It’s that time of the year…
Back to school season, that is. And back to school season means lots of news about education.
A few more headlines worth a read:
From the Washington Post: Age-Old Problem, Perpetually Absent Solution: Fitting Special Education to Students’ Needs
Here we go again. Is there an alternative, some innovative way to help kids like Miguel? Special education vouchers? Charter schools for the learning disabled? The old way is rutted, bumpy and slow. It is not taking us very far. We need something new.
From Baugh Humbug!: International Support for DC School Choice
In a surprise demonstration, representatives from the four corners of the world distributed pamphlets to passers-by in the China Town area of Washington DC.
With the principles of human rights and individual liberty as their foundation, five volunteers from Turkey, Mexico, Afghanistan, Argentina, and Maine and New Mexico, USA met in the early morning with Virginia Walden Ford, Executive Director of DC Parents for School Choice, a grassroots organization working to prevent the end of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program.
From In the Lobby: Could School Choice Impact the Race?
Could school choice and education reform be the issue that shakes loose some traditional Democratic constituencies?Both independent Chris Daggett and Republican Chris Christie clearly think so.Both have come out for school choice, vouchers and more charter schools. Daggett goes farther and wants to abolish tenure.That puts the two candidates in the same camp as a group of urban parents, politicians and ministers who are fighting for better education in city schools. It also puts them at odds with the NJEA and Gov. Corzine, who oppose school choice.
How can we give working families genuine choice in education? Choice exists for those blessed with talent or geography or wealth, but for most it’s an illusion. Even where alternatives are available, they’re either carbon copy comps (maybe with a superficial ’specialism’ in drama) or religious schools requiring regular church attendance until your kid’s ‘confirmed’. The traditional Labour response is “we’ll make all schools excellent so all kids get the best education possible”. The madness of this mantra is never unpacked and curiously, no costs or timescales for achieving ‘excellence everywhere’ are ever given. It amounts to “don’t rock the state school boat, the model’s not changing”. “Education, education, education” was New Labour’s mission; it’s a pity we never discussed how to deliver on it.
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[...] As we mentioned yesterday, back-to-school time means education is making headlines. A few more for your consideration today: [...]