Public Schools

I am a big supporter of public schools.  After all, our tax dollars pay for them, so we should support them and make good use of them.  More importantly, they really are fulfilling the most important job out there, namely, educating the next generation.  It truly is in everyone's best interest that our children, and the children of others, receive the best education possible.  Otherwise, we will all suffer.

Now, I do realize that there is a need that the private school system fills.  Some parents want there children educated with the value system of their culture, and that is legitimate.  Others may simply want more control over the crowd their children will be exposed to and the friends they will bring home.  I get that.  It could be a bit elitist, but certainly a parent's prerogative.

But this entry is not about public versus private.  It is about the sorry state of our public schools.  It truly angers me that they are in the state they are in.  There are many factors which have led to this, and I am certainly not an expert in the area, but I do have one solution.  I believe every civil servant, from the smallest peon to the President of the United States, should have to send their children to public schools.  Perhaps then they will care more.  I'm sure if Melia and Sasha were going to public school, the D.C. schools would look and a perform very differently than they do now.  I can use the Obamas as an example now because they have school-aged children.  This can and should be said of all politicians and civil servants whose children attend private school.

It is almost as if they are saying the public school system is good for the common people, but not for us. 
Why should I, as a parent, have faith in a system that my leaders do not have faith in. 

In addition, the public school system can only be as good as the people in it.  If all the people who can afford to send their children to private school do, then where does that leave the public schools: with families who cannot afford the time or funds to help propel the school to greatness, or sometimes even a decent average.