So I've been doing some last-minute political research for the upcoming election. This is the first time I will be voting in the state of Illinois, and I realized that I know very little about the candidates/policies/issues in this state. I love exercising my right to vote and would hate to be a stupid voter, so I printed off the "sample ballot" for my district and set to work googling each and every candidate (even the write-ins). Being from an educational family (lots and lots of teachers), it's one of the issues I ALWAYS click on in the candidate websites, along with women's issues, environment, civil rights, and all those other "bleeding-heart liberal" issues that actually matter to me. (I understand your point, fiscal Republicans, but money is the root of all evil, and kindness is going to save the world; peace and love; make love not war; etc etc etc.)
Anyway! As I was perusing all of the more conservative websites, I found a disturbing trend in educational platforms. "Parents should be able to choose where to send their kids to school, no matter how much money they make," "The wealthy shouldn't be the only ones with a choice for better education" "Competition breeds smarter kids" blahblahblah. It all sounds ok, on the surface. Why shouldn't all children be entitled to the best schools? However, as a proud graduate of the public schools, I can't help but point out that all of these candidates are working really hard to fix the symptom instead of working to cure the disease. Teachers work incredibly hard. Those in the public schools, especially the struggling ones, work even harder. They have a limited budget and, let's face it, not the most academically-driven students and parents to handle on a daily basis. No offence, private/wealthy school teachers and administrators, but you probably couldn't last a week in one of these schools.
Why, oh why are we even considering taking more money away from these schools so that poorer families can "choose a better school" for their kiddos? Those families likely have bigger fish to fry and chances are, their first priorities do not lie with their kids' educations. Sad, but true. They need to trust that when they are working to put food on the table, their students are spending time in quality schools with quality teachers who aren't limited by time, over-crowding, limited budgets, and a basic lack of support from a government whose politicians wouldn't be anywhere without an education. Even the crappy ones. The best choice for these struggling kids is not a "move-away-from-the-problem" quick-fix. Schools are a student's home-away-from-home. How on earth can they nurture developing students when they are being sucked dry of their own nourishment?
Let's face it, most of the candidates supporting this pillage and abandonment of the public school system are also pro-lifers with a mild but noticeable anti-gay sentiment, so they didn't stand a chance with my vote anyway. But it's scary to me how easily this country could turn its back on one of its most important family members: The Public Schools. Yet again I urge: Get it together, America.
