Presidential Choice
Jay Mathews looks at the educational options the Obamas have for schools in their new home town and wonders whether they should go public or private.
My recommendation? Private.
Their daughters will likely be spending eight years of their educational life in the city* and, although Mathews tries to make the best case possible for a few selected public and charter schools in the District, the reality is that the entire system is a crapshoot.
In any case, I hope the next president will work hard to improve public schools in DC (and everywhere else) but as a parent, he and Michelle should decide based on what’s best for their kids, not for the sake of politics.
Yes, that is school choice and, no, it does not conflict with my opposition to vouchers in many rants from the past.
Parents should have a great deal of involvement as to which school their child attends, a fully informed and educated decision.
However, it’s the public school system that should provide the options from which they would choose, offering multiple learning programs based on the differing needs and learning styles of the kids.
School choice should be a fundamental part of public education.
* Yes, I’m being optimistic!
I read this article last evening and I think I agree with you. The girls already attend a private school in Chicago. It also occurred to me that maybe they didn’t need “school” since their lives in the White House with a father as President will offer lots of learning opportunities. Seems a shame to send them off to a classroom each morning.
Thanks for the post. I agree that the Obama’s should be able to choose and I don’t think that conflicts with a position against vouchers. For one, being the kid of a president is unique and should end all discussion right there.
Second, the problem with vouchers as they are advocated is to 1. leave the poorest of the poor behind and 2. to give my tax money to religious schools.
It’s no accident that much of the voucher movement comes from the religious minded, who want Christian schools and want us to pay for them.
I do think there should be more thinking on the issue, however. I taught in DC public for a while and was horrified by the waste and fraud. Our poor deserve better.
PS – I linked to your post in my post on the same subject today at http://current.pic.tv/2008/11/12/school-choice-for-obama
There is another consideration beyond the purely educational one, where a president’s kids are concerned, and that is which school is best equipped to handle the necessary security without disrupting the whole school and the learning of all the students. There are only a couple of schools in DC that have had to deal with that in years gone by.