Choices

I tend to stay far away from political issues, especially on social media.  As a disclaimer, I am going to address a political issue, yet I am not making a particular statement in favor of one side of the issue or the other.  Rather, I have trouble with both sides of the issue, which is what I wish to make clear.  That being said, here it is:

School choice.
One side of the issue says that students (and their families) should have the freedom to choose which school is the best fit for them.  This argument is particularly true in the case of students who, due to socioeconomic status, are zoned for poor-performing schools, and are therefore "doomed" educationally.  Unions are made out to be the enemies of this idea because they support teachers "rather than" students. 

The other side of the issue points out that school choice, specifically a voucher system, does nothing to help improve the poor performing schools, and furthermore, may actually perpetuate their under-performance. 

So which side is right?  Both of them.  Yes, students should have the right to a quality education, regardless of where they live.  However, taking students out of failing schools doesn't do anything to improve the failing schools.  And if students are able to leave those schools, what motivation is there to improve the schools?

If we allow school choice, how do we get the kids to their chosen school?  By bus?  How would that work if kids can go anywhere they want?  We would have buses criss-crossing the county all day.  Or, more likely, everyone would be headed to the top school in the county, causing immediate overcrowding at that location, which is the next major problem.  Would parents be expected to transport their own children to their chosen school?  If we are talking about low socioeconomic students, that probably isn't an option for most of them.

Okay, so let's say we ditch the school choice idea and focus our efforts on improving failing schools.  How do we do that?  The logical sounding response is that we take some of the best teachers and put them in the low performing schools.  Gee, what a nice reward for a job well done: "You've done so well in your teaching career, we have decided to relocate you to a failing school where you will have limited resources and support.  Congratulations!"  Great teachers are the first step, but there are many more things these school need.  And the great teachers shouldn't feel like they are being punished by being relocated there.  An incredible level of support and resources needs to be poured into those schools, along with the great teachers.

How do we solve this problem?  How do we allow students to receive a quality education while working toward improving failing schools without punishing teachers?  I do not have the answers.  I do know funding for education must increase.  (On a related note, think of that when you hear about anyone cutting taxes.)  Whichever side of the "school choice" issue you support, please be sure to educate yourself on the whole issue.  There are faults on both sides, and issues are never as simple as one side will make it seem.

End of my rant.  That is all.