Can we stop this liberal indoctrination BS.
Yes! Now you're getting on board. We do have to stop this liberal indoctrination. That's one of the things DeVos will try to accomplish.
I don't know but I assume the majority of great public schools reside in "Liberal ares".
... as do the vast majority of really really horrible ones.
Therein lies the problem with your argument. Education isn't like Cable TV. Cable companies don't have to provide Cable to everyone, they can choose to maximize their profits however they want even if that means that only 1% of the population receives Cable. The state has to educate all it's children, even little Johnny who is 15 and still doesn't know his alphabet.
The bottom line is that you're trying to say choice is bad for the "consumer". That's simply a non-starter. People having choices is always a good thing for them.
So, let me ask you, in your example of school choice, what happens to the students that charter schools deem to expensive to educate? Where do they go?
Where are those students today? They can stay where they are today.
And if charter schools take 50% of the students what happens to traditional schools in that district when they have 50% less funding and still have to provide busing routes on half empty buses for those students, or heat and provide electricity for a half empty building. If you haven't realized education is one of those things where adding more another student is cheaper.
If there is too much capacity, you shut down some of the schools. I understand scaling can make things cheaper, but scaling isn't the end-all-be-all answer to everything. Providing choices and options for the consumer will drive much better results because it allows those that actually want to their kids to succeed and are willing to put some effort into it a way to do it. Forcing them into a failed school doesn't help anyone. Yeah, it might be cheaper, but overall education will suffer (as we've seen over the last 50+ years) because those who want to get ahead and get educated will be dragged down by those who don't.
You believe that schools have no incentive to fix anything? You must live a really sad life if you think that money is the only thing motivating people in this world.
Welcome to the real world. Individuals might be motivated by a variety of things, but there is no strong incentive for the system to fix anything. It's not like we don't have 50 years of empirical evidence to go by. Things aren't getting better, they are getting worse in terms of our overall education. That's not indicative of a system "fixing" anything.
No, I'm not assuming, I'm saying it seems probable based on observable evidence. Hell, DeVos never even attended public school, why would you expect someone completely detached from the public system to care about it?
That's an insanely stupid way to look at it. I didn't attend private school, does that mean you can assume that I won't care about private schools? I don't care if she attended private or public school, it's completely irrelevant.
Or, you could try the wild concept of increasing the funding for those public schools, including incentives that improve the quality of the teachers.
Newsflash, funding for schools has not decreased, it has skyrocketed over the decades, even as results continue to drop. Pretending that throwing more money at the problem will fix it (even though it hasn't in 50 years) makes no sense. It's not a funding problem.
Abandoning a system you can clearly save is stupid... and yes, it'll be abandonment if DeVos focuses on vouchers, because it'll drain time and effort away from the public system.
Of course, the system where only the wealthiest have options is sacrosanct and can not be touched, heaven forbid. Any attempts to change things is shouted down with "think of the children!!!!!". The current system is broken and everyone knows it.
Also, vouchers only work if they're granted equally and there are no added financial burdens (explicit or hidden). Don't force a family to send their child to a Christian school simply because it's the only private school in the area.
Since when is anyone forced to send their child to a private school? If a Christian private school is the only one close enough for you and you don't want to send your kid there, who's making you? You can already send your kid to public school, and you can continue to do so. Nobody's taken that away.
Here's the problem: even if we accept that you're right at face value, DeVos hasn't talked about reworking the public system to eliminate that overhead.
The entrenched powers in public schools, starting with the largest union prevent any real changes. The only way to make changes is to allow alternatives so that parents can have a choice and force change.
It's all about vouchers for private schools. So, once again, we're back to the same problem: that she's likely to hurt the public education system in the name of promoting a private one, if just through neglect.
If students and parents choose a better option for them, what does that say about the other option? It's not as good. If it is as good, then parents will choose that option no? That's the terrifying reality for the left, which is why they are in hysterics. Giving parents a choice brings with it the terrifying possibility that they might just choose <gasp> better options for their kids than what they've been told is the only option.
And of course there are secular and non-Christian private schools. But what about areas where your only option is a school whose religion you don't believe in?
Nobody is forcing you to go to that school. That's what pubic schools are for, and they are still there. If there's enough demand for a particular type of private school then someone will fill that demand.
Will the government provide incentives for companies to set up alternatives?
Of course not, why should it. It's not up to government to provide incentives for alternatives. If parents want alternatives they drive demand which will create supply. At worst, you're stuck with what you have today.
Sorry, kids, we'd send you to the school across the street, but they've determined that the volume of kids in the neighborhood isn't profitable enough to justify an expansion.
As opposed to "sorry kids, you're going to this school and have no options, whether it meets your needs or not". Again, at worst it's status quo: no options.
It's not hysterics; it's concern based on DeVos' history, her demonstrable incompetence (as shown at hearings) and the Trump administration's overall emphasis on party loyalty over relevant experience. I'm all in favor of shaking up the US education system because of its extant problems, but proper reform involves understanding the system you're reforming. Otherwise, you're taking wild stabs in the dark at best.
Sometimes it takes an outside perspective rather than someone who's been in that system. The hysteria about DeVos has nothing to do with the kids or education. It is simply because she's a dangerous challenge to the stranglehold the left has on education.
I'm just waiting for when these idiots figure out that this voucher system (1) screws over every American parent who can't afford private school, and (2) will allow public funding for Islamic schools as well as Christian schools.
There's never been any doubt that a voucher could be used for schools of any denomination or no denomination. Why would that be a problem? Also, you haven't shown in any way that a voucher system screws over any parent, just empty blathering.
riiiiight. cause private schools have no sh*tty kids in them. brilliant logic tajjy, however I went to a private school and I can guaran-f*cking-tee you there are sh*tty kids EVERYWHERE.
Of course there are. The only difference is that private schools can have standards that allow them to get rid of the problems who keep the students who want to actually learn from learning. That gives them an advantage, which is why I don't think you can just compare overall results from private versus public schools at face value.
Yup, I can't think of anything more flagrantly unconstitutional than using tax payer money to fund people's religious education.
Funny, many courts have chimed in on this and have not found it unconstitutional.... including the SCOTUS (Zelman v Simmons-Harris). Of course that's not a blanket statement about all vouchers, but your blanket statement about using taxpayer money to fund religious education is flagrantly unconstitutional is clearly wrong.