John McCain Administration Would Throw in the Towel on Public Education

September 4, 2008 by Pelikan
Filed under: Education, John McCain, Presidential Campaign 2008 

From Sen. John McCain’s acceptance speech at the RNC in Minneapolis:

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parent — when it fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them.

Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have the choice, and their children will have that opportunity.

If a public school is failing doesn’t it deserve to be reformed?  Just because we have let what used to be a crown jewel in the American experience — public education — fall on hard times, doesn’t mean we abandon this noble cause.

Public schools, a quality public education - these things are the great equalizers in the United States.  A quality education used to be a hand up that both parties agreed on.  The Republican abandonment of public education has taken yet another step forward with the nomination of McCain.  It wasn’t enough to give the whack jobs Sarah Palin, let’s trash public education.

Public funds, public resources, public officials’ time - if spent on education - should be spent on improving public schools. How many charter schools in Ohio have lived up to their promise?  A few have, but many have essentially turned in to financial boondoggles which struggle to stay open.  Parochial Schools?  Many of them offer a quality education and if I had children, I wouldn’t hesitate to send my child to one.  But, I don’t want my tax dollars spent in a church. 

The Republican Party is not putting ‘Country First’ with the abandonment of public education and the subsidizing of churches and private enterprise educational experiments.

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Comments

6 Comments on John McCain Administration Would Throw in the Towel on Public Education

  1. steevesna on Thu, 4th Sep 2008 11:59 pm

    2. My three children are homeschooled though a charter school. They all score in the gifted percentile in multiple subjects. The last year they were in a traditional public school they were ignored because they were “okay” students. They were already making the grades so the teachers could focus on the problem kids. Great for the problem kids (One of those kids watched his mother kill herself) I have the greatest sympathy for them, but my kids should never be neglected by people who are receiving my tax dollars to educate them. I’m glad there was an alternative and I’m sure many other people agree.

  2. Fred on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 12:27 am

    3. It’s called opportunity. Giving parents more choices on where they send their kids to school.

    Incidentally, these charter schools you denigrate routinely out-perform public schools.

  3. matt on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 12:34 am

    4. Interesting thoughts on what John McCain stated and I can see how the experiences you have had or witnessed may lead you to feel this way. I would agree however, with his very blunt statement that our current educational system is the civil rights issue of our generation.

    I also, recently had an experience where my niece and nephew in California, were moved from their classroom on a daily basis, to a room with other students of various grades because they spoke English and not Spanish. They were then given time when possible, by a teacher who had to vary the education due to the other grades in the same class. This lasted for 4 months. Meanwhile, the Spanish speaking students were taught consistently within the same 4 months by one teacher in a class with all students from the same grade. My family couldn’t wait for reform. The children were taken out and home schooled. To this day, the school still practices this. Reform?

    I understand you concerns and agree, we need to focus on what is right for the children. We need to focus on our teachers. It is concerning to me, when I see a teacher,(true account) who has a college degree, a master’s degree and a PhD earn only $60k a year devoted to helping children better themselves. Yet, we have celebrities that the Democratic party embraces earning millions and possibly corrupting the minds of our children. I agree, we definitely need to reform and get our priorities straight in this country.

    Therefore, which party and candidates should we support? My niece and nephew experienced their education during the 8 years Bill Clinton was in office. It was during that time that they were pulled out of class because they did not speak Spanish in America. I am not sure I want to return to a Democratic leadership if this is what that means to my own children who will be entering school next year.

  4. Anonymous on Fri, 5th Sep 2008 12:36 am

    5. What’s your problem with that? Would you rather poor black students skip school to protest the fact that they can’t attend good schools like wealthier kids.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5706827&page=1

  5. Joy on Mon, 8th Sep 2008 5:48 pm

    6. Oh please! This is the same tire reteric we keep hearing - can’t take away those public schools, it will cripple our children. Well, I will tell you what! Our great public schools have messed up my 10th grade son so badly that I am now homeschooling him just in hopes that he will graduate. Don’t tell me it’s all for the children - it’s all for the teacher’s unions and what they can get out of it. It used to be true, but we need to change with the times. Give me the opportunity to put my son in a charter school any day, I would seize it, as I am sure many others would as well. This is not a rich poor/black white issue. This is about what I, as a parent, have the responsiblity to do for my children, and part of my responsiblity is to give them the best education possible.

  6. David on Sat, 11th Oct 2008 12:56 am

    7. In the schoolrooms of my youth, (I’m now 65),
    every class, except for the foreign language classes were conducted and taught in English.
    That was the standard and it worked very well. Why have we allowed parents or well-meaning teachers to dismantle a sound system that worked so very well? Who removed the shop classes, the metal. woodshop, and printing classes? At least a young fellow had an opportunity to learn a little about industrial things. I made a lamp for my mother and it lasted for years. :-)
    Who did away with the dress code? That was a mistake! Have the arts classes also been removed? The art and music classes helped round out the student and helped to refine him/her to understand the concept of humanity.

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