Isn't it wonderful to see change unfold around you?
Take school choice. I'm for it and Florida's firmly thrown its hat into that ring.
Not long ago Wisconsin's Supreme Court ruled that parents can use public money to send their children to the public or private school of choice.
Under this ruling, families can decide which school - public or private, sectarian or not - will best meet their educational and social needs. Just as people have always chosen their institutions of higher learning, they will be able to do so for all educational levels. Some would say that they've always been able to do that. But only now can they receive some financial assistance.
Educators and the American Civil Liberties Union are up in arms. The ACLU apparently interprets our constitution as meaning freedom "from" religion as opposed to freedom "of" religion. Of course, we'll have to await the inevitable U.S. Supreme Court decision. This is big stuff.
Teachers, administrators and union officials are similarly upset (scared?). Like many well-intended people facing professional upheaval, they're not pleased. I can relate. I work for a large Federal Government agency and we're being organizationally turned upside. It's unsettling.
Another spurious argument against choice is that it negatively impacts the poor. Instead of making such charges, critics would be well-served to suggest ways to improve our public educational system and philosophy.
Schools should prepare children to function as adults in the way adult society feels is appropriate. A properly educated nation not only produces quality goods and services but also does so in an ever-increasing civil, healthy and enlightened way. If not, education either has no meaning or is an abysmal failure. Merely repeating our parents' knowledge and behaviors only maintains the status quo.
People want more. They want better.
Why is there all this hub-bub over choice? If private schools were truly better, why keep our kids from them? If public schools were superior, why wouldn't children flock to them? If public schools were superior, or perceived to be, we wouldn't even be discussing this.
Flagler schools enjoy a good reputation statewide. That's great. We should build off past successes and achieve even greater educational heights.
It ought to be less important whether private or public schools deliver the best services and more important that all children are exposed to them. Besides, as a competitive, capitalistic society, what's wrong with schools pushing the envelope to show their worthiness?
Isn't that what private schools have been doing for decades? Hasn't it paid off? They've been so successful building positive education experiences - or others think so - that folks not only continue to pay local taxes for public school which they don't use, but they also accept the added, and often high, cost of private schooling.
Unlike public schools, which must take and keep virtually all students to fulfill compulsory education laws, private schools don't. They expect and get certain behaviors that our public schools have inadvertently condoned over the years by relaxing civility rules.
Perhaps it's crude and unfair to note, but how many private school children have been gunned down in class or on school grounds? It's not too out-of-line to say that their behavioral standards are stricter than in the public sphere. But has anyone asked why? Shouldn't societal standards apply everywhere? Has our public system abdicated its social responsibility?
Are people concluding now that private schools better prepare children both intellectually and socially? And if they do, are our public school officials hearing that? Or are they fighting for the status quo and attacking the integrity or circumstances of private institutions?
Doesn't it make you wonder - just a little?
Our educators are certainly intelligent and creative enough to resolve the obvious potential equity issues surrounding school choice. Why do some plug their heads deeply into the sand and ignore the tempest that's swirling around them? Why not deal with education as a matter of common import rather than as a vehicle for division?
This is not about black and white or rich and poor, as some critics charge, where school choice inevitably harms the downtrodden and disenfranchised. If that were true, this issue wouldn't even be on the social agenda. Rich folks would merely blithely send off their progeny to exclusive schools and let the rest of us be damned.
Educational equity and effectiveness are the issues. We don't need any more rhetoric or smokescreens. Even the results from educator-developed tests show troubling trends in educational achievement. Can we stop criticizing and start collaborating?
It's time to give choice a chance. Floridians should feel good that at least the Sunshine State is.
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Fred W. Apelquist, III, M.Ed.
Approximately 760 words.
(c) 1999