Imagine .. a pro-education presidential candidate

1) Of course. Even if it were a democrat. That's my #3 priority for a candidate to get my vote...

2) No.

3) Maybe Mitt Romney. I heard him give a speech on our education system about two years ago, and I wanted to stand up and cheer. (but like many of those things, I don't remember specifics!) I don't know if that speech was merely political pandering or if he truly holds those beliefs, I'll have to wait and see. But I definitely don't think any of the others would.

4) I' won't. But what can we do about it? When my kid is old enough, I'm working overtime for a few weeks to save up for private tuition. I'm not going to sit around waiting for the government to have a paradigm shift in social thinking while my kid gets "educated" in our current system.

Two kids in pvt school - paying the requisite 'arm and a leg'. Actually it IS a double(*) payment - so, the arm and a leg metaphor is particularly appropriate.

(*) after property taxes that support local schools.

But it's worth it! You only get one shot at educating your child(ren). You can't go back AFTER they're in trouble and ask for a do-over.

FYI

Book review of
_School Choice and the Future of American Democracy_

First paragraph sounds eerily familiar:

http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=13448

This site will only be accessible for a week.
After that you will have to pay to access.
Best,

.. the link.

Since you have posted it under two of my blogposts, I will respond identically to both. You may respond to either, or both (your choice).

The linked review by Aaron Cooley is definitely worth reading. Now that I've {just} finished "The Bell Curve", I may pick up Abernathy's book next at my local library!

My brief summary: it starts provocatively with a 'how to defeat school choice by name-calling'. Then, it speculates ONLY negatively (and seemingly w/out data) about school choice but end inconclusively with an equivocation:

"School choice has the potential to make education in the United States better or the potential to provide another strain on an already strained system."

The only reason that I would read the book is to see if there are facts behind the negative speculation.

My personal belief is that school vouchers are an imperfect band-aid. In the current political climate, it would be impossible for anyone (who aspires to be elected to national ofc) to 'get away' with a suggestion that free-enterprise education is the answer. But that IS the right suggestion. And, vouchers are a way to test the validity of that direction.

I have often wondered why good teachers would be against school choice? The reality is that school choice would increase the demand (read: pay) for good teachers in public AND private schools. And yes, it may get incompetent teachers fired.

Since you ARE am educator (presumably a good one), could you answer that question with a personal, logical argument, without links to potentially biased articles, or statements that are linked to the status-quo (with a raise in teacher pay). Note: I am not opposed to a raise, but it has to be earned by performance - just like every other field.

Can you make a simple cause-and-effect argument that you might make to your 'median' student. Such a discussion would begin with: School choice begets A, which causes B, which causes C, which lowers teachers pay, which takes away the motivation to be good ..

As an educator, have you wondered WHY so many parents are FOR school choice? If your world-view leads you to dismiss such parents as un-informed right-wingers, consider that there are many 'regular' folks, who desperately realize that their kids are being short-changed by an expensive, low-quality system - which simultaneously kills the market for a lower cost, high-quality system.

Because, somehow free-enterprise has done that (lower cost, high quality) in just about every area!

Paraphrasing loosely from "The Bell Curve":

"the most significant damage is being done by our public education system to the gifted (top 2%) kids in every generation. And, those are the kids upon whom our future rests".

And lest you think that I am making some kind of elitist statement, the top 2% of a nation of 300 million represents 6 million of us, over many generations.

Any parent who thinks that their kid may be 'gifted' should vote (with their ballots AND their feet) AWAY from public education.

The alternatives are expensive, and most of us can't afford it. But the demand will set the market free again, producing higher quality at a lower cost.

The status-quo will cause quality to drop and costs to rise.

I will post twice too I thought the article
was appropriate for both of your posts.

I am for public school choice.

And I am for the most $ following the student.
For instance if student x from district A
wants to go to district B. I am for it and
I think district A should pay district B
the greater per pupil amount.

The Bell Curve is dated in many ways
and especially when it comes to gifted
education at the high school level.
What the past ten years has seen is
an explosion of AP courses at the
high school level. See Edward Humes's
_School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a
Top American High School_ for an extreme
example. But check your local high school,
public or private, course listings to see
what I mean. There has been a reaction
against AP courses at many top-flight
private schools, but that is against the
zeitgeist.

I will post twice too I thought the article
was appropriate for both of your posts.

I am for public school choice.

And I am for the most $ following the student.
For instance if student x from district A
wants to go to district B. I am for it and
I think district A should pay district B
the greater per pupil amount.

The Bell Curve is dated in many ways
and especially when it comes to gifted
education at the high school level.
What the past ten years has seen is
an explosion of AP courses at the
high school level. See Edward Humes's
_School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a
Top American High School_ for an extreme
example. But check your local high school,
public or private, course listings to see
what I mean. There has been a reaction
against AP courses at many top-flight
private schools, but that is against the
zeitgeist.