Parental Control is Needed for Childrens' Education - Granite Grok

Parental Control is Needed for Childrens’ Education

schooL_choiceToday we are celebrating the achievements of graduating students.  We applaud them and wish that they achieve their dreams.

While we are happy for those who are prepared for their next endeavor, we need to recognize that many of our schools are just not good enough for students or for our country’s needs.  Too many graduates are not prepared for the next level of education or for a decent job.  And, far too many students drop out of bad, dangerous and uncaring schools and end up poor and/or incarcerated.

Changing the names of top-down driven programs, e.g., now Common Core, previously No Child Left Behind, continues to fail and neglects the real problems anyway.

There are thousands of great and millions of good public school teachers.  But thousands of bad teachers and administrators, who cannot be fired, harm school morale and deprive millions of students of their opportunities for good starts in life.

We have tried sending our public schools increasing amounts of money and federal directives for decades, but that doesn’t fix the problems caused by bad teachers, bad administrators, and an educational establishment stuck in the past.

Charter schools provide options for the fortunate few lucky enough to get in.  Some parents, even very poor parents, struggle to send their children to private schools so they can avoid failing public schools.  Their stories are heartbreaking.  I recommend watching the documentary movie, “Waiting for Superman”, available in many libraries, including Meredith’s.

Taxpayers fund great public educations, spending (in 2011) on average $13,041 per pupil in public schools versus $8549, $8001, $6018 in private, charter, and Catholic schools respectively (http://www.edreform.com/2012/04/k-12-facts/).  Sadly, too many public schools don’t deliver quality results.   It’s long past time for Americans to demand the changes needed so each child can get a good education in a good, safe school.

It’s time to change how public education money is spent.  Every tax dollar collected for public education should be directed by a child’s parents to the school the parent selects for his or her child.

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