A Tipping Point for School Choice: Lisa Snell and Clare Mullin on The Education Revolution

[vNorilor]

Wow - what an awesome story ruined by ultra #awkward charlie sheen references. Reason, I love you guys - stop trying so hard to be hip. Ew

[felpaluche]

Choosing school is really a great dilemma. You have to consider all factors around it.

[Wyndilan]

Also, why is choice against teacher unions? Good teachers are the reason those who are pro-choice in schools have the critical thinking skills to be investigating what can make schools better. Divisiveness is not the answer. working together is. Check out what makes a charter school successful. It's the teachers who've designed wonderful curriculum for the students!!!

[Wyndilan]

We need to re-appraise this movement, so the tax payers don't end up paying for new school plants and campuses when we could be using the boarded up school buildings for schools structured like charter schools. this is a massive waste of resources.

[Wyndilan]

Therefore, what needs to be done is for our traditional public schools to design curriculum that fits the needs of the students. Closing down the public schools and abandonning all the resources available leaves the facilities empty and falling apart----instead of utilizing them for a charter type of structure.

[Wyndilan]

The term "private school" doesn't apply to voucher schools or charter schools---both charter and voucher schools get government money. The problem isn't public versus private: it's about curriculum being more student needs designed in both the voucher and the charter schools.

[ioneipp]

School choice is not winning. Poor kids cannot go to a good school as they will bring down the good schools. #FAIL

[lrohenaz]

@ioneipp I'm not sure you understand the issue? A voucher program allows the parents to choose the school of their choice, the financing is attached to the kid, not the school district where it disappears. So... yea poor kids get to go to better schools...

[blogegog]

I love the way at the end of the video that she grabs the scarf and immediately folds it to make it presentable. Women are awesome. I promise you that a guy would not do that. Well, I wouldn't, at least :)

[Brajabu74]

@blogegog Yeah, because a stupid man would have wiped his nose with it, grunted a few times and made some sexually explicit...... Shut up! Being a patronizing mangina might get you accolades from the few women in your life that actually fall for that crap, or respect your 'I'm just a stupid man' bullshit, but you'll get called out for it online. I'm not saying you are or aren't too dumb to fold a scarf, just that the pointing it out is disingenuous.

[blogegog]

@Brajabu74 mangina? Haha!

No, it's just a weird thing. I was actually applauding her for doing that. If someone hands you a piece of cloth, is your first reaction to make it look presentable? 'Cause it's not mine. For the record, I think everything she did and said was quite spectacular.

[blogegog]

Her message is awesome, but more importantly, she's a cutie!

[ilikemitchhedberg]

teachers unions = red commie scum.

teachers unions preach atheism and Marxism.

!WINNING!

[LokiScoutSniper]

Cheaper and better. Suck on that unions.

[InMooseWeTrust]

Private schools follow the same Bismarckian method of systematic brainwashing that public schools do. And private schools are still drowning with bureaucratic state and federal regulations. What changed? NOTHING.

[MaikUniversum]

@InMooseWeTrust AGree, sir.

[mrbhave]

Now on to eliminating property taxes as a means to subsidize public schools. I shouldn't have to pay taxes for schools if I don't have kids. Kids don't come in the seabag. Having kids is VOLUNTARY. Taxes for public schools should be treated as excise taxes.

[mjfolkerts]

@mrbhave While I agree that there is a problem of taxing everyone for the public education of some, I don't think that is the primary problem of funding education through property taxes. The primary ethical shortcoming is that students within 5-10 miles of each other can be funded with completely different amounts. While I was teaching in a suburban school district in Ohio, the school was receiving about $12,000 per student while the city school only 5 miles away was receiving $7,000/student.

[aaron0883]

The next progression for the kids to be truly 'winning' in the charlie sheen sense it to provide vouchers for cocaine and hookers to our kids. That would really throw some great tiger blood in to the heart of government and our most important resource ... our children.

[Loathomar]

My only problem with school vouchers is simply that all kids do not cost the same to education and if private school can select the students they wish to educate then with choose the least expensive students. A good student may cost $5,000 per year to educate, and bad student may for $10,000 per year to educate and a student with special needs may for $20,000 per year to educate. You must assume only the best students are going to leave at set the vouchers at the lowest rate of student costs.

[Loathomar]

This may end up with public school only teaching juvenile delinquents and student with special needs and the cost per student maybe twice or three time that of the vouchers, but everyone still wins so it is reasonable. Until you can get to a full private system every student who uses a voucher should increase the $/student of public school.

[tekproxy]

I like how yankees sayd "new orleeens"

[RogerOnTheRight]

By 2003? When was this recorded?

[SKIPPERDUDEL]

how do you keep church out of the schools? or is that what this is all about? one and one no longer equals two but the answer is let god tell us. i have seen you at work

. this time you just may sneak in. we shail see

[modernfreestyle]

This is great news!

[MooseOfReason]

I stuck it out and watched a minute of this. Lisa's cute, but this video isn't "winning."

[KaelinSaint]

@Gr4ttak

Let us celebrate any steps towards more choice and more freedom even if they are not the ultimate desire. Gradual change is usually the best and most lasting change. Though I do agree with your long term hopes and goals.

[koahzvika]

This is all good news, but I think there are other/additional reasons for many of these schools to be succeeding, especially in the 2005 to 2010 comparison of New Orleans public schools. I won't go into details, it's somewhat politically incorrect, but let's face it.. there are other reasons.

[Slipknotyk06]

@koahzvika - The private schools were able to take over very quickly from the public schools that take a longer time to rebuild. Many of the Public schools in New Orleans that were destroyed still have yet to be rebuilt, which is why 77% of their students are chartered. However, while 2005 did have artificially elevated dropout levels because of Katrina, they weren't vastly elevated. New Orleans had a 50% dropout rate PREVIOUS to Katrina, and 26% 2 years later before reconstruction is complete.

[koahzvika]

@Slipknotyk06 All good points, but I'm really referring here to the post-Katrina diaspora. Particularly among those who received FIMA assistance, very few returned to New Orleans, and that's a rather specific student profile that hasn't generally performed well academically. Many of those students are now in cities such as Houston, and are impacting test scores in their new environment. New Orleans meanwhile has had a disproportionate repatriation of higher-performing categories.

[Slipknotyk06]

@koahzvika - Most of the displaced that did not move back flat out dropped out. The younger children of those that were displaced have largely adapted to their new environs and have not deeply affected test scores. Houston is the exception, but they were failing prior to post-Katrina. An influx of new students without an influx of funding on a system that is already overburdened has a tendency for quality of education to go down. Houston had low (56%) graduation rates prior to Katrina.

[koahzvika]

@Slipknotyk06 Houston's students are not model students, for sure, however it's not an exception for the displaced. Many of them, in other cities in Texas, including where I live, are still living in FIMA-provided housing. The point was that they are the group that generally did not return to New Orleans, whereas the more talented students did. This is part of the reason why test scores in New Orleans have been on the rise.

[Slipknotyk06]

@koahzvika - I don't know how true that is that the failing students never returned and the successful ones did. I don't see any real evidence pointing to that conclusion, so I'm looking to institutional statistics.

Houston's class sizes went up since Katrina, funding is down slightly, dropout rates are up, and test scores down. This points to a systemic problem in Houston. New Orleans students in non-charter schools do not reflect the same success as their charter competition.

[koahzvika]

@Slipknotyk06 You may have to come to Texas and interact with these communities to see the real evidence of it. The tendency is that when something is politically incorrect, no one will study it, and no statistics crop up for it. The post-Katrina diaspora community is much larger in Houston than other cities, however, in other cities it's spread thin enough as to be more difficult to notice from statistics alone. A better approach is to follow the communities themselves.

[Slipknotyk06]

@koahzvika - True enough studying statistics is far different from actually being there on the ground and seeing things in person. I'm not exactly able to run down to Houston at will and study the impacts of those displaced by Katrina on the Houston school system. I will admit there probably is some degree of error in my assessments. I do think that there is probably some level of truth in my assessments as well. I'd probably have to be on the ground to understand the situation completely.

[DENOFANTIQUITY]

Unfortunately it's coming a little to late for my daughter. She is a junior in high school and so far we have spent about 90k to keep her out of the crappy California school system. Still, great news!

[philbelanger2]

It truly is a tragedy that Milton Friedman did not live to see this.

[hyylo]

@philbelanger2

dont worry we have RON PAUL and PETER SCHIFF

[Sondre7]

@philbelanger2 It is our job to remind everybody al of the time that this was Milton Friedmans final battle, and that we and our kids will have him to thank for bettering education and choice is this country

[daPlumber702]

@philbelanger2 wish i could give you more than one thumb up seeing as how you took the words right out of my mouth.

[richardcadbury]

Let's not lose sight of the ultimate goal - 100% privatisation.

[58robbo]

will someone at reason tell me the difference between school vouchers and foodstamps? how about school vouchers and farm subsidies? we need to think long and hard about the educational industrial complex because once you go down that road and the investments are made, you will pay hell to reverse it!

[natdavi]

@58robbo but foodstamps are to vouchers what public schools are to being forced to eat only at government cafeterias. Vouchers aren't perfect but they're a step in the right direction.

[58robbo]

@natdavi i know that's the argument, but if the voucher programs start and people invest in schools, those programs will undoubtedly become untouchable

[natdavi]

@58robbo that's always a risk. we'll see. I always thought the same thing of public schools but when people's attitudes changed so did the system. we have to secure this victory and then keep pressing on.

[LibertyDownUnder]

This is great news. I wish we had this movement in Australia

[ggadguy]

Vouchers are not free market. All government money comes with strings attached, regulations and these schools may need to be "certified" according to the government. Homeschooling is more free market, but vouchers which came from taxpayers are not free market. All schools should ideally be private so kids get the best education.

[TombaFanatic]

@ggadguy True, but vouchers are better than the current system, and if it works could eventually lead to more drastic changes. Saying "I want to get rid of public schooling" doesn't have the same ring as "We need more school choice."

It's like an anti-statist supporting states' rights. They don't believe any state should exist, but a smaller state is better than a larger state.

[ggadguy]

@TombaFanatic I think vouchers are a step backwards towards more government. I would rather let parents opt out and give them either a tax credit or lower taxes all together. I'd rather not give government more control of our money.

[TombaFanatic]

@ggadguy

I could be wrong in this, I don't know everything about the subject. But as I understand it, the vouchers would be money that is already being spent, just that the parents would have more control over where it goes. While I agree, lowering taxes and giving them tax credits would be better, it's just not going to happen. The government right now can't fire crappy teachers let alone "kill" (you know how that's how it'll be portrayed) the public school system.

[robertmike57]

Using charlie Sheen as a prop means school choice isn't for shit. I agree. You can't name a superior charter school that doesn't get outside funding, use disparate impact discrimination to keep out lower performing students. Overall, public education is a great value.

[DeraJa]

This presentation was to funny. So I had to stop watching.

[98nafets]

Improving education and Charlie Sheen, kinda a mixed message, don't you think?

[yougiberishtube]

favorited

[Graffight]

where can i get a scarf

[silentthriller]

A step in the right direction.

[BrokenMikrofone]

WINNING!

[obtree]

This presentation was inspired by Charlie Sheen.

[SBRslacker00]

I can't watch anything that uses Charlie Sheen as a prop anymore. Lameness has hit another low.

[swu880]

@SBRslacker00

who is charlie sheen? hehee

[AnarchyEnsues]

@SBRslacker00 deer winning...

[usergently]

@SBRslacker00 Come on, stick to the facts here.

[exstntlstfrtn]

@SBRslacker00 Agreed. It is a shame though...this is actually pretty significant.



[Hyddrossil]

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