Public Idiocy and School Choice – Making decisions without the government

This is a post from my old blog "HaveABadDay" on JournalSpace.

Posted: 02/25/07

You might think that this is a normal story about people taking their kids to school right? Wrong! This is a story about how people are so helpless that they can’t make sure that their kids even go to school, much less a good one. Now these people are freaking out because they have choice and there is no government nanny system to tell them what to do. I wonder if any of these people drive cars. Did they not buy an automobile because there was so much choice, they didn’t know what to do?

But Liam’s mother, Elana Seaman, a psychotherapist, said she found little funny about middle school admissions. “It has just been incredibly stressful and confusing,” she said. “I have seen a couple of mothers break down crying.”

That is a good thing, at least they are trying, and are concerned for their kids!

Then you have the side of the educators. Government educators always have a problem with anything that involves change. I like this quote, perfect example.

...some educators say greater school choice primarily benefits students with savvy, motivated parents who are able to spend time figuring out the best schools to list on applications, and puts at a further disadvantage the children with little support at home.

They mention “parents who are able to spend time” what it should say is parents who “MAKE TIME” Making time is what you do when you have a priority. I consider a kid to be a TOP priority. They claim that school choice benefits primarily “savvy, motivated parents.” Savvy motivated parents will do the best in any circumstance. If you refuse to take the time required to get your kid into a nice school, then you might end up with your kid at a low ranked school. Besides if the kids have parents that can’t get them into government school then those kids are already in serious trouble, no school is likely to save them. So the belief is that we need to dumb down the process so that the people who could excel now can’t, and are knocked off the top. We need all kids equally ignorant! Sorry, but you don’t achieve a higher level of education by striving towards the lowest level of accomplishment. That is a ridiculous thought process!

And while some parents said that the local elementary and middle schools in their neighborhoods were good enough that there was no need to get involved in the admissions race, others said they only wished that were the case.

Well there is an admitted problem with the schools. People see this. Why then is their opposition to the choice system? Now these people have the freedom to send their kids to a school that ranks higher. I don’t see the problem here.
Look what happens at the end of the article though. They try hard to make it look bad, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The editor had better have his eyes peeled, looking for a new job.

“The application process is overwhelming,” said Marcia Lalla, who lives in the Bronx but whose daughter attends one of the new, small high schools in Manhattan. “However, if you and your child do the research, you will be pleased with your choices.”

I’m sorry though, Marcia Lalla must be one of those “savvy” parents. We can’t use her example until the very end of the article.

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