Education

Okay I tweeted and commented on a blog about this, but it was a lot,
so I figured I'd post it here.

Education debates kind of tick me off.

Because it seems you are either pro vouchers/schools of choice or pro
public schools and you can't be both.

I'm sorry. I am. One size does not fit all for all children.
First, I doubt there will be some mass exodus from the schools. MI has
schools of choice. It hasn't happened. Yes, some of the not so great
schools lost a good number of good students, but they also retained a
good number of good students. Someone in a blog comment tried to
suggest that if vouchers were provided to everyone, the proactive
parents would leave failing schools, leaving only the kids with
parents who don't care behind.

Well, I guess all you parents, that have an option to use schools of
choice in MI, that don't, aren't pro active. How does that make you
feel, huh?

Basically the scenario is not realistic. The true scenario is the not
so great schools are going to lose a few kids and a few per pupil
dollars to better schools.

Or in my case, an excellent school is going to lose 2 kids total to
another excellent school (excellent school has program for son, but I
intend to send Lily to Lola's school) and their per-pupil funding.
Whether Lola is a 'good' student is debatable, and Lily remains to be
seen. Lola's got the test scores, but her explosive behavior in a
school that might not be able to handle her? damaging to not only her,
but also to her classmates. Instead, she's in a school with classmates
that have grown up with her that knows how to deal with her, because
she hasn't had to switch schools every time we move. People are
concerned about voucher kids having to adjust to the move when their
parents move them... well what about those kids who have to move
constantly. What about the kids whose families are facing foreclosure
right now? Aren't we having a ridiculous number of foreclosures? you
know, in schools of choice states, those families don't have to uproot
their kids' education unless they move too far to transport... I just
don't think we should be sacrificing 'good kids' educations to improve
a school that might not be right for them.

That said, we can't just close the failing schools - those schools
sometimes are right for some students. My brother was one who did
better in a not so great school than he did in any of the excellent
schools he went to (poor kid did get jostled due to moving).

And we do need to do something. Because we can't sacrifice the kids
left in the failing schools, either. I don't know what to do, but
simply throwing money at it isn't gonna help. but then that's better
than what our current administration has been doing.