Even more scary for Weaver is the fact that the voucher proposal is worded rather loosely, so not only might he not get to see the Parochial School kids of Louisiana forced into public indoctrination camps, but some of the public school kids might actually be able to escape the clutches of government school tyrrany for a semester or a year and actually learn something in a private or parochial school by using a voucher. In fact, in some states the governments hope to encourage evacuee kids to go to private schools to reduce the demands on the public schools.
The horror that really has the NEA and their paid shills on Capitol Hill screaming is that if this one-time voucher program goes into effect, regular people who aren't escaping from a disaster are going to start asking why they can't have the same educational freedom for their kids that these young Louisianans are going to enjoy. Obviously this is a plot by the nefarious Bushites to subvert the whole education establishment and sacrifice their bloated budgets on the altar of actually educating kids. How dare they try to sneak vouchers into use anywhere for any reason? They're exploiting the disaster for political gain! Lynch them!
Yeah, it's a bit over the top, but like a lot of people I'm sick of it. I'm sick of paying huge amounts in taxes half of which gets spent on bureaucratic overhead to produce a school which I wouldn't send criminals to, much less my kids. They deserve better and so does every other kid in this country. If sneaking vouchers into the equation in the aftermath of Katrina is a way to spur some change, then I say bring it on and damn the whiners. Vouchers may not be the ultimate answer, but the way things are going right now they couldn't make things any worse, and maybe they'll scare the bureaucrats into cutting some of the bureaucracy and figuring out how to let teachers teach.
Pub:NB
Article comments
1 - Georgio
Dave this is a very informative article and you make a good case for vouchers..I have never doubted your knowledge of facts because you do a lot of research but your claims that you are a Libertarian moderate is in question at least to me so I am challenging you to write on one of the following .
1....should Bush be allowed to appoint one of his own to investigate the slow response to Katrina
2....should Karl Rove be allowed to control the money going to whoever
3...should congress be allowed to investigate Katrine without equal members of both Rep and Dem.
4...In Maryland I understand the victims of a flood disaster received from Fema only a 1/4 th of the value of their homes ..should this be investigated ?
5 where should we get the money to pay for Katrina.
2 - Dave Nalle
Georgio, those are all good topics. Why don't YOU write on them? There are only a couple of topics I'm likely to write that kind of almost pure opinion article on.
On 1 through 3 I really don't give a rat's ass - I like to write on topics which actually make a difference to people. 4 at least moderately interests me. Do you have a link for any kind of source on it? I have strong ideas on 5, and you're not going to like them at all, but then neither will anyone on the right.
Dave
3 - Georgio
I don't have a link for the Maryland disaster Dave ..I saw it on CNN yesterday and I was shocked at how these ppl where treated..they interviewed families who where caught in this flood and I'm not sure what year it was but I think it was about 5 yrs ago anyway the houses had about 3 or 4ft of water in them so you can imagine what the drywall looked like and Fema offered to pay them for only the four ft that was under water..it was take it or leave it so now they have small trailers in the front yard that they live in because they said no contractor will repair their home for the money Fema gave them ..and these where not poor black ppl either..I am going to try and find out more..
4 - Eric Olsen
interesting silver lining, Dave
5 - Matt
"I'm sick of paying huge amounts in taxes half of which gets spent on bureaucratic overhead to produce a school which I wouldn't send criminals to, much less my kids. They deserve better and so does every other kid in this country. "
So, what you are saying is that any public school these kids would be sent to is tantamount to no less than prison, or even worse since you wouldn't send a criminal there? Dave, step away from the fonts for a couple of minutes and go into some public schools and see what they're doing. Your blanket dismissal of public educaiton shows how little of a clue you have.
We can argue school choice if you'd like, but just shitting on public educaiton across the board is insane.
6 - Dave Nalle
Actually, Matt, I was referring to the specific public school my kids would end up at - particularly my older one - if I let them go there. It has armed security, metal detectors, multiple active gangs, etc.
I've seen plenty of Public schools, Matt. I had a kid in public school for a number of years and was VP of the PTA and on the Campus Advisory Committee,. I also have several friends who are teachers or administrators in three different area school districts, plus I actually taught college extension classes in one of our local districts for several years. Rather than not having a clue, I know exactly what I'm talking about.
I reiterate that I didn't say that all public schools were disastrous, just that some are. And that all but the best ones provide an inferior education to even mediocre parochial or private schools. And again, I have a lot of experience in that are as well, so I know intimately what I'm talking about.
Dave