Thread: Louisiana's bold bid to privatize schools

Originally Posted by Phys251

I am more than familiar with the mess of Louisiana. I know that corruption was quite rampant through both the public and the private sector. Don't even get me started on how they snuck gambling into the state...



Some success? What success? What source do you have?



Source? And before I go any further, what is your teaching background? How many hours of classroom experience do you have?

Who cares if they snuck gambling in the state... We used to have whore houses and all that good stuff, well actually still do, but shhhh... Look up Leander Perez if you wanna know about corruption.

Success, in which parents are digging it from surveys and interviews ive seen, really anecdotal, i know. When it comes to data, ehh good luck, Tulane did a study with mixed results but, the thing about that is only a few schools participated. A lot of the private schools said they will not have government coming in and trying to affect school policy, if they do then a good bit said screw the program.

Teaching background? Nothing besides military classes... Also I put one source up already for the Dutch school system. Just type for the voucher system they all say the same thing pretty much. If i wasn't on an I Pad I wouldnt mind doing all that work

Well, this is a START. Guys let's face it, the current public school system in America is failing our students. The standards are low and the high school drop out rates are high, especially among minorities like black men who have a 44% graduation rate. The entire K-12 system needs to be updated, the first thing is that people should have the ability to CHOOSE the school they want their child to attend which will CAUSE all of the schools in the area to increase their standards, increase the quality of their faculty (eliminating bad teachers), increase the programs offered at the school (increasing education), and just provide a better overall program for students. It would be the BEST damn decision in education in a long time.

I'm not sure why liberals hate this idea, liberals are just so damn weird to me. Everything that works, everything that creates a stronger INDIVIDUAL, liberals are against.

Originally Posted by LibertyBurns

Who cares if they snuck gambling in the state... We used to have whore houses and all that good stuff, well actually still do, but shhhh... Look up Leander Perez if you wanna know about corruption.

Success, in which parents are digging it from surveys and interviews ive seen, really anecdotal, i know. When it comes to data, ehh good luck, Tulane did a study with mixed results but, the thing about that is only a few schools participated. A lot of the private schools said they will not have government coming in and trying to affect school policy, if they do then a good bit said screw the program.

Teaching background? Nothing besides military classes... Also I put one source up already for the Dutch school system. Just type for the voucher system they all say the same thing pretty much. If i wasn't on an I Pad I wouldnt mind doing all that work

I recommend giving deference to what past and present teachers have to say on the matter. They're right there on the front line of the war on ignorance. Even the ones who aren't perfect are well aware of what is going on.

Originally Posted by John Tucker

Well, this is a START. Guys let's face it, the current public school system in America is failing our students. The standards are low and the high school drop out rates are high, especially among minorities like black men who have a 44% graduation rate. The entire K-12 system needs to be updated, the first thing is that people should have the ability to CHOOSE the school they want their child to attend which will CAUSE all of the schools in the area to increase their standards, increase the quality of their faculty (eliminating bad teachers), increase the programs offered at the school (increasing education), and just provide a better overall program for students. It would be the BEST damn decision in education in a long time.

I'm not sure why liberals hate this idea, liberals are just so damn weird to me. Everything that works, everything that creates a stronger INDIVIDUAL, liberals are against.

I actually agree with some of that. And I, too, used to be a conservative, but I got mugged by reality.

Originally Posted by Phys251

I recommend giving deference to what past and present teachers have to say on the matter. They're right there on the front line of the war on ignorance. Even the ones who aren't perfect are well aware of what is going on.

True true, im not the angry mob wanting to burn down public schools, blaming teachers, or any of that junk. I just agree with freedom to choose the type of education you want for your children.

Originally Posted by LibertyBurns

True true, im not the angry mob wanting to burn down public schools, blaming teachers, or any of that junk. I just agree with freedom to choose the type of education you want for your children.

I'm 100% in favor of school choice. But I have some serious reservations about how school systems are going at it.

How I would do it would require an entire discussion. The short answer is: Mix and match what kind of schools each school district offers.

I think this has the potential to be very good for education. Under current policies and the system we have now schools are failing. Providing funding vouchers gives a school incentive to do well if they want to grow and advance. A lack of incentive by educators and parents in my opinion is one of the reasons schools are failing. This would cause parents to select a school for their child (and most likely they will do some research into the schools to pick the best) and cause them to be more engaged. It also provides an incentive for schools to do well and promote good academics.

Originally Posted by cpwill

Well, by "privatize" they still mean "state funded". Just the parents get to pick the provider. So, not a really accurate headline by Reuters but hey It's the policies that count.


States are our laboratories, it will be interesting to see how Education in Louisiana, Indiana, and Florida fare following conservative reforms in each.




I also find it interesting they keep re-hitting the "it's gonna be business owners and preachers educating kids" bit, given that teachers will continue to educate children. The article itself is pretty clearly biased as hell, but hey again, it's the policies that matter. Louisiana saw great things post-Katrina with freeing up education, I guess they want to build on that success.

The problem is you will have small-minded people in charge of inferior schools, and they will ignore reasonable standards and teach students junk science and math. The students don't deserve to be crippled by fools who will do things like this, from your article:


The school willing to accept the most voucher students -- 314 -- is New Living Word in Ruston, which has a top-ranked basketball team but no library. Students spend most of the day watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms. Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such chemistry or composition.

The Upperroom Bible Church Academy in New Orleans, a bunker-like building with no windows or playground, also has plenty of slots open. It seeks to bring in 214 voucher students, worth up to $1.8 million in state funding.

At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains "what God made" on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.

"We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children," Carrier said.

Other schools approved for state-funded vouchers use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don't cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.

Originally Posted by tryreading

The problem is you will have small-minded people in charge of inferior schools, and they will ignore reasonable standards and teach students junk science and math. The students don't deserve to be crippled by fools who will do things like this, from your article:


The school willing to accept the most voucher students -- 314 -- is New Living Word in Ruston, which has a top-ranked basketball team but no library. Students spend most of the day watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms. Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such chemistry or composition.

The Upperroom Bible Church Academy in New Orleans, a bunker-like building with no windows or playground, also has plenty of slots open. It seeks to bring in 214 voucher students, worth up to $1.8 million in state funding.

At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains "what God made" on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.

"We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children," Carrier said.

Other schools approved for state-funded vouchers use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don't cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.

Wow, those are scary sounding "schools".

Originally Posted by Layla_Z

Wow, those are scary sounding "schools".

Not really schools at all, are they? One with no library, another a church masquerading as a school...

I don't want any of my tax money funding these strange places and the silly fools that run them.