Sunday, July 12, 2009 9:45 PM CDT
LETTER: Education goals should include privatization
By LEONIDAS H. MILLER, Mattoon
“…she…knew that all large public works were invitations to patronage, bribery, price gouging, creative bookkeeping, and theft.” Walter A. McDougall, “Freedom Just around the Corner,” p. 33.
Of the many issues before us today, it is difficult to rank one of them as most important. Before Sept. 11, who would have given national security such a ranking?
Because education has long been an issue, we could place it in first place or at least among the top 5 issues of importance. It is difficult to overrate its importance, because America’s children and, from them, America’s future is involved.
Of the different plans for improvement, home schooling and privatization offer better ways of improving the mission to prepare the young for adult life.
Privatization is nothing new to American-style education. In late 19th century New England, school boards would “tuition out” their students to schools, offering parents a choice of schools, public or private. The story reports improvements in public schools because of the competition.
It could also be true that in education we have placed too much emphasis on higher education. By improving the mission of preparing the young for adult life, the sparks of ambition and curiosity would flash more brightly in the lower grades, giving the young a brighter vision of the future along with the tools of going there.
With an improvement in skills and intellect, students will appreciate the importance of recognizing the lies expressed by politicians and journalists as they promote programs which are both expensive and ineffective at the same time. An improved sense of ethics would show the importance of restricting abortion and ending our culture of death. An improved knowledge of history will reveal that diplomats have promoted as many wars as have militarists.
These are among the educational goals we should want for all our children. The above-cited quote was said of Elizabeth I, England’s 17th Century queen, telling us that these government corruptions have been known for a long time.
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The Question wrote on Jul 13, 2009 4:42 AM:
And for that reason, some right wingers have long wanted to see public education dead, It's so much easier for the rich to control the working class when they're kept safely ignorant. Today, that job is the mission of Miller's friends at Fox News.
And right wingers like Miller confuse education, which involves critical thinking and the search for truth, with self-serving propaganda for their anti-government, anti-abortion, pro-war drivel.
With an education, students actually learn to cite evidence, instead of empty nonsense like "some say" or "the story reports."
By the way, the political views of an arrogant 16th century hereditary monarch are not very helpful to the citizens of what is supposed to be a democratic republic. I'm sure Miller would prefer to live in an absolute monarchy, but sadly, he does not. "