The following post appeared on a comment today. This is what the people behind vouchers really believe. Along with the Constitution Party. Next thing you know you'll see these people out protesting the enlightenment--because the dark ages were more "simple". Here we go:
Anonymous:
No (sic) necessarily all children are deserving of an education.Certainly, those who are here illegally don’t deserve an education.What about those that fail to meet standards and recycled thru the system.What about those who are passed just to feel good.In our society education has become a mutli-billion dollar monopoly on the part of government because the people like the NEA believe that education is a right of all.This could hardly be the case; read the constitution, is education mentioned in it…no.At the time of our founding fathers schools were private and parochial, it wasn’t until much later in the 19th century that a tragedy called public education evolved.Let us go back to a time that is simpler and takes education out of the hand of government and back into the hands of parents and children.Pray that vouchers pass on Friday.
This person wants to refute people like uh, I don't know... Thomas Jefferson who said,
By far the most important bill in our whole code is that the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom, and happiness.
Letter to George Wythe, Paris, August 13, 1786
I cannot believe that here in Utah we are having to debate the founding principles of the enlightenment.
9 comments:
Logical fallacy:
1) Hasty Generalization
2) Misleading vividness
3) Proof by example
Not being a professional orator, I'm not sure which category your post belongs in.
Just because there is one nut in the pro-voucher arena doesn't mean that they are all nuts.
Personally, I'm pro-voucher because the current school system doesn't work. Vouchers will introduce some sort of competition, and the competition will either replace the school system (doubtful) or force the school system to become better (I hope).
Regardless, something must be done, since we have been putting trillions of dollars into the school system over the past few decades, and the return has been mediocre, at best
Anon does have a point; education was never mentioned in the constitution; so I guess that is one issue left directly to states.
If the state can do a better job with vouchers, so be it.
Our current system of education isn’t working and it’s a black hole we all pour money into. Vouchers might be the grand experiment that works.
You can take this a step further and notice that voting was a right never mentioned in the constitution, our founding fathers didn’t want everyone to have the right to vote and look what happens.
twclay:
Fallacy is a necessary element of the rhetoric of satire--which nevertheless argues truth. This argument is not an analytical proof. But you give me an idea, lets do a post of all of the logical fallacies of the Voucher Pro-choice rhetoric....
I am frustrated by certain factions in our legislature and in our community. They underfund education for years, don't pay the teachers enough and give them absolutely no respect, make the administration seem bloated and untrustworthy, micromanage our schools and say things like, "The system is failing, and I will not put one more dime into this failing system." The system in Utah is NOT failing, but if it was, some of the blame would have to go to the Super School Board, I mean Legislature.
Then, when parents start to wonder, "Hmmm. This must be more than a personality conflict with a pre-algebra teacher. This can't mean that I need to step up and do more to help my child succeed. The problem must be that THE SYSTEM IS FAILING." And the solution becomes competition, not funding, not teacher salary and respect, not backing off and letting the teachers and administrators do their jobs.
And the most offensive part of the solution being "competition" is that the private schools don't have the funding problem - they can charge as much as they want. The private schools don't have the same state and federal regulations. They won't be micromanaged. They'll be barely managed (by the state) at all. They can pick and choose the children they serve.
Some in the legislature and in the community have set our public schools up to fail. And, although the schools aren't failing, they're going to pretend that they are so that they can pull one over on us.
And I think it might work.
See you at the legislature today. I'll be with the people fighting for every child. Not just the wealthy ones, not just the smart ones. Not just the ones who have involved parents. Every child deserves an education, and every child is worth fighting for.
Public education has not been a black hole in Utah. I'd call it more of a magic trick.
Not enough money is put into it, yet we somehow seem to hang in there.
Imagine what would happen if it were properly funded. Public education needs to have something change, but vouchers are not the cure-all that so many thing they will be. I hope that the voucher bill does not pass, but I'm not holding my breath.
If we could move past vouchers (which come up every year) maybe we could focus on some other solutions for improving education for all children, not just the ones who can afford private school.
It's amazing to me that sports figures make millions of dollars and the people we put in charge of educating our children have to work extra jobs just to make ends meet.
Where are our priorities?
I love it when pro-voucher people label public schools a "monopoly". Obviously, they didn't study history in school. Otherwise, they would know what a true monopoly is. (and I'm not going to give the definition here; look it up yourself)
I bet Anon probably thinks that the Public School system is a part of Socialism. And if we continue to support Public Schools, we're on our way to being Socialists.
Wow,maybe you are right, because if you listen really close, you can hear those Soviet Tanks moving down the street right now!
There's the phrases "doesn't work," failing," "black hole," and so on.
Uh-oh.
I wonder if people have thought about helping to improve it by asking how they can help rather than sit and complain and emphasize the negative. Maybe if we looked deeper, we could actually find some positive things going on. I've been a first hand witness to many of them. But then, with the voucher liberals, whevener I bring them up, I often get shot down. It seems like some don't want to hear about THAT sort of thing.
Let's look for less blame, stop the politics, stop the special interest stuff (on both sides), stop emphasizing the negative, and work together.
I'm not cut and run on education.
Richard, don't you get it already? We're already one of the most "socialist" states since we've had so large a percentage of our kids go through public education. Haven't you seen that already?
Or maybe we teachers aren't doing our jobs. Maybe I better get out my Little Red Book and study it more.
Then again I might be too busy teaching reading, writing, science, math, phonics, grammar, and so on like any other teacher in Utah I know.
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