Betsy DeVos and Vouchers - Yes!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left a go-nowhere public high school for a working class Catholic high school because I wanted to go to college and get admitted to a good college. At the Catholic high school, I found much better academics (even AP classes which were new at the time) and good discipline, with no bullying whatsoever. At the public high school, some teachers were getting body-checked into the lockers in the hallways and fights among students were routine after and sometime during school. I was in some of those fights, and it didn't stop bullying - there was always a new one (it becomes a culture). At the public high school, suicide was high, as well as drug use and heavy drinking; there were many deaths from car fatalities too. We had the freaks and the jocks, and the jocks beat on the freaks and anyone in between. None of the foregoing existed at the Catholic school, notwithstanding the kids being tough and predominantly from an inner-city working class neighborhood; needless to say the football, basketball and baseball teams were division one.

I got accepted from the Catholic high school into a highly competitive Jesuit college. I went there on financial aid, including Pell grants, Stafford loans, and some other Federally subsidized loan that had lower interest than the Stafford.

If I had stayed at the public high school, I know none of this would have happened. Discipline was virtually non-existent. We'd even have snow ball fights in the classroom by opening the window in winter. And yes, there was my chemistry teacher displaying a retort tube, stroking it, and asking the girls what they thought of it and what it reminded them of as he slowly passed up and down the aisles; we all thought he was so cool and didn't think anything of it at the time. I guess here in DC the public school teachers just skip the foreplay and "sleep" with the students while taking cell phone videos (if we must stereotype and generalize).

The long and short is that the Federal government paid for and subsidized me to go to a religious school. What's the difference here in DC?

Give some kids a chance.

Don't worry, they won't get converted unless they want to, and most don't.

+1.

I had a very similar experience.

Thank you for taking the time for sharing yours.

I'd love to see a serious and ambitious voucher plan at national scale.

Nope, no, not getting away with that here. Please read the literature on vouchers, and explain, in detail, how vouchers will expand choice IN DC, and in the rest of the country.

Very funny, comrade Stalin.

Please explain, in detail, how having no choice expands choice.

Seriously? Nobody is arguing that in an ideal world additional high-quality school choice would be good for DC. What we're asking for is a detailed analysis of how this would work in DC. Vouchers are intended to have a market impact and we've all been pointing out that the market conditions in DC for schools are such that additional high-quality choice does not actually appear to be the result.

Seriously, you want a detailed explanation on an anonymous website? Get comfortable with the concept and scribes can fill in the details. It's doable, and it works with parochials right now. Other privates could be created or tailor their schools to accommodate a voucher tuition. Rome wasn't build in a day. The Charter proliferation didn't happen overnight.

So... that's your argument in its entirety: the market is going to create supply to meet the vouchers, and "scribes can fill in the details." Gotcha.

[Anonymous]

^^^^^ Bite me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^^^ Bite me.

I'm just truly, truly trying to understand your mentality. Evidently this is something you care about quite a lot, and yet cannot articulate any semblance of an argument for. What's that all about? I think you can do better.

[Anonymous]

I just don't see how any of this is legal in the US. If federal money is involved, how can the school not be open to everyone? Accept special needs children, poor children, and children from all religions and ethnicities? How can federal dollars be used to fund religious education when we are a nation that separates church from state?

[Anonymous]

I also don't think schools are the reason why people leave DC with kids. There are enough schools. The city isn't built as well for kids as the suburbs and it isn't as safe. Provide more safety, parks, and houses for people with children and more of them would stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also don't think schools are the reason why people leave DC with kids. There are enough schools. The city isn't built as well for kids as the suburbs and it isn't as safe. Provide more safety, parks, and houses for people with children and more of them would stay.

Meant to say there are some good school choices in DC already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't see how any of this is legal in the US. If federal money is involved, how can the school not be open to everyone? Accept special needs children, poor children, and children from all religions and ethnicities? How can federal dollars be used to fund religious education when we are a nation that separates church from state?

Lady, you know that there are hundreds of religious hospitals taking medicare and Medicaid patients, correct?

As long as they deliver some specified standards, ownership is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also don't think schools are the reason why people leave DC with kids. There are enough schools. The city isn't built as well for kids as the suburbs and it isn't as safe. Provide more safety, parks, and houses for people with children and more of them would stay.

I don't think you know what you are talking about. I personally know dozens of families who have left, often before high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also don't think schools are the reason why people leave DC with kids. There are enough schools. The city isn't built as well for kids as the suburbs and it isn't as safe. Provide more safety, parks, and houses for people with children and more of them would stay.

No, the schools really do suck. Please accept this DCPS troll. Your job accomplishes nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also don't think schools are the reason why people leave DC with kids. There are enough schools. The city isn't built as well for kids as the suburbs and it isn't as safe. Provide more safety, parks, and houses for people with children and more of them would stay.

No, the schools really do suck. Please accept this DCPS troll. Your job accomplishes nothing.

Then why are you here on the DC public school forum? Got your jollies now?

[Anonymous]

You sound exactly like someone I know in the DCPS PRO office. But you live in Maryland like the rest of them, so why really do you care? You're just here for the paycheck.

response:

Again, please post a link to support your rambling diatribe that Catholic schools are superior to public schools. Name-calling is only proving my point.

According to this, it sure as heck isn't DCPS (HRCS's are the top 10):
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-elementary-s...verall/s/district-of-columbia/

According to this, "D.C. has the second to worst public school system in the United States".
http://wtop.com/dc/2015/07/study-d-c-ranks-near-bottom-u-s-school-systems/

So although I cannot find an article about how DC Catholic schools compare to DCPS, I think it's fair to say they have to be better because things in DCPS on a national level are about the worst.

I'm here because I want vouchers to get something for my tax money and so people will stay in the city versus leaving. With vouchers, DC will become a magnet for the middle class.

[Anonymous]

https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-elementary-schools/best-overall/s/district-of-columbia/

[Anonymous]

According to this, if you want good public just move to Arlington. Forget DC.


https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-elementary-schools/best-overall/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You sound exactly like someone I know in the DCPS PRO office. But you live in Maryland like the rest of them, so why really do you care? You're just here for the paycheck.

response:

Again, please post a link to support your rambling diatribe that Catholic schools are superior to public schools. Name-calling is only proving my point.

According to this, it sure as heck isn't DCPS (HRCS's are the top 10):
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-elementary-s...verall/s/district-of-columbia/

According to this, "D.C. has the second to worst public school system in the United States".
http://wtop.com/dc/2015/07/study-d-c-ranks-near-bottom-u-s-school-systems/

So although I cannot find an article about how DC Catholic schools compare to DCPS, I think it's fair to say they have to be better because things in DCPS on a national level are about the worst.

I'm here because I want vouchers to get something for my tax money and so people will stay in the city versus leaving. With vouchers, DC will become a magnet for the middle class.

Instead of public education, just give every family 10,000 for each child and require them to spend that on education. They can hire a governness or use that to pay 30% of teh tuition at a private school in dc or 50-80% of a good to terrible private school in a non expensive area. Or maybe they can hire a babysitter and spend the money on educational computer programs for their children to do at home. Or the mom could pay herself at 10,000 salary per kid and homeschooling Get the government out of the school business.

Sound like I good idea? Community public schools grew up organically in the US precisely because this ISN'T a good idea. Non profit charters are a version of community schools. Vouchers are NOT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to this, if you want good public just move to Arlington. Forget DC.


https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-elementary-schools/best-overall/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

That lists a lot of traditional public schools, which can't possibly be better than charter schools. Or a voucher.