I once horrified my mother by saying that Brown V. Board of Education was one of the worst thing to ever happen to the United States. Although she should've known better she thought I was saying that desegregation was a bad idea. Well it was; at least the way it was implemented. Busing killed the neighborhood school which went a long way toward killing the neighborhood. There was a time when the local elementary school was the one place everyone in the community ended up sooner or later: all of the people of an area, whatever their church or income level or choice of recreation.
Please understand I'm not advocating a return to separate but equal." I want all children to have the opportunity to achieve their potential. But I also want a return to neighborhoods, each and with its own unique character; where the children know each other from kindergarten to senior in high school. This kind of stability is essential in a healthy society.
And this is where local rule comes in. If the funds for a school district come completely from the taxes raised in that school district the people of the district will have a much bigger say in the running of their schools. If they know that all of the money they pay in goes directly to their schools and not to the federal or even to the state government they might be willing to pay in more to get better schools, to pay the teachers a living wage, to improve infrastructure, and so on.
Going to the basic rule of no system is perfect, of course some school districts will discriminate according to race; some places will shine in teaching the poor kids, others won't bother. And that sucks but when people in those areas begin to realize that the desirable industries, the job creating businesses, don't want to locate in a place that has that kind of education and maybe have the sense to straighten the system out. If not, we need rural backwaters kind of like coastline need swamps: somewhere for all of the runoff to go.
So this is one area of daily life that should be run by the people of the school district. They should fund it, organize it, build it, and maintain it. It might be well if states maintained some funds to help districts who are poor all over but that would be the only element of outside interference.
Another advantage of this situation goes back to the idea of the states being laboratories of democracy. If every school district runs its own programs, everyone does things their own way and we get just about every way possible to educate kids being tried. That can only be a good thing.
Love to hear what you think!
Please understand I'm not advocating a return to separate but equal." I want all children to have the opportunity to achieve their potential. But I also want a return to neighborhoods, each and with its own unique character; where the children know each other from kindergarten to senior in high school. This kind of stability is essential in a healthy society.
And this is where local rule comes in. If the funds for a school district come completely from the taxes raised in that school district the people of the district will have a much bigger say in the running of their schools. If they know that all of the money they pay in goes directly to their schools and not to the federal or even to the state government they might be willing to pay in more to get better schools, to pay the teachers a living wage, to improve infrastructure, and so on.
Going to the basic rule of no system is perfect, of course some school districts will discriminate according to race; some places will shine in teaching the poor kids, others won't bother. And that sucks but when people in those areas begin to realize that the desirable industries, the job creating businesses, don't want to locate in a place that has that kind of education and maybe have the sense to straighten the system out. If not, we need rural backwaters kind of like coastline need swamps: somewhere for all of the runoff to go.
So this is one area of daily life that should be run by the people of the school district. They should fund it, organize it, build it, and maintain it. It might be well if states maintained some funds to help districts who are poor all over but that would be the only element of outside interference.
Another advantage of this situation goes back to the idea of the states being laboratories of democracy. If every school district runs its own programs, everyone does things their own way and we get just about every way possible to educate kids being tried. That can only be a good thing.
Love to hear what you think!
