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Education "vouchers" solve the fiscal crisis, and also lead to economic recovery?
Simply open up K-12 education to the market place, with government only playing a role by financing the students with a yearly education check of $8000.
*www.usagovernmentspending.com shows American local governments spending $458.3 billion for K-12 education in 2012.
*(Sir Ken Robinson says this education system is a complete failure)
*The new education cost of $8000 education check to 50 million K-12 students is $400 billion per year
*This saves $58.3 billion
*(a $6000 check would save $158.3 billion)
*The yearly education check allows students(and their parents) to choose how, when, where, and what they learn, and also who teaches them
*The yearly education check of $8000 opens up a $400B/year market to entrepreneurs, teachers, and creatives
*($6000 check opens up a $300B/year market to entrepreneurs, teachers, and creatives)
State fiscal crisis solved, federal fiscal crisis solved, and the new education market leads America's economic recovery.
Thoughts everyone?
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Kat Haber 500+
John Moonstroller 30+
I agree we do need to scale down the military and take it off a war footing, but we still have to make sure the country and our access to worldly resources is safe.
I've found that the only thing private schools had over public schools was the right to kick an unruly child out of the system completely. Public school systems don't have that luxury. That is why private schools have a good learning environment.
We could do the same in public schools. I remember as a teenager that bully's were the biggest determent to a wonderful learning environment. Me and nerdy friends didn't have a problem getting together and discussing science, math and other subjects that interested us. But..... Those bad students, the ignorant ones who consistently asked stupid questions revealing that they were having fun disrupting class were always there crapping out the whole system for everyone.
IMO all we need to do is make the pubic school system less tolerant of class disruptions as they are in private schools. We need to remove the violence and disrupted forces and the nerds can gain an education on par with the private sec1tor.
On this issue, I find relevance for the voucher system but, it would exclude all students who did not meet a minimum level of excellence in their academic work and social maturity. The problem is we would, in essence, be turning our public school system into a prison for minors.
I know it sounds barbaric but what other recourse do we have? We need to separate ourselves into social classes and protect those who truly want to improve the social structure of our environment. The others are a drain on the progress of the majority of the progressive class.
In Jacksonville, Florida I think they use the zero tolerance policy and the alternative school system which is a form of prison for those students who don't play well with others.
Sharon McCann 10+
John Moonstroller 30+
I believe most of the problems are well lite.
I know the separation and imprisoning thing is a bit primitive but that is exactly what "Alternative" schooling in some states is. The kids get one thing from the system and one thing only, an education. If they don't settle for that they are kicked out of the school system for good.
Everett Hill
Now, a charter or private school can deal with this by simply not admitting the students to the school where a public school, by law, must accept them. In addition, the philosophy that every one of these students will attend college is still rampant. What about training these students to be successful in a career that does not require college education? That alone would alleviate some of the issues and would be money better spent, and perhaps excite these students to attend school as they see a goal or purpose rather than the "one size fits all" model we have succumbed to.
Petar Ivanov
You believe that children who are bullied because they are chess players should not be allowed to receive a $8000 voucher to opt out of the specific public school they are assigned by zip code... so they can attend an $8000/yr private school designed for chess players?