School Vouchers

[AEPhiSierra]

I went to Stuyvesant and the school is successful in spite of the board of ed not because of it. I actually almost got into an argument with a girl in my anthropology class that refused to believe Stuy got less money. In order to pay for all the great things stuy had we were constantly obsessed with fundraising. Our musicals and plays supported a lot of the student activities. Their was an annual phoneathon asking every parent in the school to give money. Last week I attended a gala that charged $250 - $1000 a plate raising money for the school. The fact is stuyvesant succeeds b/c the students and parents demand it.

I believe that if everyone demanded a quality education they would get one but they don't. We say we want better schools but no one really stands behind it on election day. One of my sisters is in her second year teaching at a NYC public school and she has all these rules about miniscule little things from how to sort her classroom library to what should be posted on bulletin boards. They think these reforms will make a difference but the only thing that will is more money and smaller classes. these teachers know what they are doing but how do you teach classes of 25-35 students most of whom are below grade level in reading. you simply can't give student the attention they need to succeed.

I have always been conflicted about vouchers especially since they often involve religous schools but you have to look at this from the side of desperate parents. It easy to say they should be spending the money on fixing the schools instead but is it really fair short change children in that environment until the gov't finally does fix things. While in theory there is school choice income dictates where people live and lower income areas have worse schools. In addition every year some students applying to new york city high schools (a proccess almost as complicated as applying to college) get rejected from all the high schools they apply to and often are placed in less desirable schools as a result.

I believe unless the govt can provide all students a proper education in the public schools they should be reqired to offer an alternative.

This whole discussion makes me think of a great quote: "It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."