Someone wrote "OSS is the harshest penalty which a public school can impose. That it is looked upon as a "day off" speaks volumes about the way our society takes for granted the amazing concept of a free and public education and how parents view it as well. "Back in the day" if you got kicked out of school you got worked hard at home during the "time off." "
My response to that is that school isn't free. And because some people look at it like that could explain why our education system is in such a mess, and we are not able to see that vouchers are a good thing. School choice is a good thing. Competition amongst schools is a good thing.
Doug,
Our public school system is free. Granted our tax dollars pay for it, but everyone is afforded the right to an education regardless of whether they pay much in taxes or not. In my opinion that is what has made America the greatest country in the world, and it does say something that many consider a day of OSS as a day off.
Vouchers are just another way of saying we are taking the money the public is paying in taxes and taking that from the public schools and giving it to a private, usually faith oriented, school. These schools are not required by law to provide the same opportunities to physically or mentally disabled students as are public schools. They are also not required to take the same assessments or be in compliance with No Child Left Behind in anyway.
These private schools could pick and choose who they let in- in effect they could choose to only take the best and brightest, all at the tax payers expense if vouchers were introduced. This does not seem like a level playing field to compete on. I don't disagree that Competition is bad, but the competition should be on a level playing field. I say that if a Private school were to accept vouchers (public money), then they should have no right to refuse who they let in- just like a public school. If they want to collect public money, make them meet every requirement that the public schools must meet in order to get that same money. That would be a level field of competition.
