by Tom Calhoun

Created on: November 23, 2009   Last Updated: November 24, 2009

The interesting thing about this topic is that education in this country has become just that a debate. If parents do not have the option of sending their children to a school of choice it takes that opportunity of choice away. As taxpayers all parents should have the ability to choose where to send their children regardless of how much they make or what they are worth financially.

The problem here is that schools, no matter where they are located have one thing going against them, too much government interference. Our schools have people dictating to them what they should teach, how they should teach it, and whom they should teach such subjects to. These are people that have never been in a classroom or in most cases never been in a school building since they graduated high school or college. How are they qualified to tell the professional what to teach and how to teach it?

The only thing parents have going for them at this point is being able to choose the school of choice. No Child Left Behind has actually done one thing right and that is giving parents the choice of schools to send their children to. Income should have no place in the education of children in grades K-12 this should be left to colleges and universities as it has always been, those that have the money to send their children to the Harvards or the Yales of the world should keep the status quo, but this should not drift down to public schools especially those that teach K-12 students. The fact of the matter is that what is happening in this country with education is nothing more than how much money one has to send their children to schools that may be better than others. What these parents need to be asking themselves is are these schools really better than those their children are going to now, or are they just more dollars being spent for the same quality and maybe in some cases less quality than the student is getting now? The contention here is not to say that more expensive schools do not do a better job, but does the cost justify the means? Are the students able make the grade needed to survive in the real world, or are they just better at taking a test some politician thinks give them such ability?

In conclusion, does it really matter if parents are allowed to send students to any school of their choosing as long as the child is getting the best education they possibly can, and not for the money being spent, or the influence of the said parents, but the best for the child's sake? Are the teachers better equipped to teach classes, is the school more effective on the child's educational needs, and what is most important than anything is the child being taught the things they need to survive in today's world not just taught how to pass a meaningless test? These are the things that should be most important to not only the parent, and communities in which they live, but to our entire nation.

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