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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Art Bechhoefer who wrote (46771)	10/15/2000 10:19:02 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Art, DIdn't you say you were fortunate enough to be able to attend an excellent private school? Was this because your parents felt that the public school system wasn't good enough in some way for you? Did you send your children to private school? We did, after sending our first child to public school for one year. Despite our belief in the public school system, it was obvious that there were way too many problems in Dallas and that our children weren't going to get the education we wanted for them. I wish all parents had the option we did, but most don't. How can you, who were able to benefit from your parents' ability to choose, deny families who can't afford tuition some choice about where their children attend? Aren't you condemning them to a system that your own parents rejected for you? In theory I agree with the idea that private schools should not be subsidized by the government. However, more and more money has been thrown into a public system that is not making the progress it should. I see nothing in Gore's proposal that changes anything. He does not emphasize accountability, and I haven't noticed any innovative approaches in his plan that give me hope that things will change. Maybe it's time to try something different. I don't know what would happen with a voucher system- I don't think anyone does-but parents would have some choice, some control, a way of demanding accountability at least for their own child. Perhaps it's worth trying it in an experimental district?

To: Art Bechhoefer who wrote (46771)	10/15/2000 10:22:07 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

See, that's the problem right there Art. Blaming someone. Why do we have to blame anyone in order to recognize areas of improvement in education and do something about it? In the sixties, we still hadn't come to grips with the problems in public education. Today, we have far more data to learn from. Experiments have been tried and in nearly every case, poor children have been helped by vouchers. The idea is to help children get a better education, not create an atmosphere of ideological divide and assess "who's to blame". People who have closed their mind to a tool, such as vouchers, are being blinded by their ideology. Vouchers are no panacea, but under the right circumstance they can create an atmosphere where excellence sweeps across the city or school district. Urgency is needed. Every year that passes without change, we lose another thousand or more children to the cycle of ignorance. Reading is the New Civil Right