MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry isn’t the only one cheering for collectivism in education.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis thinks that idea is pretty swell, too.
Speaking at the Occupy Department of Education protest April 5 in Washington, D.C., Lewis told protesters:
“The problem is we are in times when people who believe that the market is always right…the market always has a solution for the problems. Now the problem with that is when you look at market solutions for schooling problems and certainly publicly funded public education, then what you start looking at is that you raise up the level of the individual. So it’s just what my individual kid needs, not what’s good for kids, but what my kid needs. So then they come up with the idea of [school] choice …”
See the outrageous video here.
Harris-Perry’s and Lewis’ philosophy of education is one of collectivism, indeed socialism. The rights of the individual do not trump the rights of the group, they believe.
So parents should be denied the right to pick the best school for their child, and should be forced to send their kid to their neighborhood government school, because that school is the best option for all of the children of the community – according to the government.
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery,” Sir Winston Churchill once said.
Americans would be wise to heed those words, particularly when it comes to educating children. Quality instruction is a concern for parents, but the state money tied to each student is the major concern for many public school and union officials.
If they are allowed to keep all kids trapped in their public dropout factories, quality education will be a forgotten concept.
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