I’m With Juan On This
Juan Williams is spot on with this post on President Obama’s signing the omnibus spending bill that eliminates school vouchers for DC school children. I said in this post that that provision in the omnibus bill was Democrat David Obey’s telling DC’s underprivileged children that “It’s for the unions.” That’s totally unacceptable. Here’s Juan’s take on the matter:
But over the last week I find myself in a fury.
The cause of my upset is watching the key civil rights issue of this generation, improving big city public school education, get tossed overboard by political gamesmanship. If there is one goal that deserves to be held above day-to-day partisanship and pettiness of ordinary politics, it is the effort to end the scandalous poor level of academic achievement and abysmally high drop-out rates for America’s black and Hispanic students.
This is critical to our nation’s future in terms of workforce preparation to compete in a global economy but also to fulfill the idea of racial equality by providing a real equal opportunity for all young people who are willing to work hard to succeed.
It’s impossible to disagree with Juan on this. I, too, was filled with outrage when I read about Obey’s putting the NEA’s interest ahead of DC’s underprivileged youth. If there’s anything worth getting fighting mad about, that’s it. If our politicians are willing to throw underprivileged children aside to earn brownie points (and campaign contributions) from the NEA, then that’s a relationship that must be destroyed. PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE!!!
As a nation, we say that the three inalienable rights given to us by our Creator are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. By telling DC’s underprivileged children that they’ll have to try and learn in violence-riddled schools, Democrat David Obey is telling them that two-thirds of their God-given rights don’t apply to them.
Nobody in their right mind would argue that keeping DC’s underprivileged children in violence-riddled schools is helping them. Anyone arguing that would get laughed out of a thoughtful discussion on the issue.
I don’t often take a moral stance on political issues but I’ll make this the exception. Depriving these children of a chance to have a life-changing education is EVIL!!! It isn’t just bad policy. It isn’t just throwing people under the bus for political contributions. IT’S EVIL!!!
David Obey would do well to backtrack on this issue. The NEA, if it wants to have more than 8 percent support, had better change directions on this. This isn’t change I can believe in. It’s change I’m liable to start bitch-slapping people over, starting with David Obey.
We The People DEMAND that underprivileged children have their basic needs met. If David Obey or other elitists attempt to prevent children from getting a basic need provided, that’s where a moral society has the affirmative responsibility and the duty to meet these children’s needs.
According to Juan’s post, the DC Voucher program was working:
What happened, according to a Department of Education study, is that after three years the voucher students scored 3.7 months higher on reading than students who remained in the D.C. schools. In addition, students who came into the D.C. voucher program when it first started had a 19 month advantage in reading after three years in private schools.
To me, this study is a great argument for a total transformation of education policy. That’s a total no-brainer. It’s unforgiveable that the NEA dictates ecucation policy to Congress. They represent the teachers, not the entire education system. Presumably, each congresscritter represents children in his/her district. It’s these congresscritters’s responsibility to be the children’s voice in DC.
This is the type of thing that’s causing the tea parties. People are getting upset that Congress isn’t looking out for the folks, the innocents or for the most vulnerable. If Congress won’t do what’s right on this important issue, then we’ll have to retire the people sentencing these children to a failed school system.
That’s the only option in a just nation.
Technorati Tags: Education, Juan Williams, Vouchers, Scholarships, Achievement, Testing, Accountability, Reform, David Obey, President Obama, Teachers Union, Obstructionists, Democrats
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:50 am
this is business as usually for congress especially for the democrats, they always have put the special interest groups, their supports the money, above the people that elect them to congress. It will be interesting to see how the district votes in the next election.