Yeah, but it is a lot harder to indoctrinate kids, and one step further away from socialism, so we cant stand for it! rraaa!

School choice and school vouchers should be -- MUST BE -- one of the items at the top of our priority list, and it should remain their until fully implemented around the nation. The message must be repeated -- over and over and over again -- until the American people get the message and understand what needs to be done to fix our schools!

More money is ABSOLUTELY NOT the answer. More money only leads to more waste and inefficiencies. We would get better schools by cutting the funds and putting other people in charge who can and will use new approaches to work within the budget while at the same time provide better education!

Unfortunately, most Americans have been MISLEAD into believing -- by both Democrats and Republicans -- that money is the answer. As long as politicians can keep the American voters believing this LIE, their task is easy. All they have to do to show Americans that they "really care" about and "support" better education is to dump another truckload of tax dollars on the system and the backs of the taxpayer. Obviously "they care"... they provided more money... they suckered and hoodwinked the taxpayers and voters once again... and will continue to do it every time until Americans wake up!

Democrat (Liberal) politicians and the national teachers unions work especially hard to mislead and fool the American people into believing that more money is all it takes for better schools. The national teachers unions tell the American people they are working for better schools -- ANOTHER LIE! The teachers unions are only looking for more money and benefits in their own pockets, and the Democrats, who receive most of the campaign money from their unions, are giving the teachers and unions what THEY want to buy those union and teacher's votes -- NOT what America and American's CHILDREN NEED! Any benefits to the education of America's children and students is purely coincidental and accidental!

School Vouchers... Contracted and privatized schools... New and creative thinking... New teaching techniques -- bring in the Video Professor... Better still, return to the "old" techniques of years ago that really worked that still work in other countries around... and that provide a real education!

Republicans... Get off those cushy chairs... Speak up -- loudly and often!... Educate the American people about what really needs to be done... Get the school vouchers moving... Take the politician's and union's wasteful paws out of the taxpayer's pockets... Put a stop to the Democrat's misleading lies and waste of taxpayer dollars!!!

Even more important to America... Remove America's schools and alleged "education" system from of the hands and control of the Liberal (Democrat) "educators" who use taxpayer dollars it to indoctrinate and brainwash our children with their own Liberal agenda, Liberal views, and Liberalism! This is what REALLY SCARES the Democrats... It is more important to Democrats to keep control of the schools for their brainwashing and indoctrination -- rather than provide a good education to America's children -- and FUTURE VOTERS!!!

AAR

Are any of you all teachers? Have any of you worked in a private or public school?

I witness on a daily basis the plight of our national education system. Those who advocate cutting funding are misguided. The problem has been the piecemeal approach taken in the last few decades which has failed to keep up with the exponential growth of the student population.

You bash on teachers and our unions like we are all greedy misanthropists who choose our career because it would be an easy ticket to the life of luxury. Spend a week in an over-crowded classroom with 25-40 adolescents and tell me how relaxing it is and how your paycheck is way too big.

We need a reconstruction of the educational system from the ground up. Instead of allowing billions of dollars to be wasted on fraudulent government contracts and chalking it up to “bureaucracy” how about an investment in the next generation of US citizens? Most school districts can’t afford textbooks for the students so they have to share among class periods. Doing homework without a book is a cinch, let me tell you.

Most teachers spend over $500 of their own money to pay for supplies like paper, pencils, and posters, all of which should be provided by the district but are not because they can’t afford it.

Let me be frank; I have no problem with private or religious schools. But the problem with the voucher program is that there are millions of children and families that could apply to those schools if they had government vouchers, but that doesn’t mean they have to be enrolled. Vouchers actually take the choice out of the parents’ hands and put it in the admissions boards.

The defense will be: “Well, if the child deserved to be accepted, they would.” Sure. Keep telling yourself that between chapters of Atlas Shrugged.

The fact is that a child-to-teenager’s intellectual abilities are only beginning to emerge when they are in school. Public schooling funds need to be elevated to a point where there are smaller classrooms, adequate resources, efficient administration, and extra-curricular activities be they sports, academic, or community service/vocational, as well as college preparation. We can’t do this if we keep taking public tax dollars to put into a program that will only benefit a minority of students who have access to private schools and who get accepted.

Stop using teachers and unions as a scapegoat. Programs like No Child Left Behind micro-manage the curriculum to where teachers, school districts and states cannot adequately provide the services our children need. Standards should not be dictated by Washington DC but by those who know their communities best.

And before you accuse liberals of setting the academic agenda, take a look at what we’re actually teaching our children. The white-washed history of the US makes it out that slavery was a minor inconvenience for Africa, Manifest Destiny didn’t involve the eradication of an entire civilization, and the North Vietnamese were fighting to become a Chinese puppet. The curriculum is rife with conservative viewpoints.

Maybe if we’d stop firing teachers for hanging up UN flags, teaching evolution, or being honest about contraceptives, we’d actually start educating our children.

I realize you're being sarcastic, Mark, but as a Latter-day Saint (Mormon), I I can tell you that when I first saw the post and read it I was doing so with the "oh no, not him too!" attitude. We're a much maligned group already and seeing headline and the first paragraph distressed me at first.

It was kind of like raising your hand to a victim of abuse and then saying, "Just kidding!" :)

CE,

I'm somewhat confused myself. Is Mark praising Mormons in Utah for voting in favor of school choice, and then lamenting that Mormons have too much power?

On the other hand, I'd rather be ruled by Mormons than by some other types of people, such as Hillarian socialists and Sharia-inflicting Wahhabis.

Mark,

I can just about guarantee that in the near future, the Utah vote will be subjected to a court challenge by someone on the left.

The public education system IS BROKEN and has been for a long time.

It's time parents have a choice... where their kids can receive a real education... where they can say the pledge or even say a prayer if they so choose without being told otherwise by some liberal educators and the ACLU... where children are taught some morals, values, and discipline... where the American flag is displayed and NOT the UN flag... where Christmas carols can be sung and Christmas celebrated... where children are taught -- IN ENGLISH -- to be patriotic Americans and not anti-American... etc., etc., etc.

Those vouchers don't have to go to existing schools. More schools can and will be started if the money is available. There are private organizations who can teach as well and likely better than the public schools. And... vouchers doesn't mean they have to be religious schools... just NOT PUBLIC ...not managed by the ACLU and ACTIVIST JUDGES!

We have plenty of funding for our schools. We need better use made of those funds. We need our money's worth! We don't need more property taxes to subsidize more liberal views and their agenda.

Yes, unions are a major part of the problem. Yes, there are many good, caring, and effective teachers, but they can't solve the problems without changing the system... and IT IS BROKEN!

We need a nationwide organization to coordinate and direct people in what to do to get them. If such an organization exists, more people need to know about it!

Vouchers should be one of the nation's top priorities!

AAR

Mark-
Another significant fact out of Utah (my parents are Utah natives, and my mother taught in Utah public schools for a few years) is that their per-pupil spending is one of the nation's lowest, yet Utah students boast very high test scores. Obviously, throwing money won't solve the problem.
And as a Mormon, you better believe we're taking over!!! "Thou shalt only drink 7-Up!"
[Just kidding. ;) ]