LETTER OF THE DAY
Thanks but no thanks. An interesting LttE:
The following letter-to-the-editor was submitted today to the Nevada Appeal in Caron City:
Dear Editor,
A front-page story in the Ocober 26 edition of the Nevada Appeal noted that “$78 million in state money will go to Nevada schools that propose innovative approaches to improving student performance.” Another story on Page 5 reported on complaints about the size of kindergarten classes at Seeliger Elementary. Allow me to suggest how to kill both birds with one stone.
Take a portion of that $78 million dedicated to finding an innovative way to improve student performance and, instead of merely “tolerating” home schooling, use that money to ENCOURAGE more parents to choose that alternative. Indeed, the state should PAY home-school parents an amount similar to what it’s now paying to outsource education to poorly-performing government schools.
Study after study, test after test – not mention spelling bee after spelling bee – shows that home-schooled children, on average, perform considerably better academically than their government schooled brethren. And the home school option also addresses complaints from teachers about the lack of parental involvement in their kids’ education. How much more involved can you be than by doing it yourself?
Now here’s the second benefit. Let’s say 10 parents from that class of 27 Seeliger kindergartners took advantage of the home-school option. Bingo! Automatic class-size reduction. And it won’t cost the state one dime more.
Of course, educrats will object, saying that if you remove those 10 “cream-of-the-crop” students, all you’ll have left in the public schools will be the average and mediocre students. Hello? Those students were ALREADY in the classroom. Now, with 10 fewer students, teachers can give those 17 the additional time, help and attention they deserve. And maybe, just maybe, fewer of those 17 will fall through the educational cracks and will actually be able to read their diplomas when they graduate.
The public schools aren’t broke. They’re broken. It’s time for some serious “out-of-the-box” thinking. Promoting, expanding and funding, rather than discouraging, home-schooling is just the ticket. Public EDUCATION does not and should not necessarily mean public SCHOOLS. It doesn’t take a PhD to see the abundant benefits to ALL of our kids by giving choice a chance. So let it be written; so let it be done.
Chuck Muth
President
Citizen Outreach
The schools may indeed be broken, but paying folks to home educate would only manage to break us, too. Keep your tax dollars and leave us alone.
One Response to “LETTER OF THE DAY”
 Comment by maryalice October 29th, 2005 at 10:51 am |
The best encouragement is freedom from government intervention and control. |