I pay roughly $500.00 a year in school taxes on my home. That hardly seems enough were I to elect to send my child to a private school, or to home school them. But I have/had 4 kids in school at one time – YEAP – No Where Near Enough!!!

But what if the state or federal government gave me something like the $4,500.00 a year voucher or credit such as Indiana gives out? That sounds great too; however, what about all the hidden fees associated with private schools or home schools. There’s uniforms, books, lunches (no free lunches in private schools or home schools), equipment fees, extracurricular fees, and facility fees to name a few. I doubt that voucher would cover all that.

Then there’s testing! Yeap, testing is an inevitable part of accepting public money. What about the fact that once private schools accept public money they will most likely no longer have the ability to select the enrollment of certain students over others as they do now. Oh the strings that come with accepting “government” money!!!

In all honesty, vouchers tend to favor people who can already afford private schools. Vouchers help to offset their costs. But vouchers really won’t make much of an impact on those who are most affected by the failing public education system.

Instead of stealing resources from public education might I suggest a few items that will make things better:

1.       More emphasis on local control and less (Or No) emphasis on Mandatory testing!

2.       More emphasis on vocational and agricultural education.

3.       Appropriate emphasis on college prep.

4.       Less emphasis on athletics. Do we really need $60 million-dollar football stadiums?

The problems that plague out public-school system can be summed up with the following: Testing over Learning, Athletics over Academics, College Preparedness over Vocational/Agricultural Education, and Parental/Community Management over Government Controls.

Vouchers, Credits, etc. won’t fix that.

Want to know more? When was the last time you asked public school teachers about this?

I bet it’s been too long!

Later,

Bill 

Private Manning's Communtation!!

In the final 72 hours of the Obama Administration we are witnessing the pardon and commuting of prison sentences taking place at a disturbing pace, and in a disturbing manner. Yesterday’s commutation of Private Manning’s 35 year prison sentence is one of the icings on the cake.

Private Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning (I refuse to get into the whole transger issue), was convicted of violations of the espionage act and sentenced to 35 years in Federal Prison for his actions. Specifically, Private Manning illegally shared over 750,000 classified documents with WikiLeaks and, in turn, other outlets. These documents were of many different types including items as sensitive as troop movements, incident reports,  and after-action reports.

Documents that explained what our forces were doing, when they were doing them, and how they were doing them. Documents that gave out valuable data that allowed our enemies to know how, when, and where our forces would be conducting operations. Information that exposed the places our forces worked from, when they would be working there, and from what sources our intel was coming from thereby putting those sources in danger.

And even though the press or elected officials won’t say it, most military folks will tell you that the information that Private Manning exposed did put many people’s lives in danger, and most likely cost people their lives. This information was found on multiple terrorists computers including the one taken from Usama bin Laden’s computer. Safe to say they weren’t holding it for posterity, they were using it to attack our sources, our troops, and our security.

Private Manning deserves his term in prison. Actually, he probably deserves worse. The good American Veteran in me says he needs to serve his prison term, as a man. The spiteful, revenge-seeking Veteran in me says he should be released after he is given his sex-change operation, and then he should be flown over and dropped off with ISIS. Let's see how those who benefited most from his treason treat him as a woman (or whatever). Doubt he’d be happy with that.

Instead, he will be released sometime this summer, long after the Obama Administration is forgotten and most of the “Obama Legacy” is corrected. The concern for Private Manning should be his shelf life on the streets of a country he betrayed. He won’t be “just a citizen.” He will be a marked man….or whatever.

48 Hours To Go!!

Later,
Bill

Obama – The Private School Hypocrite

I don’t mean to keep picking on President Obama but when he makes it so easy I just can’t help myself. Don’t get me wrong; I do find him to be an Arrogantly Ignorant Blowhard. So I don’t mind pointing out his complete ineptness as he makes it far too easy for a smart-aleck like myself to find the humor and irony in a situation to pass on the opportunity to point out his hypocrisy.

AND he does make it easy.

Yesterday, at Georgetown University, the President was part of a discussion panel and decided to attack the rich and privileged for living in elitist neighborhoods and sending their children to private schools. He said that by doing so they live away from poverty and as a result never have to deal with the same issues that those of us in the masses have to.

Well that all sounds like a guy who came from the masses, who is living with them and fighting for them!

Only one problem – HE’S NOT!

Obama came from an upper middle-class background and attended mostly private schools growing up including high school at the elite Hawaiian Punahou School; a school that currently costs over $22,000 a year to attend.

Then he followed that up by attending college at Occidental, Columbia, and Harvard – All Private Schools. I won’t go into the whole “how all the tuition was paid for” and “what all happened to get him into these schools”; that’s covered enough by others.

But of course private schools in how he was educated. Surely after being forced to attend those dreaded private schools and with his current philosophy on social correctness he wouldn’t expose his own children to this continued hypocrisy…..RIGHT?

WRONG!!!!

First of all, the Obama’s live in a house in the elite Kenwood area of Chicago. A house they purchased for a measly $1.6 million, but there’s nothing elitist about that!

Then there’s the option of where to put his two daughters into school; surely the Obama’s do as they preach and have their children in public school?                  

NOPE!!

Now this is not a slight or a picking on of their children, but POTUS can’t tell the public how screwed up things are and then not walk the walk. Nope, the Obama’s have always had their children in private schools.  AHHHH….the hypocrisy continues.

Now I’m not picking on the Obama’s for living the life they can or for where they were educated or where they live. I believe it’s everyone’s right to live where they wish and educate their children as they have the means to and how they see fit.

I have lived all over and attended both public and private schools; and would never think of passing judgment because of where someone chooses to live or where they send their kids to school.

Neither Should the President.

As POTUS you can’t use the “do as I say, not as I do” argument; or at least you’re not supposed. Unfortunately this President does it all too often and no one ever seems to call him on it.

Just sad!

Bill