Mark Belling has posted his written Q&A with the two more conservative-leading candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction – Deb Kerr and Shandowlyon Hendricks-Williams. Belling asks both candidates specifically about their stance on School Choice and whether kids should be back in school.
I thought both candidates’ answers were… disappointing. Part of this may be because I am hypersensitive to weasel words from politicians. Both questions could have been answered with a simple “yes” but both candidates went to great lengths to elaborate on their answers. Then we get qualifiers like they support choice for “high quality” schools and they support kids returning to school “safely.” Then there’s talk about a “recovery plan” and “equitable funding.” In other words, both candidates would not give a simple “yes” and instead throw up a blizzard of qualifiers, conditions, and road blocks to give them plenty of room to back off of any support of School Choice or a full return to in-person instruction.
When conservatives talk about school choice and vouches liberals respond with an almost reflexive response talking about how much better public education is and how important public education is.
Here is the harsh truth from an increasingly cynical mind. Public schools are not doing a great job and private schools will not do a better job. And here is why: It is the same group of students, it is the same group of teachers, and it is the same group of administrators.
Re-arranging the schools and calling them private or bringing in religion is not going to fix any problem in our education system.
However, there is a danger of creating a fractured society with the introduction of highly ideological religious schools, lets call them christian madrassas. As you know there is a link between madrassas and terrorism.
“Here is the harsh truth from an increasingly cynical mind. Public schools are not doing a great job and private schools will not do a better job. And here is why: It is the same group of students, it is the same group of teachers, and it is the same group of administrators.”
That is complete nonsense.
In fact, it is the complete opposite.
Public schools, especially urban schools are mostly run by liberals and taught by liberals and run by liberal school boards. We are seeing how awful these school districts are doing by not being open to in-school teaching. We also see it in the their curriculum.
“However, there is a danger of creating a fractured society with the introduction of highly ideological religious schools, lets call them christian madrassas. As you know there is a link between madrassas and terrorism.”
What utter stupidity.
Mar
“…. it is the complete opposite.
Public schools, especially urban schools are mostly run by liberals and taught by liberals…”
Let me break it down for you and anyone else that doesn’t understand it. And this is true for school choice, charters, whatever…
Suppose we allow school choice and people decide they would rather send their kids to Slinger than West Bend. If it is a small number of students then nothing changes, but if there is a large enough amount of students then West Bend will have to lay off teachers, administrators, etc and Slinger will have to hire teachers, administrators, etc.
And Slinger will hire the teachers and administrators laid off from West Bend. The West Bend teachers and administrators live in the area, they have experience, and will be the strongest candidates in the labor pool. And so then you will have students, teachers, and administrators, formally attending West Bend, now attending Slinger.
*Note this is a hypothetical, but if you look at the teachers, administrators, and students in Milwaukee and Racine, this is exactly what happens.
I understand what you are saying Maxwell, about teachers and students moving from school district to district.
I am sure it does happen at times, with the teacher hiring, but I have no idea how often.
First, not many teachers do get laid off, so there is that argument.
But school districts are free to hire whoever they want.
They may want to hire a new teacher from college to save money.
Or they might hire someone from another district who has superior qualifications.
I was a special Ed teacher, specializing in working the most severely disabled students, physically and mentally.
I started teaching, from college, in Milwaukee and taught in 2 of the worst schools in the district, Vincent and North Division.
Then for person reasons, I decided to move on and got a job in Westfield, a very small rural school district.
Did they hire me because I was good at what I do or did they hire me because no one else wanted the job, who knows.
So, I understand what you are saying but I disagree.
Maxwell’s ignorance lives loudly within him.
Even LeeeeeeeRoy isn’t that sad.
Oh, I don’t know Dad.
When was the last time LeeeeeRoy actually contributed anything to a conversation besides his hateful, vile, trollish and lying posts?
You have a point there.