Quote:

If we fail to educate impressionable kids, - why do you think we will succeed in educating their parents?

How about we go back to what used to work before? How about we stop trying to "educate" and start with "holding responsible"?

And, as a part of that, - introduce the voucher system, that will put a lot more in the hands of the parents, - and out of the hands of the bureaucrats and unions.

Quote:

Dumping money at the problem is not the answer. Educating parents on how to be better parents in their communities in my opinion is a better solution since a lot of the kids that struggle at school are from parents who don't have a clue on how to raise a kid. Education starts at your home and also your neighborhood, and if you get a bad education from anyone of these places the odds will be against you on the outside world.

If they were aiming at increased choices, - they would have made it a full-blown voucher program.

The government collects money from us and it has a duty to not waste it. And the idea to waste it - but then give a tax break to someone else who would pay for kids education, - is not it.

And the idea to create a special fund for innovative programs, - and give it to the chronically lagging schools - as long as they are lagging, - well, that sounds super-smart! My prediction: schools that are failing will never ever try to cross back into "not failing", and schools who are not far from failing, - will now prefer to be failing.

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2010/Bills/S2000/1872_U1.PDF

I had a read of the OSA bill. Is it about increasing funds? It looks more like increasing choice. Is that bad?

I know why educators insist that the only way to improve education for the children is to increase the funding. What I do not know is why we, the CUSTOMERS of the system, believe them.

All the experience tells us, - it is not the case. The funding has been growing for a long time, - and education levels never matched that growth.

So, adding more money is not an "investment" like some people call it, - for an "investment" implies some "return". It is just a gift. IF our goal is to better lives of the educators - by all means, we should go on.

If our goal is to get better education for our children, than we should take a look at the experiments that DID WORK from THAT point of view.

Here: Stossel Show - Education!

P.S. Of course, if party loyalty is more important, we should dismiss anything that comes from the damn FOX channel, and just support the unions.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/201 ... _to_enhance_educatio.html


Any chance to enhance educational opportunity lost
Published: Sunday, July 03, 2011, 5:49 AM
By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist

Patti Sapone/The Star Ledger
The Rev Reginald T. Jackson, executive director Black Ministers Council of NJ

By Reginald Jackson
It makes me want to holler and throw up my hands. Again, action on the Opportunity Scholarship Act is delayed, postponed, stalled ? because low-income and minority children, and their education and futures, are not as important to state leaders as other interests.
I understand that most of our children will always attend the public schools, but I also know and see that many of our urban public schools are failing our children. The past few weeks, we have given diplomas to thousands upon thousands of low-income and minority children, even though they don?t have an education.
What makes this debacle so sad is that the ones delaying, postponing and stalling action on the OSA are minority legislators. Those who represent low-income and minority students ? of whom 50 percent don?t graduate ? and many of whom get diplomas but won?t be able to get a job, or will go to college far behind their peers. The inaction and opposition of these legislators give other legislators cover for not acting, for if the same thing was happening to children in their districts, it would be a state of emergency. In low-income and minority districts, it?s just the norm and they are not alarmed.
These legislators decry increasing violence, gangs and unemployment and say we have to do something about it, and then when they have a chance to take even a small step, which the OSA is, they don?t act. It is embarrassing that the ones fighting hardest to provide an alternative and an option for low-income and minority students are those who don?t look like them or live in their communities.
We had a very good chance of getting the OSA passed last week.
It was pared down to six to eight districts, the number of scholarships reduced and the cost cut by more than half ? it is a pilot and should not be large. But still, with the exception of Assemblyman Angel Fuentes (D-Camden), the bill?s sponsor, not one minority legislator supported it.
This defies explanation. The Assembly speaker wouldn?t post it because of fatigue and bitterness from the pension and budget battles, and a majority of Democrats oppose it because it takes money from the public schools ? even though they offer no proposals for public school reform, rather, just let the kids keep dropping out and failing.

The Rev. Reginald Jackson is director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey.