Monday, January 05, 2009
The Situation Room
Presuming all goes well and I'm not bumped for someone more photogenic and/or an international crisis of some kind, I'll be on CNN's The Situation Room today between 4:15 and 4:45, where they're using Malia and Sasha Obama's first day of school as an excuse to talk about the DC public schools they won't be attending, why said schools are so bad, Michelle Rhee, etc. CNN didn't ask but in case anyone's wondering I think the Obamas are perfectly justified in sending their children to the best schools they're able to find and afford. I also hope that they and the many other political and business leaders in Washington DC who are similarly fortunate feel a commensurate special responsibility to help give all of DC's schoolchildren the opportunity to attend a public school of similar high quality.
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3 comments:
It's very special to be President, and it's important to protect his kids as best we can--they should go wherever that can be achieved and they really are not like most kids. But those who actually administer public school systems ought to be required to use them. I believe that would induce immediate and worthwhile changes, rather than endless finger-pointing.
And the fact is, as State Senator, Obama chose to send his kids to private school. If I'm not mistaken, he then selected the guy who administered the schools that weren't good enough for his kids to be US Secretary of Education. We lead by example, and that's far from the best I've seen.
Why limit the right of families to choose the school that best meets their child's needs to the government-run sector? The money should follow the child and be free to be used at whatever school the family decides upon- whether that's a traditional government-run one, a charter, a religious-affiliated one, or a secular private school.
Our country already does this for college students in the form of Pell Grants. The overwhelming majority are used at public colleges and universities but if a student wants to use it to help him/her attend an elite private one (the higher education equivalent of a Sidwell Friends), than that's his/her prerogative.
I'm fine with him sending his kids wherever he wants.
What I'd like to know is why did he choose a school with a teaching philosophy that is 180 degrees from the schools he is championing for others? Why isn't a non-competitive, arts-rich education, free from high-stakes standardized tests good for his kids AND all American kids?
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