Sunday, April 16, 2006

Why do Demo's only want "choice" in coffee and abortions?


The world continues to shrink and there is no policy or strategy that can delay - or offset this force. We are not preparing our children to successfully compete in this smaller, tougher and less American-friendly world. The world they will inherit is likely to be more complicated, increasingly competitive, and no-doubt challenging.
We all cherish our children’s future and we ask ourselves the same question: Are we doing enough?
American employers are exporting jobs to India and China and they are also importing skilled employees like engineers, software designers and other “white collar” positions.
There can be no more poignant indictment of our failure to prepare our children to compete than the fact that American mothers and fathers passing over there own and opting to hire outside the U.S. to fill their employment needs.
We can spend time questioning the wisdom and loyalty of these companies, but they are required to make decisions that serve their needs and the needs of their shareholders. They are hiring skilled labor because our educational system has been “called to action,” but given inadequate tools to produce the necessary product. Formal education’s primary goal is not to culturally indoctrinate, socially re-engineer or morally re-program our youth, the mission is to prepare tomorrow’s adults to successfully engage the world as it is, not as we would like it to be.
Teaching has been, and continues to be, an under-appreciated and noble profession. Teachers are selfless, and pivotal, to our long-term economic and strategic livelihood. Teachers carry the privilege and the responsibility to shape our children’s collective future.
Parents carry the sole responsibility to direct the development of their children. Parents cannot be asked to subjugate this role to the state. Parents should have access to choices when they invest in their most important of decision: the education of their children.
How inane is it that we have virtually unlimited choices as to where, what and how to buy our morning coffee, but have virtually no say or options as it relates to the awesome impact of K thru 12 education?
Given the challenges of the day, and the increasingly competitive make up of a shrinking world, does it seem prudent to artificially constrain educational choices? Is it not incumbent on us to unleash the extraordinary power of the American business machine to provide compelling and powerful choices in education?
Vouchers have been made the educational “dirty word” by those who fear the consequences of accountability that every other industry recognizes as reality. We haven’t moved the discussion far enough towards choice. Unleashing the power of accountability, results-oriented compensation and the ingenuity of private enterprise can only improve our educational relevance. To help us collectively secure the nations economic future we must:
Abandon the current paradigm. More specifically, we should allow parents to direct their tax dollars dedicated to educational pursuits in a “voucher-like” fashion. Public institutions that are providing adequate education have nothing to fear, and those that don’t would have a reason to catch up.
We must improve teacher compensation, but tie such increases in compensation to the results their efforts achieve. In short, bonuses are just as appropriate in the educational industry as it is in other parts of the private sector.
We need to partner with key leaders in industries that are future-centric. Knowing what these industries need relative to educational preparation is step one in designing “world-relevant” educational curriculum.
Internships should not be reserved for the medical industry. Conjoining classroom education with “hands-on” application of that education will accelerate our youths ability to “hit the career path” sprinting.
Finally, religious-based educational institutions can be part of our menu of choices. Their potential contribution cannot be left out of the power-of-choice equation simply due to feeble arguments about church-and-state separation. These schools could receive voucher compensation for the percentage of their curriculum that delivers the secular basics all students must have.

8 Comments:

At 4:44 PM , Blogger Bill said...

Money isn't the problem. Consider this...each school day your neighborhood public school receives $28 for each student in attendence. (you pay the $28 in taxes)

Now, if the average class size was say 25 kids (don't we wish it were that small), that equates to $700 daily. Okay, allow 5% absences and you have $665. In a month (22 days) that is $14,630 for ONE CLASSROOM.

Salary...(teacher at $50K+35% benefits)= $5,625 monthly
Leaving $9,005 for monthly facilities, maintenance and administration.

I'm no educator, but I am a businessman...I could put on world classs teaching with that kind of money.

IT'S ABOUT BUSINESS ACUMEN AND ACCOUNTABILITY!

BTW, what do we teach?...whatever Bill Gates and others in future-centric enterprises say is needed to produce competitive adults.

 
At 5:20 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's about separation of church and state

I do not want my tax dollars paying for religious indoctrination. And the government must honor all religious schools. The government cannot choose one religious school over another. Muslim schools that teach strict interpretation of the hadith and koran are just as deserving of these kinds of vouchers as Catholic schools or Baptist schools. Scientology can have its own school. Vocuhers for religious education is not viable because there is virtually no way to spend the money without falling afoul of the constitution. The government cannot PROMOTE one religion over another.

 
At 9:19 PM , Blogger Bill said...

Silly anonymous, grow some nads and name yourself!

Vouchers allow parents to direct their dollars to the institutions they (the parents)feel best prepares their children for the future.

IN a voucher system you can opt in or out and direct your dollars where you chose to.

The only thing worse than funding religious based schools, is languishing in the squaller of the choking costs of accountability- free administrators and teachers who avoid the reality any other business contends with. Howeverm in a voucher system a great teacher would finally be able to earn a wage commesurate with their talent.

Finally, as I pointed out in my first statement,...the voucher would be redeemable only for the percentage of "secular basics: that all children require. The government would not be promoting any religion in a voucher system, they would simply allow the tax payers to direct their own dollars...what a concept!

It fasinates me how quickly those that cry for freedoms in any inane forum, run away from the freedom of parental choice!

Also, the constitution speaks about freedom of religion, NOT FREEDOM FROM RELIGION.

Smell like an administrator posting to me!

 
At 11:22 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

If I could figure out how to sign up without having to start an actual blogsite, I would. Call me Pinky. For me to grow "nads" would require serious surgery with unlikely results. But that's an interesting blanket assertion about gender you made.

Parents directing dollars for their children's education will lead to more impoverishment in inner city schools. The parents who can afford to pull their child and remove their tax dollars will. Do only parents who actually pay in get to decide where their child goes? The rest of the children will make do with less resources.

As a businessman, I know you know there are certain break even points that schools have to meet that are largely fixed costs for overhead including: land use, building costs, repairs and maintenance, grounds keeping, safety codes, fire codes, permits, insurance, fencing, employees, administrative systems, government compliance including No Child Left Behind and the Americans with Disabilities Act, just to name two out of thousands, and the list goes on. To simplify the problems with education by ignoring the overall picture is just bad business. Most new private schools go out of business because overhead is so high. That's one of the many reasons why state education works, only the state can afford all the costs. Teacher salaries, while they may or may not be a problem, are not the only issue.

The idea is to educate all of America's children, not just those with the highest tax base. The problems with the educational system are not related to a voucher system. Having one system will not repair the other. And spending dollars only on approved classes still supports the religion behind it. The religious persons who run the schools will throw in the indoctrination classes for free.

Following your logic, as long as the private schools are teaching the classes you want, ALL religious schools get money. Small schools teaching Islamic religious extremism is breeding new crops of terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere. We cannot monitor what they teach beyond the basic classes. Heck, if I tied a fish to a tree and danced around it with an umbrella and called it a religion, then I can start my own school. I would then command all my kool-aid drinking followers to direct their tax dollars for education go to my school and the government would be promoting my religion.

The Supreme Court decided long ago the religious freedom clause meant the government will not promote one religion over another. But you knew that, right? Weren't you a congressional candidate? Aren't the basic freedoms something you brushed up on before you ran?

Why just parents? Why not freedom for everybody? I want to direct my tax dollars to specific programs, none of which are military spending. How about that? We elect officials--and you wanted to be one of them--to direct how our money is spent. It is not a "freedom" for parents only to direct their tax dollar, it is a perk that discriminates against those without children who also pay taxes.

So did you go to a religious school or public school? Were you sounding out squalor with your New England accent? Fascinating (with a 'c'). Ok, ok, yes, I can spell, but after all, I did go to public school.

What is an administrator posting?

 
At 11:25 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I may be able to spell, but my grammar needs work. The sentence should be: Small schools teaching Islamic religious extremism ARE breeding new crops of terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere.

 
At 1:14 PM , Blogger Bill said...

Alrighty then,...

1) "nads", meant to be a metaphor for guts.

1b warning) This is a non-restricted PC free zone

2) Spelling, excuse typing too fast, but you're right and I am wrong...yes I went to a public school and hope for a better experience for my children and yours.

3) Current system already produces income-centric results. Look no further than last month API scores. Poway, Cardiff, Carlsbad, Rancho, La Jolla were above the 800 watermark. Other lower demographic areas were not...collectively 78% didn't make the grade.

4) Insanity defined...doing the same thing over and expecting a different result.

5) Money...$28 per day per student attending....we aren't getting our money's worth. Here is how it is spent;
66%Teachers, Aides and Supplies
28 Administration/Fac.Maintenance
5% District Administration
1% State/Local Gov. Oversight

6) In a voucher system no government employee would be advocating for any private or public school, nor promoting any religion. As for the prior wisdom of the Supreme Court on church/state separation....don't get me started.

Need more in class $, less overhead...sounds like a business problem to me.

 
At 7:20 PM , Blogger Bill said...

Hear is some more great news as to how the current program "cheats" on their test scores to avoid accountability.

Educators cheating on test scores...

Don't like the results, don't fix it just toss 'em out!


http://adelphia.net/news/read.php?id=12737578&ps=931&lang=en

 
At 12:57 PM , Blogger Bill said...

Those that have requested back up on the $28 per day...

The spend per student is about $7500 annually which on a 250-day school calendar comes in about $30.

The link below is two years old, but if you type in $28 daily, Romer, California Students...you'll get a lot more links.

BB

http://www.cccco.edu/divisions/ss/calworks/attachments/0203RembrsFctsht.doc (MICROSOFT WORD)
California Department of Education – Child, Youth, and Family Services Branch. FY 2002-03. Direct Services. Reimbursement Fact Sheet. Child Development Division ... 2002 State Budget Act included ... 28.14 per child day of enrollment or $7,035 per annum based on 250 days of operation. [ Education ...www.cccco.edu/divisions/ss/calworks/attachments/0203RembrsFctsht.doc - 315k - View as html - More from this site

 

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