SOLVE PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Hope on the Horizon with Betsy Devoss

This letter to the Editor was written in the 1990s. It is now 2017 and the schools are as bad if not worse than before. Everything I wrote then remains true, only now there is the hope of change in Betsy Devoss whose campaign has long been to free children from the bonds of mediocrity or total failure and bring about choice through Charter schools. Parents will have to step up to the bat and do their own research into redefining the mission of the school their child will attend to attain an education not an indoctrination. Two schools I have experience with that achieve those goals are Northside Methodist Academy in Dothan, Alabama (http://www.nmacademy.net/about-us) that uses the ABEKA curriculum and Providence Christian School (https://www.providencechristianschool.com) that is a Classical School. 

Do not believe that the absence of religious education means that there is NO RELIGION being taught in our schools. Humanism, with its agnosticism, supposed values free conflict resolution and earth worship, have taken the place of true religion. And with the upsurge in violence and drug abuse, we can see where that has taken us.

SOLVE PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

published in the Dothan Eagle but I'll bet the problems mentioned would apply to ANY state. 

Once people become aware of the condition of our public schools, their first question is “What can be done?”  On the national level, Republicans are abolishing the Department of Education and working to repeal Goals 2000.

On the state level, fixing education begins in the Legislature which now has 40 percent of its body connected to education. They must be held to the standard of the Alabama Constitution Article IV, Section 82 that stipulates “…A member of the Legislature shall disclose that fact to the House of which he is a member, and shall not vote thereon.” Prosecution for violations must follow.

PAC contributions to the AEA are paid through payroll deductions: therefore, taxpayers’ dollars spent for administration subsidizes the teacher’s union. Deduction makes this a public matter and puts pressure to join on teachers who might not wish to participate. Alabamians must not be forced to subsidize lobbying efforts against themselves.

Teacher certification must be addressed. All teachers should first have a degree in an academic discipline outside the college of education. It is more important that teachers have knowledge to impart than honors degrees in theory of imparting knowledge and modifying attitudes and beliefs. English mastery is imperative for all teachers. 

Parents must be given control over their children’s education through choice. Competition will weed out incompetent schools and educators and our children will have a chance for an education, not an indoctrination in “new paradigms,” using Total Quality Management in schools as in factories to “produce workers for the global economy.  

Our most vulnerable citizens need vouchers so they might grab onto that American dream. Neither our children nor our money belong to the government. As long as vouchers are considered government money, whatever elite is in power controls the curriculum. Home schools, private and church schools would rather struggle than sacrifice their autonomy to the whim of he politically correct. 

Only when we circumvent the control of a liberal union and powerful tax-exempt foundations that fund research and teaching positions to promote their agenda can we begin to truly educate our citizenry.