On October 1st, the Associated Press reported that the “2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress results showed Nevada students remained among the nation’s five poorest-performing states.” And if I’m not mistaken, I believe over 90 percent of those students attend unionized government re-education camps otherwise known as “public schools.”
Coincidentally, the same day the Las Vegas Sun reported on the addition of two new virtual charter schools which began operating in Nevada this fall, affording parents a smidgen of an alternative to the unionized government re-education camps otherwise known as “public schools.”
Now remember, the latest numbers show that Nevada is one of the five worst states in the country when it comes to educational performance. Yet the Sun reports that “Cindy Reid, a member of the state Board of Education and chairwoman of the charter schools subcommittee, said the two new virtual charter schools are tantamount to state-subsidized home-school programs, in violation of state law.”
It probably won’t surprise you that Cindy Reid is also…a public school teacher. Go figure. I mean, what are the odds? And how in the world does a person hostile to charter schools get put in charge of charter schools?
Reid went on to call virtual schools “fads.” You mean like “whole language”? Or “new math”? Or the self-esteem crappola the education establishment has been peddling for the past couple of decades?
The fact is, our public schools suck. Private schools are better. Charter schools are better. Home schools are better. But the public schools are run by folks like Cindy Reid and the teachers union. So no matter how much better your kids might perform in a new “fad” educational program, the Cindy Reids of the world are going to do everything in their power to keep them chained to the existing system, thereby assuring continued system failure.
And until people wake up and stop electing such purveyors of status quo mediocrity, the Cindy Reids of the world will keep getting away with it.
Posted on October 16th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
Cindy Reid, is she the daughter or step-daughter of USS Harry Reid? She is of the family. Odd for Chuck not to point this out.
As for union teachers being the bane of education, let me say BULLSHIT! How about admitting that culture and parents are the single most influencial parts of the education pie.
Chuck, back up your assertion with some facts: Review education achievement scores over the 50 states and compare scores within states with no union, weak union and strong teacher unions.
In an interview with the Washington Post editorial board, Democratic senator and presidential candidate Joe Biden was asked why K-12 students in Iowa perform better on standardized tests than their counterparts in DC. Senator Biden responded, “There’s less than 1 percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4 or 5 percent that are minorities. What is it in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you’re dealing with.”
The senator’s staff quickly issued a clarification of his statement (it’s the economic conditions of the minority students that are at issue, not their ethnic background), but still, can you imagine what would happen if a Republican made this statement?