[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> It has long been my understanding (though I am no expert yet) that
> vouchers are supposed to be all or part of the amount a public school
> would get per student. If this is the case, then how would a voucher
> program "divert funds" unjustly?
>
> Let me explain: say my child goes to public school A, and I decide it's
> a rotten place. The next year, I enroll him/her in public school B. Due
> to the change in enrollment numbers, school B is now allocated the funds
> which were, the year before, going to school A for my kid. Would this
> scenario be so bad? I think that's the whole concept of vouchers in a
> nutshell - except that we have to monkey around more with with the
> process of moving funds between a public and private school.
Here's a possible scenario: my kid is extremely bright, she's not getting
what she needs from public school. I think she belongs at St. Paul Academy
where she will not only get academics, but will rub elbows with kids from
wealthy and middle class homes. With a voucher, she can't even come close to
the amount it would take to not only go to the school she needs, but take
part in that social life. She's also an African-American Muslim. We live on
a fixed, very small income. What good is a voucher to my kid who needs not
only good academics, but access? To say that vouchers will even touch the
poor in any real was is mouse poop. To say that poor kids, even more than
other kids, need access to the resources of a private school education, is to
state the obvious.
Therefore, vouchers are not meant to make different public schools accessable
to a wider group of students, but to pull middle class kids from the public
schools to the private ones, therefore pulling money out of the public schhol
system and away from my kid and all the other kids like her. Why would I
support the privileges of the middle class and wealthy against the needs of
my own child? That would be way dumb.
Wizard Marks
>
>
> Additionally, the claim that vouchers "doom poor families... with an
> inordinate burden of payments," is symptomatic of the elitism which so
> deeply permeates contemporary "liberal" thought. Would you tell me that
> an appliance shop down the street will doom ME in such a way? Of course
> not! If I can't afford a new jen-aire washing machine, I simply will not
> buy it.
>
> Poverty does not equal stupidity, nor irresponsibility, nor does it
> denote bad parenting. I believe (as an inner-city resident with an
> income WAY below the so-called poverty level) that vouchers would be an
> incredible asset to working families (especially minorities) who
> currently have mediocre choice for the means by which their children are
> educated. I personally know of many in my neighborhood that agree.
>
> Connie Sheppard
> Ward 6 - Ventura Village
>
> On Fri, 3 Nov 2000 22:03:30 -0600 [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> > In a message dated 11/3/00 6:11:15 PM Central Standard Time,
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> >
> > << The problem with vouchers go beyond the concerns raised by Stack
> > to one
> > simple
> > fact: they don't work to help students. >>
> >
> > After discussing this subject with a very interesting MPS
> > Psychologist
> > Thursday evening, I reviewed statistics that inevitably lead me to
> > conclude
> > that she was rightfully concerned with the use of vouchers as they
> > do more
> > harm than good. In short, my research indicates that the voucher
> > program
> > diverts needed funds from the very schools and students who need it
> > most.
> > More importantly, it further dooms poor families and their students
> > with an
> > inordinate burden of payments that the families cannot afford. Thank
> > you Ms.
> > Park Avenue for such gentle persuasion and insight into this
> > problem.
> > And...........a DFL'r with whom I agree. Strange bedfellows??
> >
> > Robert Anderson
> > Minneapolis
> > Independence Candidate, House 61B
>
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