The NEA and US Department of Education, Disgusting

Look what the Democratic, former teachers union rep, Mayor of Los Angeles, had to say.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: Teachers union blocking reforms
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued strong criticisms of the United Teachers of Los Angeles this morning at a conference sponsored by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, where he called the union's leadership "the most powerful defenders of the status quo."

Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlat ... z17dAiFm5x

Ronbo wrote:

RenegadeCJ wrote: Vouchers. Institute them and our education level will skyrocket in a generation.

Bull! What you would end up with is a bunch of lousy private schools taking money from the tax payers and some good private schools that will charge a tuiton amount much greater than the voucher amounts also taking money from the tax payers.

Wrong. Unlike public schools, where there is no competition, vouchers would force EVERYONE to excel, or go out of business. Some public schools would survive and thrive, because they would suddenly be required to. Teachers could no longer assume they had a lifetime job. Their customers (parents) could take their business elsewhere if they failed to educate the kids properly.

Their "customers" (parents) would yank their kid out of any school that dared to give their little darling less than an "A". You could buy your kid a stellar grade, if not an education.

ckm8 wrote: Their "customers" (parents) would yank their kid out of any school that dared to give their little darling less than an "A". You could buy your kid a stellar grade, if not an education.

Reallllllly. You honestly think parents care more about grades than education? Interesting to see the opposite happen. Parents want their kids to have what they didn't. Especially poorer parents. They are willing to give up a lot if they can only get a good education for their kids. Look at the waiting lists in poor areas for vouchers. Look at the success of the DC voucher program.

If parents want to move their kids to a school that only gives A's, fine. Most parents I deal with would much more prefer their kids have a good education, not a mediocre education with some "feel good" classes taking the majority of the school time.

Vouchers would cause all sorts of schools to pop up to fit the demands of the customers. Academic intense schools would be in high demand, as they are now. We won't ever succeed as a country unless we grow our own smart kids right here. We need more engineers for instance...but the majority of our schools teach to the lowest common denominator, not the highest. Don't want to hurt little Johnny's ego, right?

America has become obsessed with testing. We're more interested in grades, degrees and certifications than in knowledge and accomplishment. If a schools students excel at the CSAP that school is rated as excellent. No matter if they start teaching CSAP readiness to the exclusion of all else. Kids graduate knowing how to take tests, but lacking actual life skills. If we want our kids to learn (and we do) we need to hire the best teachers and unfetter their hands. I agree that we need many different school models. I disagree that they should be for-profit. I can only shudder at the thought of the factory schools that would result- we've already gone too far down that path in public schools.

We already have "factory schools" right now in the public sector and they are failing to provide a decent product.

We have to reassess and rebuild our public education system- but privatizing it would be disastrous. Having a for-profit education system would recreate the mess that our for-profit health care system has given us. An exemplary product for those that can afford it, nothing for those who can't.

of course there should still be public schools

There has never been a study to show lower student to teacher ratio produces better education results....yet, many states require a 20 to 1 ratio. Who pushes the 20 to 1 ratio? The unions. Why?

What are you talking about Residenttroll? There have been numerous studies that show a lower student/teacher ratio increases student achievement.