Triggering Debate

5 Replies to “Triggering Debate”

1. But somehow, critics of the trigger bill could suggest something similar about low-income parents, again and again, and not get called on it. And it is hard to miss that many of these are parents of color, and that few, if any, were part of the public face of the opposition.

   So, the poor in Florida are black and hispanic.
   No poor whites?

2. And it is hard to miss that the 4 pictured hosts of redefinedonline are white.

3. It is the interest of all Americans to educate all the nation’s children and that’s why most of us pay taxes to support schools, even when our own children are grown. As a taxpayer, I want the local school to be managed by educated professionals in the same way that I want the children’s dental clinic to be under the direction of dentists and not the parents of the patients.

   It’s interesting to me that an obvious solution to the problem of parental choice is barely ever mentioned: subsidized housing in ALL communities (Yes, even in yours) and public school vouchers.

   It’s time to do away with the status quo of education by zip code.

4. New face of the news business, absolutely.

   It would be interesting to separate the true believers in so-called education “reform” from those who are simply mouthing what they’re paid to say and have no actual commitment to or belief in the currently voguish package of policies.

5. The entire driving force of edu-reform is that ALL children can learn at high levels. Pretty much, all children can be astronauts.

   There is absolutely no scientific evidence to support that claim. And yet wonks everywhere have embraced this foolish idea.

   Not one economist will even mention the tremendous reallocation of resources that would have to happen in order to educate the least talented.

   The structure of the debate must change. We must sweep the non-scientists from the table. That pretty much consigns all wonks to barrista status.

   Bring in the psychologists, the psychiatrists, and the brain specialist to present evidence about how young children learn and about how parents and the home influence student learning.

   Bring in math an science specialists (real math and science folks from the universities and not education specialists or salesmen) and present some good ideas for improving performance.

   How about reading the WSJ from yesterday about “parent guilt” and how that affects children. A good read, and in less than two thousand words provides more to think about than the past ten years of political and fallacious yammering about edu-reform.