Vouchers

As we come closer and closer to the election, we must realize that not only is the Presidency up for grabs, but the Legislative branch is as well. And while all the candidates (yes, including Mike Huckabee) have at least a few good ideas when it comes to education, we could very well see a conservative congress and senate that wants to press the issue of school vouchers. Not only do school vouchers cost more money, but they won't work, and that's a promise.

The reason private schools are considered "elite" is because they have more resources than other schools. They have high, private funding. They do not teach to standardized test curricula, so they have more opportunity to explore creative ideas. But most importantly, they have limited admission, and thus, small class size. If you put all the public school students into private schools, they will be faced with the same situation as the current system. And we would be forced to pay the tuition.

What students need is not a private school. They need smaller class sizes and more motivation to learn. The sad fact is, many students are getting to a point where they just don't care if they can't see immediate results. In New York City, we are trying various methods to get low income students interested in school again (i.e. Cash for Kids, Cell Phone Incentive). While I do not feel that the way our city is carrying these ideas out is particularly strong, it's a start. More attempts like this will get kids interested, and lowering class size is as simple as just taking the funding away from high stakes testing, and putting it toward opening new schools.