Summer CE Week #2: “Commentary: McCain right, Obama wrong on school vouchers”
By Roland S. Martin
CNN Contributor
Join Roland Martin for his weekly sound-off segment on CNN.com Live at 11:10 a.m. Thursday. If you’re passionate about politics, he wants to hear from you.
ACCRA, Ghana (CNN) — “All I want is for my children to get the best education they can.”
That statement, along with so many others, has been a consistent one that I’ve heard on my radio show and in discussions with parents for years, especially those whose children are stuck in inner-city schools with decrepit buildings and a lack of critical resources.
And for the past 20 years, one of the most talked-about solutions for parents stuck in dead-end, failing schools is to give them the option to use vouchers to send their children someplace where they could get a quality education.
Republicans have made vouchers a linchpin of their education overhaul initiatives. Democrats have steadfastly refused, saying it would take vital dollars out of the public school system.
This year’s presidential candidates are lining up right along with their parties. Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee, says vouchers are the right way to go to give parents an option for a better education, while Sen. Barack Obama says the GOP has talked and talked about vouchers, and it hasn’t amounted to much more.
But part of the reason why vouchers have been denounced and dismissed is because Democrats have been far too obstinate on the issue, and have not listened to their constituents, especially African-Americans, who overwhelmingly support vouchers.
There is no doubt that on this issue, McCain has it right and Obama has it wrong.
The fundamental problem with the voucher debate is that it is always seen as an either/or proposition. For Republicans, it is the panacea to all the educational woes, and that is nonsensical. For Democrats, it is something that will destroy public education, and that too is a bunch of crap.
I fundamentally believe that vouchers are simply one part of the entire educational pie. There simply is no one sure-fire way to educate a child. We’ve seen public schools do a helluva job — I went to them from K through college — and so have private schools, home schooling, charter schools and even online initiatives. This is the kind of innovation we need, not more efforts to prevent a worthy idea from moving forward.
Obama’s opposition is right along the lines of the National Education Association, and the teachers union is a reliable and powerful Democratic ally. But this is one time where he should have opposed them and made it clear that vouchers can force school districts, administrators and teachers to shape up or see their students ship out.
It is unconscionable to ask a parent to watch as his child is stuck in a failing school or district, and ask him to bank on a politician coming up with more funds to improve the situation. Fine, call vouchers a short-term solution to a long-term problem, but I’d rather have a child getting the best education — now — rather than having to hope and pray down the line.
McCain and Obama have presented comprehensive education plans, and those are noble. But leaving out vouchers does a tremendous disservice to the parents who are fed up with deplorable schools, and allows school districts to operate with impunity and without any real competition.
Roland S. Martin is an award-winning journalist and CNN contributor. He is the author of “Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith.” Please visit his Web site at http://www.rolandsmartin.com/
This article was suggested by R. Damiano.
I think school vouchers have both good and bad aspects. They are a short term fix on the crumbling public education system, and many times make solutions to the problem even harder to accomplish. But vouchers will help students in inner-city schools who need better education now, and will help these children down the road in their education. They will also show these children that people do care about their education and schools are willing to help them get a better education.
But then there is the bad aspect of school vouchers. Firstly, they are a short-term solution for a long-term problem. For the past decade more and more public schools are failing to give children the education they need. Many students are pushed from one grade to the next without the proper education they will need once they have graduated. But why hasn’t anybody done something to help these failing schools? The simple answer is many people don’t care. As long as their children attend the best school, who cares about what happens to inner-city children. What people don’t seem to realize is that if these children are given the education they deserve many of them will get successful jobs and have hope for their future, rather than selling drugs or joining gangs. If we want to see change and give hope to these children, the public school system needs to be adjusted. Rather than giving large amounts of funds to top schools, they money needs to be distributed evenly between all schools. This may mean cutting some sports activities or after school clubs, but if this means more children get a better education then so be it. Secondly, the children that get sent to better schools could be treated differently than children already attending these schools. Many teachers today assume that children from inner-city schools are dumb and have no need to attend school. If this is the way these children will be treated, then they should stay in the school they are attending. ADJUST THE SCHOOL SYSTEM SO IT IS BALANCED! THIS COULD SOLVE THE PROBLEM!
I have to agree with some aspects of McCain’s reasoning, because these children could have a better education today and not have to wait down the road when it is too late. But I also have to agree with Obama, because vouchers seem like a short-term solution to a long-term problem. If vouchers were allowed, then action to adjust the public school system also needs to be put into play. You can’t install one solution and ignore other ways to fix the problem. These tools need to go hand in hand. We say that we care about the education of children, but then leave some behind! The public education system needs an overhaul, and it needs to happen right now!
I’m really not sure if I am for or against vouchers to allow a student to change their school.
I could see how the vouchers would work as an immediate positive for the student by moving them into a school district that is acceptable to the parent. But what happens in the long run? The school that the child left loses some funding from the loss of the student. Then they are stuck hiring teachers that will work for the lower wages, probably teachers that are less qualified or were fired for not fulfilling their duties and would take any job.
Then more and more kids leave that school, until the school is completely gone altogether. Then the tax dollars that should go to improving the schools go to shipping the kids from an unacceptable school to a school with better standards. This may loose the education system a hefty amount of funds in order to do this.
But then again, vouchers will make the schools more competitive and they will, in theory, work harder to keep the students there and keep their funding. So then that school transforms from a terrible school to an elite school and everyone is happy… Only if the world was that perfect. For this to work, you have to bank on the teachers’ willingness to improve their methods (with pay cuts) to keep students in their districts.
So, in all honesty, I am very unsure if the voucher idea would be a good idea in the long run. (No quote, hard subject)
I disagree with the author that there is a clear and simple answer to the voucher question. Handing out vouchers to all students in struggling and underfunded districts would cause those schools to crumble and disappear. At the same time, all young people deserve the opportunity to get the best education available. I think it would be best to try to find a middle ground. The schools that are struggling the most should be priority schools when it comes to distributing public funds. That would help bring inner-city schools up to standard. To provide some immediate help to students currently stuck in underfunded schools, a limited number of vouchers could be distributed. Districts could distribute as many vouchers as possible while ensuring that enough students remained to keep the struggling schools afloat. I am not saying that I have all the answers. I cannot think if a fair way to decide which students should receive vouchers and which should be condemned to stay in schools that would likely keep them from reaching their full potentials. If the government chose to use this method, should the vouchers be based on intelligence or effort, potential or need, desperation or determination? I honestly cannot say. All that I know is that it seems very naïve to say that there is any simple solution to such a complex problem.