quote:

Here’s the Game Plan — Not Just for Parents, Either
1. If you have kids or plan to have kids, get your finances in order so you can fund your school choices. It’s not as hard as you might think, although it might require cutting cable, paying down your debt, or choosing a smaller mortgage. Helping your children flourish is absolutely worth it. You would do this for their physical health, wouldn’t you? Their spiritual and mental health is far more important. Your family spending should reflect that. Here are two good resources to get you on track.

2. If you have kids, pull them from public school and enroll them in something better. If there is nothing better, make something better, and get other families to help. If your only or preferred option is homeschooling, this and this are good, off-the-shelf and reliable places to start. Here’s another if you want to do more curricula selection yourself.

3. If you don’t have kids, help fund private education for a family you know or through your church. I would start with those closest to me — family members, close friends, church members — and work my way out.

4. If you are a religious lay or clerical leader, arrange for your church to publicly discuss why educating children in the faith deserves serious personal and institutional financial support. Perhaps start a book club to discuss these issues using Hasson and Farnan’s book. Make it standard that your church helps all member families attend private religious schools.

5. If there are no high-quality private schools in your area, and you have enough determination, collect several other parents and local leaders to discuss starting a new, high-quality religious school, either in the traditional full-day or one of the many hybrid models that can lower costs (all models have advantages and disadvantages — that’s something for local communities to decide).

6. Everyone should call his state representatives right now and demand bigger, better school choice programs. Here is an overview of what is already available in your state, but all existing programs have lots of room for improvement. You can get your lawmakers’ contact info right here.

7. Get on the emailing list for an in-state organization that supports private school choice and lobbies your state lawmakers on that issue. Respond when they issue calls to action or hold events. You can find those at the State Policy Network, or through state affiliates of the American Family Association, Heritage Action, Home School Legal Defense Association (homeschooling only, natch), and Americans for Prosperity.

8. If you are a lawmaker or work with them, propose this bill and work to get colleagues’ support. At the very least, force them to take votes on the record for or against it.

9. Federal policy makers, your role is to cut the U.S. Department of Education so local communities once again control their public schools. Federal school choice plans will only create a Death Star by which activists can nuke all private options by capturing one target. Here’s your gameplan.

10. If you are involved in local political or community organizations, propose that they hold an event about school choice, perhaps if fitting with a book talk about what’s inside Farnan and Hasson’s book. Have everyone, while at the event, email their representatives to demand they pass or expand school choice.

11. If you want to develop your ability to understand what comprises a good education and why, so you can make better education and political choices, start here with Hillsdale College’s free online class (scroll down): “A Proper Understanding of K-12 Education: Theory and Practice.”

12. Political campaigns, parties, and donors should make tangible, demonstrated support for genuine school choice a litmus test for candidates and a lack thereof a reason to primary incumbents.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
What if the public schools are good?

When we had kids we had to choose between having my wife stay at home with the kids and having them go to public schools or having my wife work and send them to private schools. We toured the local public and private options and felt very happy with the public school system so we choose to have her quit and stay at home so that she could help supplement any areas we felt they needed assistance in. My neighbors have kids the same age as ours and went the private school route which required both parents to work full time. Based on the outcome at grades 6 and 4 I am very happy with our choice.

Every parent should take their kids education seriously. And everyone should take the time to explore every option, including public schools. Anyone who assumes that their local public schools are bad simply because of what they have heard about other public school systems is an idiot.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
What if the public schools are good?

When we had kids we had to choose between having my wife stay at home with the kids and having them go to public schools or having my wife work and send them to private schools. We toured the local public and private options and felt very happy with the public school system so we choose to have her quit and stay at home so that she could help supplement any areas we felt they needed assistance in. My neighbors have kids the same age as ours and went the private school route which required both parents to work full time. Based on the outcome at grades 6 and 4 I am very happy with our choice.

Every parent should take their kids education seriously. And everyone should take the time to explore every option, including public schools. Anyone who assumes that their local public schools are bad simply because of what they have heard about other public school systems is an idiot.

So should anyone assume the public schools are good just because we hear from you?

quote:

And everyone should take the time to explore every option...

quote:

These numbers would surely plummet if more parents actually knew what was happening in their kids’s public schools.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:


Too many are getting through schools illterate, or effectively so. Somewhere, there is a problem. Some of us suspect it is systemic fault and believe that different approach would improve results.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

Both our boys will be getting home schooled.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

I've come to believe over time that if you have a 'good' public school in your area, regardless the level, it will eventually transition to mediocre and then to bad.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Many people place their kids in public schools because they can’t afford private schools. It’s no secret that private educated students are better educated and not indoctrinated like public school students.

And requiring people to pay the school tax when their children are privately educated is robbery, plain and simple.