In a Rasmussen poll conducted in April via a national telephone survey, 53% of American adults said they prefer capitalism, 20% said socialism, and 27% said they were not sure. I have seen other numbers where the people that preferred socialism were even higher than 20%. How did we get to a place in the country where the basic economic structure of the country that has been in place since Jamestown is now losing favor to socialism?
Much of the cultural change can be found in the public education system. I graduated from public school twenty years ago. A few years back, I went into my old high school to visit some of my teachers. More than just the faces of the students have changed. A change in attitude also existed. The students appear to be in control these days more than the teachers.
I can remember spankings and moments of silence for prayer. That doesn’t happen anymore. When a student is disruptive or needs to be punished, he or she often gets rewarded with a little vacation from school for a few days.
With initiatives like “No Child Left Behind,” (NCLB) it has become easier to lower the bar so more students succeed than to teach the students. Standardized tests which focus on math and language skills have become the measuring stick. Several schools in Georgia were recently caught after they had changed the answers on the standardized CRCT. Because a student must pass these, other subjects like history are left behind. In many school systems, NCLB has forced funding and attention on the students that perform poorly rather than encouraging gifted students.
I have been a long supporter of vouchers. Vouchers would empower more parents with the choice on where they want to send their children to be educated. We send our two sons to a private school; and although it requires sacrifice on our part as parents, I am thankful that we have the means to do so. Still, the world will be shaped by the majority, and the majority, at this time, are in a different culture. Democrats have opposed vouchers. I thought that it was because they have had pressure from the powerful education union. Now I wonder if it is because the public education system works to help create more progressives that do not count ‘socialism’ as a dirty word.
There is a sign that hangs at Sherwood Baptist Church that reads, “Whoever wants the next generation the most will get them.” It is a reminder of how much we have to win or lose when it comes to our youth. The children are the future of this nation. If we let them down, we have nobody but ourselves to blame.
While I agree that vouchers have a good chance of success, an even better solution would be to PRIVATIZE ALL GOVERNMENT schools. Period. We wouldn’t have to worry about school prayer, Bible classes, the Pledge of Allegiance, etc. Schools could offer any (or none) of the options above, and parents could choose which school they prefer.
Well Red, it’s possible that vouchers could be used to transition to something like that. History has shown that as voucher programs expand, more and more parents want their kids in private schools. Supply and demand kicks in, and new private schools will open as established schools expand. Eventually, all schools could well be privatized soon enough and with so many schools competing for students (since private schools don’t get paid without them), prices will adjust to make it much more affordable.
Will it happen? I don’t know, but I hope so. Like you pointed out, it will clear up debates about school prayer, since parents will be able to decide for themselves, as well as other controversial issues like sexual education and condoms in schools.
I hope, regardless of who is elected for office, that nothing is taken off the table. In truth, it would be better for the teacher’s unions as well, since it will provide a much safer environment for the teachers (private schools traditionally have a lower tolerance for BS from their students…I know first hand on that
) and as schools compete for the best teachers, teachers wages will necessarily increase.
The only part the unions won’t like is that private schools can cut loose teachers who don’t cut the mustard. But failure to do that is part of the problem with public schools.