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[quote=Anonymous]I've long been in favor of vouchers.  My kids went through MCPS and the curriculum was hideous (even before 2.0).  Giving public schools more money won't fix the problem when the problem is the system.  While I disagree that MCPS is "one of the best school districts in the nation", I think it is probably one of the best-funded school systems in the nation, which enabled them to develop that abomination of a curriculum.

MCPS does offer some fabulous opportunities.  My kids took advantage of these, and I'm grateful.   However, a kid who doesn't master basic arithmetic in elementary isn't going to be able to tackle magnet math, and a child who can't read well is going to struggle through a basic education, let alone tackle AP/IB classes.

My kids did very well, but I taught them how to read, how to hold a pencil, how to write (print and cursive), basic grammar, how to use a dictionary, restricted calculator use at home, and other miscellaneous topics along the way.  If a charter school had been available that offered a strong, content rich curriculum, I would have jumped at it.

I was on a curriculum committee for the curriculum that preceded 2.0.   I saw firsthand not only how bad the curriculum was, but how bad the process was. The developers were driven by dogma.

I am firmly convinced that much of the success MCPS loves to brag about is either individual teachers going around the curriculum (one of DD's teachers used the grammar curriculum from her daughter's private school to teach her class) or from well-educated parents who fill in gaps either at home like I did, or at one of the multitude of tutoring centers.  Not all parents have the educational background, time, and/or money to recognize the gaps and address them.   Charters would have given them an opportunity to provide their children a strong education, and might have provided MCPS an incentive to chang its own practices.  Since MCPS has consistently blocked charters, vouchers would have made private alternatives more accessible. [/quote]

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