Tea at Trianon: The Need for School Choice

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

The Need for School Choice

From The Daily Signal:

To Jefferson, the people were the ultimate guardians of their liberty—a tall order for those who remain completely in the dark about what liberty means or how it has been curtailed in the past. He wrote of the need to teach students history early in their lives, that “by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and nations; it will qualify them as judges of the ambitions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume, and, knowing it, to defeat its views.”

It would be unfair to pin modern historical ignorance on the “stupidity” of millennials, who are generally entrepreneurial, and certainly tech savvy. There is certainly some blame to be shared by education institutions—K-12 and higher education alike. Instead of merely lamenting the results of this tragic failure, concerned Americans can and should use the tools at their disposal to make things better for the next generations. The educational choice movement, launched by economist Milton Friedman just over 60 years ago, has done a great job of opening up education options for American families using vouchers, tax credit scholarships, charter schools, and education savings accounts. These programs have already produced some incredible results, but those who believe America needs to make a serious pivot toward a better civics education should look to growing freedom in the education sector as a way to reinvigorate civics. (Read more.)

Ivanka Trump on school choice. To quote:

“There’s so many great things being done,” she explained, as she praised the teachers, but stressed the need to give them the freedom to teach students in the best way possible, adding:

There’s so many great teachers. There’s so many great innovators in the field of education. And sadly, not all students have access or ability to be part of those systems. When you look at the cost per pupil in the United States of America and you compare that to the efficacy and the preparedness for life outside of school and how our students are performing relative to their peers around the globe, we’re not where we should be by a long shot. It’s not for a lack of teachers, but a big part of the issue is this one size fits all, Washington, D.C. down approach to education.
“Teachers and faculty are some of the most frustrated because they know what works for their students,” she explained about concerns she has heard.
Ivanka continued:

They know what works in their communities. They want the flexibility to be able to teach in a tailored, customized way that will excite their classes and the very formulaic approach is failing our students, so my father has been a huge proponent of repealing Common Core and that message has been popular with people across this country because they see it failing within their communities, with their kids and their neighbors.
(Read more.)