School Choice--Charter Schools Chart Major Gains

During a recent debate with John McCain before the election, Barack Obama made the statement that he is against 'school choice' as a means to provide competition to failing public schools.

Instead, Obama pointed to D.C.'s Charter School program as a major success story.

McCain replied that the director of D.C.'s Charter Schools program supports the concept of school choice.

And why wouldn't he? Deciding to send one's children to a Charter School instead of a traditional public school is a choice parents make to improve the quality of education their children receive.

In California, for example, Charter Schools are outperforming traditional public schools among the state's poor.

Charter Schools are public schools that are run by independent nonprofit groups rather than the various state educational systems. These schools emphasize the basics of math and English and give the students all the tools necessary to succeed.

Public schools, by contrast, tend to view students in poor areas as victims. That very simple difference in perspective makes all the difference in how students perform. Children from poor families tend to have a strong, innate desire to succeed, despite commonly accepted educational dogma.

According to the California Charter Schools Association, 12 of the 15 top performing schools in the state that serve children in poverty are Charter Schools.

With the multiplicity of problems facing traditional public schools that seem to be failing the nation's poverty-stricken children, Charter Schools are one way to address those problems.

2 Plus 2 Equals 5--Says 'Reform Math'

Washington, DC (TLS). Throw out all you know about exact science, precise mathematical calculations, and right and wrong answers. In 'Reform' math, all you need is an 'approximation' rather than a precisely correct answer.

Thus, 2 plus 2 DOES, in fact, equal 5, approximately speaking.

This balderdash is what your kids and grand-kids are being taught in public schools across the nation. And some parents are up in arms.

Some are even taking matters into their own hands after being mortified by the shocking lack of knowledge their children exhibit concerning basic mathematical equations. More than a few parents are charging that the Reform Math is causing their children to miss the boat on tests and college entrance exams.

No wonder the United States continues to lag behind other industrialized nations in math and science skills.

Apparently the government-run public school system continues to fail our nation's youth by dumbing down the requirements and skills needed to function in the real world. When I go to the local restaurant, I don't want the cashier giving me 'approximately' the correct change. Nor do I wish for the government's confiscation program otherwise known as the IRS to shortchange my refund as long as they can claim it was 'approximately close' to what they owe me.

Unless this nation begins to mandate certain basic skills that ALL school children must learn in order to graduate, then I am afraid that with super-powers like China looming on the scene, whose citizens run circles around Americans in math and science, the U.S. is headed for the ash-heap of irrelevance on the world stage.

Vast Ignorance of American History

Washington, DC (TLS). For one reason or another, the United States has produced a generation or two of persons who exhibit a vast ignorance of American history. This is partly due to the dumbing down of the U.S. educational system, which is reluctant to reward students on the basis of merit for the fear of harming their 'self-esteem.'

At any rate, vast numbers of Americans are woefully ignorant of our nation's history, the nature of its form of government and how that government is supposed to work, and the importance of the private sector in American life--including the importance of private property and private, free enterprise.

Today there are many out there who are all too willing to exploit this ignorance for either ill-gotten gain or for subversive purposes.

Walter Williams exposes these charlatans in this eye-opening article:
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams041807.php3