Many conservatives, including Trump, say that "school choice" is the solution to failing schools, particularly those in inner cities.
Although I do agree many public schools are disasters, I for one believe this is a bad idea.
I have sent my daughter to a private school since she was in kindergarten, and I can tell you that there is nothing "magical" about private schools except for one thing---the parents are very engaged in their child's education. The facilities and many teachers may actually be better at many public schools.
When parents are highly engaged in their children's lives, the children are much less likely to be involved in crime or other destructive behaviour. The schools are more likely to teach within the guidelines that active parents insist.
Many of these private schools are not filled with children of rich people, but rather those that will sacrifice to find ways to send their kids to school. I have known dozens of parents that help serve lunch or volunteer in other ways to get educational discounts. I spent a year myself as a bus driver, and I still found the means to send my daughter to a private school.
If sending kids to a private school suddenly became free, easy, and sacrifice-less, the halls would be filled with the same problems public schools face. A week or two ago, another GAW anon, made a post about how he was one of two other parents attending a school board meeting.
Really, what positive contributions could these private schools hope to receive from these School Choice newcomers?
I totally hate how much they system keeps feeding these schools, but I believe the solution needs to start by parents involvement. We've started to see a little of that around the country, as countries have gone too woke.
Thank you for including me in this post. I'm the one of two parents who went to a school board meeting. (But I'm not a parent, rather just a tax paying citizen who sees an additional idea that can improve school reading scores.) At then end of this month I will be going back to my School Board District with an idea. I want the preschool pupils to begin learning how to write in cursive. I bet my idea will not see the light of day in the meeting because the School Superintendent has to approve me being on the agenda. No worries because I have a back up plan to get my idea into the hands of the School Board Members. Where there is a will, there is always a way.