EQUAL EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERYONE

I try to stimulate debate with what I write. I was successful with a sweeping comment that “greedy people who do not want to pay taxes” are responsible for the deplorable condition of public schools. As you might expect, there were comments about misspending of tax dollars, about taxes being much too high, among many other things. On commentator focused his comments on the lack of parent caring about their children’s education; they should help their children with homework, go to parent-teachers meetings, vote in school board elections, etc. I think most of us agree with him on this point, however, I responded with a comment along the line of parents who work three jobs at $7.25 work at those low-paying jobs because they lack the education they need to have a better job.

I now realize that we are both right but didn’t realize why. It is in the entire neighborhoods of parents in low paying jobs where the public schools are failing the most. It is in these neighborhoods where the parents do not pay attention to what children are learning—or not learning. We were looking at good schools where there is a child here and there that have parents who are working so hard for their families that they are failing their children. We were taking the easy approach, which is by only dealing with a solvable problem; simply spread resources. However, what is the solution is there are no resources to spread?

All parents who have an abiding interest in his or her children will do what it takes to insure their children receive a good education which includes helping them with there homework. Strangely enough, this is the heart of the problem; some parents care much about their children but are not capable of helping them: they work eight hours a week, were not educated themselves, do not realize the real value of an education, or are not intelligent enough to help them. Other parents harm other people children by doing the right thing for their children. It is this last category that I often focus on.

If I have a good job and am concerned about my child’s education, I will not allow that child to go to a public school. I will send him or her to the best school I can afford. In addition, I would resent paying taxes to support the public school that I do not use. What I am really saying is to hell with your child; my child counts, yours doesn’t matter. This approach reminds me of Ayn Rand with her diverse span of disciples, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Allen Greenspan, and Willie Nelson. This political philosophy centers on this idea that if you work hard and have a job you count. As a liberal, I cannot accept this—all people matter just as all children matter.

As a liberal, I agree up to a point; if you are lazy and do not want to work to hell with you—even then I will not let you die if I can help it. In addition, as a liberal, I also realize there is a vast expanse of people and their families who cannot work for a whole host of reason, some their own fault while others not so much. For some of us, if you are crippled in an accident, by a bomb, or born deficient, tough that is your burden. In my blogs, I often refer to the biological or Darwinian element; “survival of the fittest”, there is no sentiment or cruelty in the world of beasts. These things are acquired traits; they are products our humanization. If you cannot feed your self, you die. Food stamps, public education, social security, Affordable health Care, or any other form of one person helping another, short of a mother taking care of an infant or a dominate husband taking care of a wife, are anathema to this philosophy. In essence, this is the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats; this is what is wrong with Reaganomics and this is what is wrong with taking your child out of public school and sending him or her to a private school. It is not wrong to be rich or successful, nor is not wrong to want the best for your child. For some strange reason, the only thing that seems right to everyone is when it comes to self-defense. For me, when the Constitution refers to a land of equal opportunity, it means many things but especially it should mean education for everyone and not just forming an army. 

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