Now that the election is over and Utah voters have rejected Referendum 1 by almost a 2-1 margin, I have to admit, I agree with Doug Wright: It's been a great discussion, but thank goodness it's over!
I was impressed last night listening to Richard Eyre's comments on the evening news. He was gracious and upbeat. I think most pro-voucher proponents are sincerely concerned about Utah's children. Hopefully, now that Utah's citizens have spoken, these concerned parents can join the rest of us in channeling the energy that has been generated in a concerted effort to improve public education for all Utah's children. The vote was a affirmation from Utahns that they support their public schools, which have worked miracles the last few decades with minimal resources. I couldn't disagree more with Patrick Byrne, whose petulant reaction to the loss of his pet project was to predict Utah's future would resemble Albania's because of our supposed failed education system. The end product of Utah's public schools - well educated young adults who are the key ingredient in attracting the influx of business that has fueled Utah's impressive economic growth - is conclusive proof Byrne's pessimism is simply wrong.
I agree with those who say we need more than just more money, although we must make a concerted effort to get out of that embarrassing 51st position on per pupil spending. Debate needs to start on innovative solutions to recruiting and maintaining quality teachers; solutions like recruiting engineers and scientists to spend the last ten years of their careers as math and science teachers.
One word on the question of choice. I want to again emphasise that public schools give us huge opportunities for choice. Parents can choose to join and become active in local PTA chapters. They can choose to attend school board meetings or even run for school boards. They can choose to attend parent-teacher conferences and become actively involved in their local public schools. Most importantly, they can choose to turn off the TV and play a few less rounds of golf, to sit down with their children and actively involve themselves in what their children are learning. I've always felt the most effective education model is a combination of public schools and home schooling; where we help our children succeed in their public school classes and then work with them to do more, to choose what is interesting to them and pursue additional study with the active involvement of their parents.
It's parents, not schools, who are responsible for the education of their children, and it is parents who determine how successful their children will be in their education. Now that the debate is over, it's time to reinforce that fact.
8 comments:
hear, hear!!!
well said.
Congratulations Steve, Rob, et al,
Of course, I am feeling a little tender this morning after the thrashing my side received on the voucher question. Though the polling data has not looked good for some time, I was hopeful that the messaging was beginning to take as we came down the final stretch. Obviously, I was wrong. But, again, congratulations to all those who have work so hard with you to accomplish this overwhelming victory. God bless you for doing what you sincerely believe is right.
Sincerely,
A.W.
P.S. Rob, I am the guy who top posted the Bob Lonsberry quote criticizing Harry Reid, as well as the Hot Blava quote praising him. It had nothing to do with vouchers. I did it as a follow up to an earlier post of Steve's comparing Mitt Romney unfavorably to Harry Reid. If I had known that I would have offended you, I would not have done it. I'm sorry. I should have confessed sooner, but I am a cowardly anonymous blogger. Please forgive me.
P.P.S. That is a great photograph of Sami with President Clinton. As I recall, when WJC was a young man he had a treasured photograph taken of himself with JFK. Apparently, occurrences such as these can profoundly influence one's life course. It will be interesting to see what seeds have been planted in Sami's heart.
we should hire MBA consultants to look at our public schools and apply private sector managment models to them
Steve,
Very well said. Thank you. Tons of time and money have been devoted to getting people to look at the education system. That should be a platform on which to build something of value.
AW, I love you buddy!
Rob
Steve, thanks for dropping in.
I truly respect your ability to stay above board.
Rob
Lots of people and entities want to "improve" the Utah public schools but as I've read the election post-mortem s I get the sense that we don't really agree on what the problem is let alone the best way to address said problem. Can we find an answer before we've defined the problem? Seems to me we'll never agree on the solution until we agree on what we are "fixing."
Good questions! So many times during the painful voucher debates we heard the basic assumption that our "public schools are broken" or "our failing public schools" as well as the completely unfounded assumption that private schools are better. They just are!
How is it failing? And why is private always better? In order to approach school reform we have to really open up some fundamental questions about education. What knowledge is worth knowing? How do we effectively teach that? To what ends to we educate? Prepare for a job, help the economy, socialization, acculturalization, develop human potential--all of the above?
How are schools failing? Can I make a few suggestions. Schools for many years have been very successful for many students. heck, we all probably came out of a wonderful high school. The reality is that for some students, particularly those from low income, minority, or with other "at-risk" factors our schools do not work.
In many schools these students drop out or fade away well before graduation so it doesn't seem to be any problem.
The research shows that smaller schools with more responsive administrations help students feel connected, like they belong.
For too long we have tolerated or even tacitly accepted the stupidity of cliques, exclusionary social labels, and the supremacy of competition, i.e. class rankings and the football state championship.
When reformers like the Gates Foundation speak of remaking our high schools, they don't mean we all take the voucher and run. They mean we restructure and repurpose our schools.
Maybe they become smaller and more specialized. Maybe we knock down the gates that some in society use to maintain their neighborhood property values. This may mean giving up our 5-A status or actually supporting kids from a "rougher" neighborhood, but our society needs to do better than the status quo, or even the government subsidized escape clause of vouchers.
We can do this, as a community. But community-based decisions can't reflect taking care of numero uno. And I hope our leadership understands this.
Post a Comment