If the GOP are elected, public education will be privatized.

[ColbertWatcher]

As I was trying to stay awake listening to Admmiral McCombover, he said something that made me listen: he said:

"Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained."

That's the GOP's next target: public education.

They've been filling the proverbial education bath tub for years and now they must have all their sleeper cells ready and waiting for orders to do to public education what they tried and failed to do to Social Security: privatize it.

Mark my words, if another GOP administration is installed in the next 20 years, we will lose public education just like we lost New Orleans.

Education choice

I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn't even noticed.

Government assistance for unemployed workers was designed for the economy of the 1950s. That's going to change on my watch.

My opponent promises to bring back old jobs by wishing away the global economy. We're going to help workers who've lost a job that won't come back, find a new one that won't go away.

We will prepare them for the jobs of today. We will use our community colleges to help train people for new opportunities in their communities.
For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we'll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage.

Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained.

But what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them.

Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity.

Senator Obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched bureaucracies. I want schools to answer to parents and students. And when I'm President, they will.

--Arizona Senator John McCain's acceptance speech, September 4, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7599422.stm">excerpt BBC

[zeemike]

1. That is a goal they have been working on for many years

And the idea was started by the John Birch Society way back when.
Then they tried to convince us that schools were being run over with Communist who where going to take our children away...but the real reason was integration.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Now it seems the GOP want to funnel all education money to their fundy donors!

I posted a bit about it earlier today (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3925211&mesg_id=3925211), but didn't make the connection to education until Admiral McCombover said that bit about education being the "civil rights issue" of this century.

[zeemike]

8. If you want a working theocracy you must educate the young. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

10. "Jesus Camp!" n/t

[liberal N proud]

3. It will be another way to separate the classes

Those who can afford an education and those who cannot. Those private schools will be out of reach for many American families, even if the government allows the vouchers they tout.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. The vouchers is a sneaky way to fund their base.

If vouchers are so great, why can't we have vouchers for health care?

[lligrd]

5. I Must Admit That I Once Supported Vouchers

It was selfish perhaps, but I simply couldn't bring myself to send my son to the school district I lived it because it was so bad. I sent him to a private school through age second grade but was forced to recognize that, although safer, the education he was receiving was still lacking.

I then looked at other private schools but found that they were few and either full, or had some extremely odd policies (like spanking with a board for hair too long - I swear.

To solve the problem, we moved from our dream home (I still miss that house 12 years later) to a much smaller nondescript home in a better school district. It still pisses me off that we felt forced to move simply because of school district.

I did realize after my enlightening and frustrating search for a decent, affordable private school that vouchers would not be the answer. I was fortunate to be able to move away from a school district that performed extremely poorly to one that performed quite well. I can't even imagine the frustration of parents that are unable for economic reasons or lack of choices to send their kids to school that is both safe and provides a decent education.

We must make education both safe and equitable for all. That John McCain, is something we should all STAND UP FOR.

[ColbertWatcher]

9. "we felt forced to move"

I hear you.

There is an author you may have heard of who writes about education in America, Jonathan Kozol and he said,

"I would argue strongly to the public that we are not a Third World nation, and we don’t have to choose between giving kids small class size in tenth grade or giving them pre-K when they’re two years old. I’m saying we’re rich enough to do both."

We don't have to make false choices for our schools and parents shouldn't have to make the choice you did regarding where you live.

His books are not for the faint of heart, but they are real eye openers about how GOP-drown-government policies have brought us to this dangerous place where we are today.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Letters-to-a-Young-Teacher/Jonathan-Kozol/e/9780307393722/?itm=2">Letters to a Young Teacher

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ordinary-Resurrections/Jonathan-Kozol/e/9780060956455/?itm=6">Ordinary Resurrections

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Amazing-Grace/Jonathan-Kozol/e/9780060976972/?itm=5">Amazing Grace

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Shame-of-the-Nation/Jonathan-Kozol/e/9781400052455/?itm=4">The Shame of the Nation

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Savage-Inequalities/Jonathan-Kozol/e/9780060974992/?itm=3">Savage Inequalities

The only one I have been able to read was Savage Inequalities.

[MiniMe]

6. And education isn't the only thing, they will try to privatize everything

This country literally can't afford another repub administration. Privatazation is more expensive than the government running the programs.

[Indenturedebtor]

7. If they get elected it will be the end of America

Anything that those of us above the age of 18 recognise as America anyways.

Hell it might well be the end of the world. Seriously.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. We need to change how public schools are funded

I HATE how it's mostly through property taxes so that poor areas inherently have poorer schools. You'll have a suburb whose schools have swimming pools and planetariums and 5 miles away they don't have chalk or books.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. Morning kick. n/t

[cloudythescribbler]

13. Privatize and shrink -- Education/Privatize and Expand -- Prisons!

Isn't that a catchy slogan?

[ColbertWatcher]

14. Countdown kick. n/t