Time to Get Schooled
Republicans claim that school choice is the best form of affirmative action. Do they really believe that? We know that a lot of voters do, as evidenced by the fact that they vote for candidates who claim to support school choice. It was a very popular platform item in 2016, but Congressional Republicans spent 2017 and 2018 in a snit. They’d rather take down an outsider, than serve the American public. Connecticut Republicans, please don’t make the same mistakes of not getting it done.
First, I suggest getting rid of the tired old “school choice.” Might have been great when someone first coined it, but now it smells as old as last week’s fish dinner. Let’s support teacher and parent choice instead.
But why add the teachers, other than the fact that many of them are parents? Because the current school system doesn’t treat them very well. Spend some time with teachers, in Connecticut and around the country, and you will hear horror stories. Here’s an example: one language teacher told me, without names or identifying information, that she had to teach a student so out of control that he attacked and bit people. Others say they are weighted down with discipline problems, paperwork, and a myriad of other draining requirements. Email has made them constantly available to irate parents and demanding administrators. Some choice sounds pretty nice to a lot of teachers who don’t have much of it in the current system.
Parents want choice, too. Those who have been made to feel like unwelcome criminals at school board meetings might find it refreshing to have civil interactions with the people who guide their children’s education. They might also think it’s good that their children learn to read, write, and do basic arithmetic, for a starter. In other words, middle-class and working-class parents might believe it’s kind of nice for their children to have the advantages that the children of their government leaders enjoy. Equality! So radical!
Oh, it won’t be easy. The teachers’ unions, for example, have long worked against the idea. Poorly performing teachers hate the idea, too. But both groups ought to hate the idea that Connecticut may not be able to honor their pensions someday. So, yeah, there are a lot of challenges, but that reality doesn’t wash as a barrier. We have many, many problems right now that haven’t been solved for decades. Time for a new game.
Finally, ask yourself this: why are kids with slates and not enough books in the third world beating American kids at math and science? I think that you just might know the answer.
