Mar 6
If Rick Santorum is elected president, the country can save a ton of money by closing all its public schools. They aren?t needed anyhow, he says, because parents should be home-schooling their kids ? as he and his wife have done.
Santorum says the federal government should not be running schools, an interesting comment since local taxpayers and the states pay most of the cost of educating American kids in public schools ? not the federal government.
Santorum?s jihad against public schools is long-standing, but he gives it fresh relevance as he appeals to a constituency of home-school advocates, evangelical pastors and networks of conservative activists who helped him win Iowa?s leadoff caucuses and a three-state sweep of contests on Feb. 7.
His pitch to those supporters goes like this: ?America?s schools are factories that stand as anachronistic relics of the Industrial Revolution.? He characterizes early childhood education programs as an attempt by government to ?indoctrinate your children.? He would home-school his kids in the White House if he becomes president, he promises.
Given his antipathy toward public schools, it?s interesting that when Santorum was a senator from Pennsylvania, he got a Pittsburgh-area school district to help pay at least $38,000 in tuition for five of his children to receive online schooling. His use of tax dollars became controversial because his family was primarily living in Leesburg, Va., an outer suburb of Washington. According to The Associated Press, the Santorums withdrew their children from cyberschool and resumed home schooling after the Penn Hills school district complained about the tuition payments.
There is ample evidence that home-schooled kids do well. The National Home Education Research Institute estimated in spring 2010 there were more than 2 million home-schooled students, about 3 percent of the school-age population. Students in cyberschools log onto computers to access their assignments and teachers. The seven Santorum kids who got home-schooling and cyber instruction are doubtless among those who are successful. That is not an issue.
But does the candidate really believe the country would be better off if it shuttered the ?factories?? his description of public schools? It?s a fact that public schools have historically enabled citizens to gain at least a modicum of learning, and to escape poverty and ignorance to the great benefit of American society. They are the mainstays of any community, and deserve support rather than politically-inspired criticism.
How many parents would have the ability, time and resources to provide home schooling for their kids? We depend on public schools, pay for them with our taxes, and trust them to do a great job. They are neither factories nor anachronisms.
Santorum likes to emphasize his roots in a hard-working, ordinary family. It?s fair to ask if he gives any credit for his success to the public schools he attended.
Source: http://thejhub.com/?p=2067103333
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