Forum Index
»
DC Public and Public Charter Schools
Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Because of the voucher issue? Or something else? |
Anonymous
Thank you for asking. Basically. I'm not anti-Democrat, but I am anti-hypocrisy. I found the Attorney General's lecture really, really offensive and wearisome. If these folks practiced what they preach--instead of living in the best neighborhoods (Hyde Park?!) and sending their children to the best schools (Lab School?!) I might listen. As children, they all have these interesting life stories. As adults who preach that the personal is political, they totally opt out in the point of their lives in which they actually have the agency to make meaningful choices. What do you think? |
Anonymous
|
I don't really follow your logic here. Are you saying that someone has to live in a horrible neighborhood to be credible - the whole "keeping it real" syndrome? If I am not mistaken both the Ag and Sec. of Ed worked hard for what they have accomplished - no one handed success to them.
Just because they live in nice neighborhoods and send their kids to private schools doesn't mean that they don't practice what they preach. How do any of us know how they live their lives. The fact that they have chosen public service is the most meaningful choice not where they live or where their kids go to school - they both work for us. |
Anonymous
I completely disagree with you. Public service is a meaningful choice. So is how you choose to live your life. Public servants set public policy. If you are a public servant and set--for example, an anti-voucher policy--you are limiting school choice for other people. How about making that same choice for yourself? I am not quite sure what's confusing. We have a thousand sayings that sum this up, like "If you talk the talk, walk the walk..." and "Practice what you preach..." Nothing to do with 'keepin' it real'. That expression bothers me. It assumes that someone has a hold on what being 'real is'. People are free by me to define themselves; I would just ask them to follow through on the message they deliver to others. Maybe I'm super naive. |
Anonymous
If you are politically invested in denying school choice to other parents, then you have an obligation not to choose anything other than a basic average public school education for your own child, lest you become by example a hypocrite. In other words, if you get to choose your child's school, then you don't get to try to deny other parents the opportunity to choose their child's school. That is all. It's pretty simple, really. |
Anonymous
|
I am poster 7:20 and didn't realize that this conversation was about school choice.
Where can I find out more about his stand on school choice? Show me some proof that he is anti-voucher and would deny school choice. Did this happen in Chicago? |
Anonymous
|
Not PP, but I was wondering the same and did a cursory search. A few days ago, the AP said this:
"Obama sent mixed messages on vouchers during his presidential campaign. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in February 2008 that he was open to vouchers if research showed they work. But his campaign swiftly backtracked, issuing a statement saying Obama had always been a critic of vouchers." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iJue5hj8R1JXT2QPTMcrmRPjpZkQD96NJJV80 |
Anonymous
| I am anti voucher and send my kids to private school. I don't see these things as inconsistent, since I use my own money to pay their tuition (plus paying a lot in taxes). I am against my tax dollars being used to pay for religious schooling, which is where most of the voucher money goes. |
Anonymous
The amount of a voucher that I have seen quoted is far less than the cost per pupil in public school. And not all independent schools are religious, though don't our tax dollars currently fund faith-based services--like soup kitchens? Parochial schools in the inner city are not that glamorous, but you don't get jumped on the way into the school. The nuns nip that in the bud. Maybe when there is basic security in all the public schools in this city, parents will stop lining up for vouchers to get out. Meanwhile, our public officials who are anti-voucher could lead the way in shoring up faith in public schools with their own children. Imagine if every politician who lives in DC and speaks out against vouchers, for revitalizing the inner city and shoring up public education was actually personally invested in an 'average' public school. Sometimes all it takes is that seed to make a difference. |
Anonymous
| I guess we will find out soon if Fenty at least will make good on his promise to send his kids to public school. |