Picture this: an American public-school classroom in which the children are eager and ready to learn. The students are well disciplined, neat, clean and sitting in rows. Our day opens with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone has homework completed and there are no arguments about the assignments given. Parent helpers are present and ready to work with students. This scene can be the result of school choice.
Many Americans on the national, state and local levels are calling for parental choice or open enrollment as a way to improve the educational system. The argument is that when our schools are forced to compete for students, the quality of education will improve. Parents will be able to choose from among schools, both private and public, and funding will accompany the child through some sort of voucher system. The school that best sells its program will reap the profits of the highest enrollment. The parental-choice approach calls for applying American competitive business practices to our schools. In the business world the profitable businesses will succeed while those who cannot attract customers will go out of business or change.
Choice is a good idea, and just as doctors, lawyers and other professionals can choose their clients, so also I, as a public-school teacher, want some choice for my school. If parents can choose which school will educate their children with public funds, teachers should be able to choose which students will attend their schools.
I will choose the child whose parents are professionals. Children whose parents are unemployed or in service jobs might not be as eager to learn. Those parents might be shift workers, and that causes scheduling confusion for children.
I will choose the children who are well dressed. The kid whose clothes are dirty or whose clothes were purchased at yard sales or thrift shops won’t fit in well here.
I will choose the healthy, well-nourished children for my school. Those marginal kids, such as the child with fetal alcohol syndrome or the child who was a crack baby, can’t perform well and will bring down our test scores.
I will choose the child from the family in which only one parent has to work outside the home. I want that mom who is at home to be able to be a room mother, to be able to volunteer in class, to be able to accompany us on field trips, or to be able to come to PTA meetings.
I will choose the child who is white. Those black, brown, yellow and red kids are often underprivileged and can’t learn as well. If we have them in our school, our test scores will go down, and we can’t tolerate a decline in SAT scores.
I will choose the children without handicaps. Kids who have physical or mental disabilities need special schools or institutions. It’s too expensive to educate them.
I will choose those children who come from homes with strict discipline. Those permissive parents can take their kids somewhere else. In our school we want to know that parents support our decisions.
I will choose children from families who will take a turn serving on our book-selection committee. We want control over what our children read. Those other schools can have those liberal kids with their wild ideas and their freethinking parents. No New Age ideas will be allowed in our school. We will have prayer every day!
I will choose those children from families who limit TV watching. Kids whose entertainment and babysitter is a television have a severely limited attention span. Let other schools educate those TV kids.
I will choose those children who have not moved for at least two years. I don’t want a high turnover rate of students. That’s upsetting and it negatively affects our test scores. Children from unstable families won’t be able to keep up with our curriculum.
I will choose those children who have a home computer. We can make such great progress in computer literacy when children can do computer homework. Those kids who are computer ignorant won’t fit well into our progressive school or our progressive society.
I will choose to teach those children who show no sign of physical or sexual abuse. Those abused kids need help and counseling and they can get it somewhere else. Our school needs its money for the basics, and we can’t spend our money on counselors. Those kids can’t concentrate on their studies and, besides, they are often troublemakers. We don’t want them here.
I will choose those children who go home to caring parents. Latchkey kids who go home to empty houses are an embarrassment. Another school can take them and provide after-school activities to keep them busy each day.
I will choose those children who live pretty close to school or whose parents can drive them. If we take many of those bussed students, our transportation budget will get too high, and we might not be able to afford our computer center.
I will choose those children who are very fluent in English. In our school we won’t tolerate any of this bilingual nonsense. The American way is best, and that means English. Those other schools can teach those foreigners. We’re going to keep our schools American.
I will choose those children who went to a good preschool. Those Head Start kids can be so difficult. They can go to the other schools. Besides, those kids will be happier with their own kind.
Yes, school choice will solve our problems. It will surely make schools accountable to the taxpayers. I’m certain our school will have those high test scores which measure success in the educational world.
Oh, incidentally, the name our school has chosen is Southwest Aryan School No. 1.
title: “Keep Schools Open To All” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-13” author: “Jimmie Gloden”
Picture this: an American public-school classroom in which the children are eager and ready to learn. The students are well disciplined, neat, clean and sitting in rows. Our day opens with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone has homework completed and there are no arguments about the assignments given. Parent helpers are present and ready to work with students. This scene can be the result of school choice.
Many Americans on the national, state and local levels are calling for parental choice or open enrollment as a way to improve the educational system. The argument is that when our schools are forced to compete for students, the quality of education will improve. Parents will be able to choose from among schools, both private and public, and funding will accompany the child through some sort of voucher system. The school that best sells its program will reap the profits of the highest enrollment. The parental-choice approach calls for applying American competitive business practices to our schools. In the business world the profitable businesses will succeed while those who cannot attract customers will go out of business or change.
Choice is a good idea, and just as doctors, lawyers and other professionals can choose their clients, so also I, as a public-school teacher, want some choice for my school. If parents can choose which school will educate their children with public funds, teachers should be able to choose which students will attend their schools.
I will choose the child whose parents are professionals. Children whose parents are unemployed or in service jobs might not be as eager to learn. Those parents might be shift workers, and that causes scheduling confusion for children.
I will choose the children who are well dressed. The kid whose clothes are dirty or whose clothes were purchased at yard sales or thrift shops won’t fit in well here.
I will choose the healthy, well-nourished children for my school. Those marginal kids, such as the child with fetal alcohol syndrome or the child who was a crack baby, can’t perform well and will bring down our test scores.
I will choose the child from the family in which only one parent has to work outside the home. I want that mom who is at home to be able to be a room mother, to be able to volunteer in class, to be able to accompany us on field trips, or to be able to come to PTA meetings.
I will choose the child who is white. Those black, brown, yellow and red kids are often underprivileged and can’t learn as well. If we have them in our school, our test scores will go down, and we can’t tolerate a decline in SAT scores.
I will choose the children without handicaps. Kids who have physical or mental disabilities need special schools or institutions. It’s too expensive to educate them.
I will choose those children who come from homes with strict discipline. Those permissive parents can take their kids somewhere else. In our school we want to know that parents support our decisions.
I will choose children from families who will take a turn serving on our book-selection committee. We want control over what our children read. Those other schools can have those liberal kids with their wild ideas and their freethinking parents. No New Age ideas will be allowed in our school. We will have prayer every day!
I will choose those children from families who limit TV watching. Kids whose entertainment and babysitter is a television have a severely limited attention span. Let other schools educate those TV kids.
I will choose those children who have not moved for at least two years. I don’t want a high turnover rate of students. That’s upsetting and it negatively affects our test scores. Children from unstable families won’t be able to keep up with our curriculum.
I will choose those children who have a home computer. We can make such great progress in computer literacy when children can do computer homework. Those kids who are computer ignorant won’t fit well into our progressive school or our progressive society.
I will choose to teach those children who show no sign of physical or sexual abuse. Those abused kids need help and counseling and they can get it somewhere else. Our school needs its money for the basics, and we can’t spend our money on counselors. Those kids can’t concentrate on their studies and, besides, they are often troublemakers. We don’t want them here.
I will choose those children who go home to caring parents. Latchkey kids who go home to empty houses are an embarrassment. Another school can take them and provide after-school activities to keep them busy each day.
I will choose those children who live pretty close to school or whose parents can drive them. If we take many of those bussed students, our transportation budget will get too high, and we might not be able to afford our computer center.
I will choose those children who are very fluent in English. In our school we won’t tolerate any of this bilingual nonsense. The American way is best, and that means English. Those other schools can teach those foreigners. We’re going to keep our schools American.
I will choose those children who went to a good preschool. Those Head Start kids can be so difficult. They can go to the other schools. Besides, those kids will be happier with their own kind.
Yes, school choice will solve our problems. It will surely make schools accountable to the taxpayers. I’m certain our school will have those high test scores which measure success in the educational world.
Oh, incidentally, the name our school has chosen is Southwest Aryan School No. 1.
