My school was the best public school in the county, and if I had children, I would not send them there.

What's wrong with American public schools today?

Security
Safety
Discipline
Competence of the Teachers
Education in General.

"This druken so-called president is already starting to ruin American schools." Typical liberal commentary. Please back up your childish insults next time with some evidence or first hand experience.

Oh, and by the way, he isn't the "so-called president" - he is the president.

Check the following link if you don't believe me:

http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/20/inaugural.wrap/index.html

=)

-Warik

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BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!!!

Also, failing schools will have several years to "get it together" or face revocation of federal funds and issuance of vouchers to parents of children from failing schools.

In theory, anyway, this will eliminate failing schools.

I did not vote for either of them, Gore or Bush. Nader myself, as he has never screwed the American people.

Hope for a better president next time, or least canidates that are more interesting and know their shit.

He fired all teachers and principles that were doing a half assed job and kept firing until he found reliable people to perform the job. Hopefully he will do this with the rest of America cause he was the only superintendant in Houston's history who improved the school system greatly. I have high hopes for America's schools

Do you know anything about your opinion or are you just pissed off that Gore didn't win???

Yeah I know your going to say. He became President. Yes, thanks mainly to his father. Thanks in large part to the 35 million his father helped generate for his campaign. He beat Al Gore didn't he? Yeah and so could I... Al has no common sense and believes himself a Genius, the worst kind of asshole there is.

The heart of the problem is our educational system is designed to service the main stream nuclear family of the 1950 � 1960�s America. This basic family unit is without a doubt undertaken a huge transformation in the past 40 years. The first wave was the latch key kids with mothers going to work, the next wave was the divorce generation with children moving around a lot. Next came the generation of disenfranchised kids who are so disconnected from the �American Dream� that is still crammed down their throats by the educational system they have rebelled with violence. Why try to work for something better when that is what Mom and Dad did and they are miserable and hate each other and everything. Our educational, support systems are woefully lacking in people skilled to handle these issues of modern life and should our system be set up.

What�s the solution, how about programs for at risk children? This is what the privatized institutions would have to do and in order for them to succeed and meet any criteria set forth by any form of review organization.

Excellent point about the schools being tailored to a no longer existing (in many places) family unit.

Yes, Bush is a product of private schools, but pointing out that he appears not to be a man of superb intellect is not really a valid criticism.

If he had gone to public schools, would he be even less articulate, or less well-educated? Probably. Not every product of private schools will be a supremely educated person.

The never ending supply of government funding has created an environment of no accountability among teahcers and administrators.

Forcing that by withholding federal funds may not be the cure-all. The system is too flawed for a quick-fix. But it without a doubt a step in the right direction.

On a personal note, I've gone to public school, a local private school, even a New England boarding school. Long Island public schools are among the nation's best. But I can tell you without a doubt that the private schools were far superior. Their mandate was simple - if I don't do well, I won't come back. So the teachers actually were active nbot only in the classroom, but after school with activities....

Is it fair for someone from one school to have his learning experience ruined because the teacher has to re-teach all the work to some kids because they weren't properly taught at their old school?

If you pay less in taxes will you be able to go to a school in which homeowners of that community pay higher taxes?

This will get really inetresting the first time there's a school shooting involving a kid with a voucher.

I grew up in a middle class white town. If someone from the next town over even walked through our town there'd be a fight. My town was nothing compared to half the towns in America and we still had a "bad-ass" mentality. Mixing kids from difefrent schools together is not a bright idea.

Why not fix the bad schools instead of abandoning them?

The single most important factor in a childs ability to learn is the participation of his parents. Parents that help them, and make them do there homework, that offer them more things to learn than just what is at school.

In my new neighborhood I believe the school there is probably one of the best in the state private or public. It is public. My 9 year old is attending an after school algebra class for 4 weeks. How many parents would have their child do this?

Money will help with the technology issues in school and the supply problems, but beyond that it cannot help.

A true teacher, one that cares about her/his students will teach because they care not because of their salary. Yes, they should be paid more, but also held to higher standards.

Too many schools have fallen victim to the politically correct system that teaches kids how to rebel against authority figures (but that is another chapter)

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At my signal unleash hell.

Strength and Honor

That's a valid point. As a personal example, Long Island residents pay the highest property taxes in the country, and we have the highest paid teachers in the country. The schools are excellent. So understandably, there will be considerable resistance when city kids (read: minorities) start showing up in these all white, wealthy neighborhoods.

Fixing bad schools sounds good in theory but it is almost unworkable. When Bush (or any politician) talks about bad schools, they generally mean city schools.

One of the principal (but hardest to remedy) problems with city schools is parental non-involvement. The funding for city schools, therefore, can easily be misappropriated, because no one notices. (Parents don't care, so who will?) NY city school baord corruption is so widespread as to be expected.