Dårlig skolepolitikk fra Obama2

Bare noen minutter etter at jeg postet den første videoen, la Reason.tv ut en ny video, fra en demonstrasjon der foreldre, barn og studenter samlet seg for å kjempe for å beholde programmet som gir fattige familier muligheter til å gi sine barn en topp utdannelse.

Etter demonstrasjonen foreslo Obama at de som allerede er en del av programmet skal få sikret finansieringen, men at ingen nye studenter vil bli tatt opp i programmet.

Dette håpet som Obama snakket om i valgkampen, er tydeligvis ikke forbeholdt fattige familier i Washington DC lenger.

Just minutes after i posted the first video, reason.tv posted a new one from the rally. Obama apparantly has now proposed that he will allow students currently enrolled in the programs to finish up through high school, but that no new students would be allowed to enter the program.

So much for «Hope» and «Change we can believe in». Obama is effectively killing poor families hopes for their childrens future.

From reason.tv:

On May 6, 2009, concerned parents, students, and others gathered in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza. They came to voice support for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a school-voucher program authorized by Congress in 2004 (as the seat of the federal government, the District is overseen by Congress). The program gives 1,700 students up to $7,500 to attend whatever school their parents choose.

The program is wildly popular with parents and children—there are four applicants for every available slot—and a recent Department of Education studyfound that participants do significantly better than their public school peers.

Yet working with congressional Democrats and despite President Barack Obama’s pledge to put politics and ideology aside in education, the Obama administration effectively killed the program through a backdoor legislative move. «[Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan will use only one test in what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars,» says the president. «It’s not whether it’s liberal or conservative, but whether it works.»

Shortly after last week’s rally, President Obama said that he would allow students currently enrolled in the program to finish up through high school, but that no new students would be allowed to enter the program. Thus, a president who exercises school choice himself, has consigned thousands of low-income students to attend massively underperforming D.C. public schools.

Read Full Post »

Dårlig skolepolitikk fra Obama.

(English text under the vidco)

Til alle dere, særlig på høyresiden, i Norge som tror på valgfrihet, og som blindt støttet Obama i valgkampen. Til alle dere som påsto at Obama ville vært langt til Høyre i Norge: Se på denne videoen. I Washington DC har de et eget program som hjelper studenter i familier med lave inntekter. Programmet gir hver elev $7.500 i året, slik at studenten deretter kan velge den skolen han/hun og sine foreldre synes er best. Dette programmet gir 1.700 studenter i Washington DC muligheter de ellers ikke ville hatt. Det gir fattige familier muligheter som andre tar for gitt; nemlig muligheten til å velge den beste skolen for sine barn.

Nå er dette programmet i fare takket være Obama administrasjonen. Obama som gjorde et stort poeng i valgkampen av at det ikke skulle handle om hva som er liberalt (den amerikanske forståelsen av liberal) eller konservativt, men hva som er best for våre barn, gjør nå det stikk motsatte og gir etter for politisk press fra fagforeninger. Demokrater i Kongressen som mottar støtte fra fagforeninger vil ikke risikere å miste denne plassen, selv om det betyr at 1.700 studenter i Washington DC får muligheten til en solid utdanning ødelagt.

Dette trekker nesten Obamas skolepolitikk ganske langt til venstre også i norsk kontekst. Det blir ikke stort bedre når vi vet at Obama selv sender sine barn til en privat eliteskole. Så de som beskyldte Obama for å være kollektivistisk og preget av en del sosialistisk retorikk var kanskje ikke så langt fra sannheten likevel?

Turns out that those of us that blamed Obama for being an elitistic collectivistic politician strongly influenced by socialist retoric were right after all.

From reason.tv:

Mercedes Campbell is one of the 1,700 students in the Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a school-voucher program authorized by Congress in 2004. The program gives students up to $7,500 to attend whatever school their parents choose. For kids like Mercedes, who now attends Georgetown Visitation Prep, the DC voucher program is a way out of one of the worst school districts in the country.

«It’s different, now that I go to Visitation,» says Mercedes. «I approach things differently. It’s like a whole new world, basically.»

The program is wildly popular with parents and children—there are four applicants for every available slot—and a recent Department of Education study found that participants do significantly better than their public school peers. Indeed, after three years in private schools, students who entered the program at its inception were 19 months ahead in reading of applicants unlucky enough to still be trapped in D.C.’s public schools.

Yet working with congressional Democrats and despite his pledge to put politics and ideology aside in education, the Obama administration has effectively killed the program through a backdoor legislative move. «[Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan will use only one test in what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars,» says the president. «It’s not whether it’s liberal or conservative, but whether it works.»

That sort of doublespeak has left many Obama supporters not just puzzled but outraged. Certainly, Mercedes is. «Out of everything else they can shut down or everything else they can advocate for, they want to take this one thing away?» Adds her mother, Ingrid, «We voted for you, we walked, we went to the parade, we stood freezing. Why?…Can you get this tape over to Obama and have him answer our questions? Why, sir, why?»

That’s the question that will be asked on Wednesday, May 6, from 1P.M. to 2P.M., at a D.C. rally to reauthorize the voucher program. For more details, go here.

«Barack Obama and the DC School Voucher Program» was produced by Dan Hayes and Nick Gillespie.

Read Full Post »