Reply to Betsy DeVos and Vouchers

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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?

[b]Give some kids a chance.[/b]

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

+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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

+2.

The problem isn't a lack of vouchers. It is a general lack - in DC - of high quality schools that are not at capacity. This is true of public, charter, and private school. Vouchers are not going to solve that problem. Creating magnet schools might solve that problem. Creating test-in middle schools might solve that problem. Opening more high quality schools overall (if there is a magic way to do that) might solve that problem. Vouchers will only create the illusion of more choice.[/quote]

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