That being said, let me offer some points for you to reflect on:

I believe you when you say you know how to teach and don’t need the government administraters mandating what/how to do it. You have a choice in this- you can at any point interview with many of the private schooling institutions in the state and get yourself a job at a place that appreciates your skills.

What is the cost of this? You might(or not) make less money and for sure you won’t have your cushy health insurance that’s better than everyone in private industry(that pays for your current cushy health plan)…and you’ll also lose your cushy retirement package…also paid for by everyone else working in private industry. Are you willing to make that sacrifice for the kids you claim to love?

The benefits: You become an actual productive citizen of society instead of one of the leeches on the neck of society….actually helping and improving the lives of children because you now work in an environment that gives you the ability to succeed/fail on your own merits. It might actually raise your self esteem and sense of worth/value.

The choice is yours…but the reality is that the government system you are now currently in is permanantly broken and getting worse…so your complaints will go unoticed and uncared about.

Teachers are trained professionals. Most teachers know exactly what to do and how to do it. There is a administration at Shell Point Elementary in Beaufort County (Yes, the silly video district) who is a holy terror. She is destroying teachers and children one mandate, meeting, and threat at a time. She had teachers taking that workshop in the video and probably forced them to go. She is a corridor of shame all on her own.

The districts need to encourage principals and district personnnel to bug out and just offer support. Don’t take every minute teachers have to force new and old ideas to be jammed down their throats, never give them time to prepare and yet expect perfection. Quit wasting money on crappy in-service, after-school and planning time “time-wasting”. We love our students. We are professionals. Let us prescribe their “medicine” since we know them best. Free the teachers to be treated as adults with graduate degrees and beyond. Then, our children will grow,learn and thrive!

I’m certainly glad my children won’t be exposed to yours either…so certainly we are both happy except that you’ve managed to steal my money to provide a sub-standard education for your kids….probably because your too self involved to give a damn about giving them a decent education.

Oh well…all things will be born out in the end.

Mr. Smith also said something in his column to the effect that “reasonable people” can see the flaw in the logic of choosing not to contribute to important public services, like schools and police. Guess that lets you off the hook.

Probably a good thing you educate your kids at home. I wouldn’t want mine exposed to that kind of knuckle-dragging thinking anyway.

I do think “market forces” could create some opportunity, some movement in the education industry. In particular, I think churches with classroom, kitchen and gymnasium facilities could house start-up schools with voucher/scholarship/tax credit money.

Beyond that, however, it seems awfully tricky to me. Tuition is only a portion of what allows schools to operate. Most private schools were founded with large donations toward buildings, and many have endowments that support operations. I would assume all this is the reality at places like Heathwood Hall or Hammond Academy — and their tuition is WAY HIGHER than what the state would likely give out in a voucher or tax credit.

Maybe there are storefronts in abandoned strip malls that would work. I’m not sure that’s a great option, particularly if you want to provide physical education, arts instruction, etc. And in many of our rural communities, I would think that there are few churches that could even handle being used as a school.

Transportation would still be a huge issue.

The “why not try it?” approach suggests that, well, we can’t do any worse. I disagree. While things are bad, OF COURSE they can be worse. A 50% or whatever dropout rate could be an 80% dropout rate; low test scores could be even lower. So on and so forth.

Things can be worse, and so a risk in throwing money into the “marketplace” is in creating a “skimming of the top” scenario where the lowest-achieving students have no tangible new options but their public schools do end up losing money.

I don’t think I’m arguing from an ideological point of view, and I am not saying that your ideas aren’t in some ways compelling. But I think that in our state there are more practical solutions.

You and the Voice for School Scams!

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Flair and Balanced

Vouchers, for lack of a better word, attempt to even the playing field for all kids in S.C. Poor parents of children in failing schools should have the option of taking the money that is spent on that child elsewhere.

I have heard the argument that there are no private schools from which parents can choose in poorer areas of the state. Then is the answer to not give vouchers a try?? WHY NOT TRY IT TO SEE IF IT WILL WORK? What if the voucher system creates a market for new private schools? What have we got to lose? There are other areas of the U.S. in which much more money in thrown into public education with little if any improvement.

Governments, where ever they may be, by their nature, are inefficient. Where there is no competition, there is no incentive to get more bang for the buck. This is not a condemnation of government, it is just the way it is.

South Carolina’s children are a valuable resource. Thousands of children are being wasted in our current education system. We can do better.