I recently read an article about how Iowa might be rethinking its \u201cred\u201d politics since MAGA policies took effect. One major crisis seems to be in education where public schools are closing leaving some rural areas high and dry. Apparently, this is the case since the legislature began giving $8,000 per student toward school choice. Defunding public education in favor of promoting private schools strikes me as dumb.<\/p>\n
The term \u201cgovernment schools\u201d is a pejorative used by conservatives and libertarians to deride public education, suggesting all government as being bad, i..e. referring to something as being \u201cgood enough for government work.\u201d I have a doctrinaire Libertarian friend who revels in deriding public education, though he has enjoyed a successful career despite his public school education.<\/p>\n
I really don\u2019t understand the outright anger and contempt exhibited toward public schools. Libertarians and right-wing Republicans have repeated their contempt so often that it has become \u201ctruth\u201d much in the same way that they demonize political opponents or voice the myth that the private sector ALWAYS does things better.<\/p>\n
The tragedy is that public schools have been one of America\u2019s great success stories. Access to education for everyone, regardless of wealth or social standing, has created a literate and educated citizenry unmatched by most countries. Public schools help make democracy possible by giving people a stake in the community and in the education of their children. And in doing so, they help broaden the middle class so important for democratic republics.<\/p>\n
There is a proper role for private schools, but not at the cost of public education. To date our strong mix of private and public education has always served us well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I recently read an article about how Iowa might be rethinking its \u201cred\u201d politics since MAGA policies took effect. One major crisis seems to be in education where public schools are closing leaving some rural areas high and dry. Apparently, this is the case since the legislature began giving $8,000 per student toward school choice….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"\n