school vouchers

[Robert Probasco <rcprobas@email.com>]

Excerpt from Idaho Representative Tom Trail's letter:
> Take away the charter schools and we face the possibility of
having school vouchers jammed down our throats.  Enough said.

------------


Vouchers are not the poisonous tools of the ridiculous right,
nor are
vouchers the panacea to cure all ills of a malfunctioning
school system.

However, vouchers are probably the quickest route to break the
stranglehold of the education establishment which is stifling
needed
realignment of our catatonic school system.

Our education "experts" assure us both social promotion and
retention are counterproductive to the children, but they
propose no other solution. (Does anyone dare think the
age-grade lockstep is part of the problem?)

Education colleges propose endless variations of curricula,
while giving graduate credit for weekend courses which are
mind-numbingly simple.  (Do the state accreditors who require
this "advanced training" ever observe the fruits of their
labors?)

Textbook publishers cut wonderful deals for districts who
purchase entire blocks of books for an entire system,
perpetuating the fiction that all pupils learn at the same
rate.  (How many times have experienced teachers returned to
tried-and-true resources, after discovering the latest fads
are both unworkable and inaccurate?)

Industrial age mentality leads some voters to approve bonds
for grander brick warehouses, where shiny new fixtures provide
photo ops for beaming opportunists, and where every dissident
clique can reach critical mass.

Politicians pontificate loudly about the need for stiff
standards and
frequent testing and other cosmetic comedies, but these
diversionary
tactics address the symptoms, not the problem.

Union reps maintain the need for higher salaries, better
resources and
stronger certification requirements, while undercutting the
available pool of qualified teachers by insisting on Mickey
Mouse steps.

The local paper, while not a charter member of the "education
establishment," nevertheless seems to be a passive cheerleader
of various activities of the schools.  In Moscow, most older
citizens are unaware that social promotion even exists. 
Moreover, nothing in the local paper even alluded to the
horrific problems addressed in Chicago and Los Angeles in
recent years (I have not read every issue of the local paper,
but I have not met any local citizen who read about those
traumas in the local paper).

Money is not the problem, except where too much money is being
thrown at unsolvable problems (read _The Death of Common
Sense_ by Philip K.
Howard).

The problem is the system.

Pupils learn the object of schooling is to just get by, and
not to learn.  Any effort expended toward moving faster
through the hoops is wasted effort.  The system will not
accommodate the individual.

Is there anything more devastating than creating a system
where many
(most?) pupils want to avoid learning?

_A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform_
focused on the problem in 1983. Many school districts have
spun their wheels furiously for the past couple decades.

Are we satisfied with the results?
Is it long past time to try a different approach?

Robert Probasco   	rcprobas@email.com


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