School Choice Beats No Choice
I am avidly in favor of school choice for two main reasons. First, no child should be locked into attending an inadequate school, lacking quality and diversity, which under the current system is rewarded for its failure. Secondly, children and parents who hold strong convictions concerning their academic and social objectives need latitude in order to place themselves in an environment which will maximize their learning success.
The ideal choice program, in my opinion, would comprise vouchers, drawn from the child's home district and not exceeding the average amount spent locally per student. A voucher or draft is awarded upon the completion of an in depth interview of both student and parents, guardian or assigned mentor and an interview board consisting of school board and local business representatives, and nominated tax payers. In turn, the draft would be valid at any school in the United States, including institutes for higher learning or for study abroad programs, providing the student has met all application standards of said school. Stakeholders are encouraged to make frugal use of the monies or creatively obtain any excess balance. Those not willing to choose, incapable of making such decisions or deemed hard to place, would be assigned local mentors to aid them in this process. Actively encouraging families to choose involves them more fully in the educational process as a whole.
Opposition will arise focusing on such issues as community fragmentation, rampant unemployment, and territorilaism (outsiders viewed as a potential detriment). Communities described as crime ridden, inner city, lower socio-economic can hold high expectations for their children t...
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...their students to be educated at schools of choice. I feel confident the active role the school board will acquire, within this system, generating individual, genuine concern and commitment toward others will help pull a community together.
It becomes every community's challenge to foster caring and appropriate experiences for its children. Our goal is to turn out productive members in our society. This task becomes impossible for those locked in a no choice system. Therefore, the successful implementation of a voucher program and elimination of dysfunctional schools will provide the choices which allow our communities to meet such challenges. The competition engendered by a choice program should ensure excellence in teaching and dynamic educational systems which in turn will produce users and managers of information in a global society.
She realized that choice and accountability were not the answer, but that curriculum and instruction were more viable solutions to America’s educational dilemma. Ravitch suggests that to abandon public schools is to abandon the institution that supports our concepts of democracy and citizenship and to the promise of American life (Ravitch, 2011, p. 12-14). The idea of school choice is rooted in Milton Friedman’s essay concerning the government’s role in education. Friedman asserted that society should support and contribute to the maximum freedom of the individual or the family. He maintained that the government should provide vouchers to help support parents financially on their children’s education, which parents could use at the school of their choosing; so long as the school met set standards. Therefore, this creation of choice would stimulate competition, which Friedman believed would increase the development and improvement of nonpublic schools, as well as, create a variety of school options (Ravitch, 2011, p. 115). As a result of the choice movement, the public received three versions of school choice: voucher schools, private schools, and charter schools. Each of these schools receives public funding, but do not operate as traditional public schools, and are not managed by a government agency (Ravitch, 2011, p. 121). Charter schools became the most popular choice of this new
School Choice: Followed the ruling on compulsory education. Parents have a right to choose whether their children go to a private, parochial or public school, or they may choose to home-school. Parents must accept any responsibility for their choice.
To the County High School Class of 2012: As you sit in front of me, I know what most of you are thinking at the moment. There are those who are already pondering about what life without high school will be like; those who are debating whether or not to tell your crush tonight about your whispers of adoration you’ve secretly held for four years; some simply want to get out of that ungodly chair, get that thing that isn’t really a diploma but only tells you when to pick up the thing, and then be the first one on the green bus to the grad party — you know who you are. And the rest, well, the rest aren’t even paying attention, you’re thinking, “Great, here comes one of the valedictorian speakers. Next up: a boring speech straight out of the pits of scholarly hell.” And it’s OK, I don’t mind — that sort of thing comes with the territory. But tonight, I ask that you give me a chance to break that stereotype so that I may address you in the full splendor that you deserve after 13 grueling years of work. I do not want to be known as your “valedictorian” as I stand here, c’mon guys, there is no time left to place labels on people anymore, instead I ask that you accept me as one of your peers — and as a man who will enjoy becoming a graduate alongside you.
When I was in elementary school, I loved to read. I was a total nerd back then ... okay maybe I still am, but one thing has changed. Now I don't so much like reading. My favorite poet was Shel Silverstein, who wrote "Where the Sidewalk Ends." He seemed like he was a total hippie, but that's cool because I like hippies. My grandma is a recovering hippie. I like her too. Anyway, Shel Silverstein wrote about the coolest things. He wrote about magical erasers, eating whales and a boy with long hair flying away from people who were taunting him. He captured all of the things that I loved without knowing that I actually loved them. Now you may ask, how does this hippie relate to our graduation? Well, he wrote a poem entitled "Traffic Light" and this is how it goes:
Good evening. Some of you out there may not realize this but those of you who attended Suntime Middle School have been with this guy for the last seven years. I would like to ask you all, not just Suntime Middle School grads and who all else, to join me in thanking Mr. Weather for his patience and dedication to the success of our education over the years. We are the Class of 2000. The first graduating class of the new millennium. The past four years have been pretty wild. We started out as a bunch of rats in a small cage, but as time went by we learned and matured and became big rats in a new small cage, but in any case, the cage door is now opening; the handlers turning us wild things loose. As we leave "Where the Wild Things Are," home to some of the best cat fights, fist fights and food fights this side of the Cascades, I have a little surprise for all of you sitting in front of me here tonight in your caps and gowns … we ain’t seen nothing yet!
You see, I won’t tell you today to: “Dare to dream” or “Find your own vision” or even to “Strive for excellence,” or any trite cliché that’s ever been said in a graduation speech. So this might not be your typical commencement. I have no list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for you. I don’t have any funny stories about politicians or teachers. I don’t have any jokes, nor do I have any interesting quotes from real famous people. And so you may be wondering. Why?
As senior year comes to an end and we walk away from high school into a much bigger and more complicated world, we should not leave our years at Tree without reflecting on time spent here together and remembering what we have observed across the country, especially in the last year.
The purpose of a graduation speech, as it has been laid out before me, is not to complain, though, but rather to bore the hell out of you. That’s why my speech will last about four hours and seventeen minutes, filled with uninspiring poetry readings, bland quotes, meaningless anecdotes and the traditional candied assortment of shameless clichés and platitudes. Of course, I do realize that my speech is a compulsory formality, and that, in all likelihood, nothing I say will ...
If only the days were as simple as those. The six years flew by quickly and we were off to middle school and soon to junior high or Cedarcrest. Now we were into dances, telephone numbers, big hair, lockers, and the girls were chasing the boys. Who can forget the rivalry between the "Downtowners" and the "Cedarpreps"? There was one focus and one focus only, victory.
A boy once approached Socrates with the desire to obtain wisdom. Without saying a word, Socrates led the boy down to the edge of the sea and walked in, beckoning him to follow. When they were standing waist deep in the water, Socrates pushed the boy down, completely submerging his head. He held him thus for a couple of minutes, until the boy was almost to the point of death, before letting him up. Sputtering and angry, the boy demanded to know why Socrates had held him underwater for so long. In response, Socrates asked, "when you were under the water, what did you want more than anything in the world?"
High school. I never realized it would bring so many changes. As I walked on to campus my freshman year, my mindset was the same as it was in eighth grade; the young are invincible. And although I was excited to come to high school I had many fears. Would the classes be too hard, would I make new friends, what could I become involved in, and most of all -- what if I get lost? All of these fears eventually subsided and I, along with all of you, found the right classes and the right teachers. We all made new friends. We all got involved in something. During my freshman year, innocence surrounded me and although eventually my shell would crack, not until this year have I broken through. This year I decided that it is time to soar on my own. Graduation is the beginning of a new flight for all of us, the class of 1997.
With the years of number two pencils, group projects and final bells behind us, we find ourselves on the threshold of our future. Yet, it's difficult not to timidly glance back at our past and wonder if we are prepared for what lies ahead. Are we ready to face that thing called reality which our parents and teachers have constantly warned us about? I was unsure if I would be prepared to face this world which exists beyond the doors of high school until a recent incident changed my mind. It forced me to put all of my accumulated knowledge from high school to the test in order to survive. I wish I could say this experience happened to me when I was a silly freshman; unfortunately it was only a few months ago. It began with a routine trip to the high school to pick up my brother from a basketball game one cold, January evening. I arrived to find the game was long over, although at the time I didn't know that he had already gotten a ride home. I went looking for him, taking a shortcut from the gym through the courtyard. As I stepped into the frigid air, the door quickly clicked shut behind me. I strode briskly across the courtyard to the double doors in the old commons, only to find they wouldn't budge. Remaining calm, I tried the doors next to them and the gym doors; they were also locked. My heart began to race as I tried every door and gate in that courtyard, only to find I wa...
Let me begin by saying that I am very honored to be addressing the County High School Class of 2012 as students of this institution for the last time. We've spent these last four years creating some serious memories: four years of chieftain power, leaking roofs, questionable Homecoming skits, and musical principals. Four years of good teachers, bad teachers, new teachers, old teachers. Four years of youth, music, growing up and breaking free. Four rubber chickens, four yearbooks, four ASB presidents and four chubby bunnies.
In front of me, I see a fragment of my generation who have moved through the rungs of each year, from the first day of school, to finally the last. I appreciate everyone that has attended today, thus I’ll grace you with a brief -ish speech. Before I begin rambling, I want to thank the principal and his supporting staff for this school, the teachers and their dedication, the parents for their fruitful and exhausting efforts and most of all my peers that used this opportunity in education and stuck through to the closing moments. Thank you.
Good evening parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and friends. I would like to thank you all for coming to this very special day. I know how proud you must be. As we have grown over the years, there are many stages we all have gone through. From learning our shapes and colors, to getting our first kiss in middle school, or how about explaining to our parents why we skipped school because the principal called home. As we remember these days, things that we've done will be with us forever. But this is only the start of our journey. The day has come where we say goodbye to the big yellow buses, assemblies, assigned seating, and attendance policies. Are you really gonna miss it? For some of us maybe not right away. But eventually we will so for us to be here it is not necessarily an achievement, but a privilege. All of us have been in school over half our lives. To graduate is one more step we've taken in our lives.