Interesting Election Results From Tuesday
School Choice is ON The Ballot
I am a huge fan of competition which is one reason I think school choice is something that has to be mobilized across all government entities across the country. I don’t know logistically how it is accomplished. People like Corey DeAngelis have studied it and have their own suggestions.
Data shows charter schools, home schools, alternative schools, parochial schools, independent schools, and any private option does better for children than government-run schools.
We have poured money into public school education and it’s gotten us nothing.
Covid has laid the school industry bare. The tide went out and the Teacher’s Unions were exposed. They actively worked to hurt children.
But, parents were not having it. All kinds of alternative school systems cropped up when parents saw their kids weren’t learning a thing online at home. This is besides the indoctrination that the Teacher’s Union and School Bureaucracy engage actively in.
Tuesday in Iowa, incumbent Republicans that didn’t back school choice got crushed.
This is a winning issue for Republicans. They ought to be backing it with both hands. Not just for pure political power, but because it’s the right thing to do for children and families.
I saw this and thought it was interesting given the backdrop of school choice and incumbent Republicans getting their butts beat. This is and should be happening all over the country. The time is now.
Put school choice directly front and center on the ballot, on every ballot, and in political talking points nationwide.
Venture capitalists are pouring money into educational technology startups. It’s been happening for a while but now it’s an ocean of cash. A friend of mine in Austin, Texas founded Blyth Templeton Academy and is trying to roll it out nationwide. He’s doubled his class sizes in Washington DC. Unfortunately, the establishment puts roadblocks in front of him constantly.
Another friend of mine runs Gary Comer School on the south side of Chicago. Guy has poured his heart and soul into that school along with millions of dollars. They’re educating kids that wouldn’t get an education if not for them. They send almost their entire class to college, and they hook them up with mentors so they graduate.
Temp came from a family that understands education. Guy came from a family that valued education. Both of them had families with millions of dollars to pour into the efforts they led.
As a society, we can’t simply hope that people like Guy and Temp will show up. It is important to change the way we educate kids NOW. We don’t have time to wait. If you thought climate change was a threat to US society, this is bigger.
Dan Primack is editor of Axios Pro Rata and follows venture capital extremely closely. He tweeted this on Wednesday morning.
Primack’s tweet should not be a surprise to anyone. I think traditional education will die a slow death. It has a huge government bureaucracy behind it so it is difficult to kill. The other thing to remember is that there is a lot of perceived “risk” around education. You want the very best for your children and traditional education has been there so long, you fear making a mistake if you do it differently. But, you must do it differently because if you put your kids into government-run schools, you are doing them a disservice.
Teaching used to attract some of the best and brightest. In some cases, women who were discriminated against in the mainstream workforce became teachers and they were super talented. They turned out super talented children. Those same women have high profile powerful positions in business today.
I was chatting with my father who has a PhD in education. It used to be that many teachers had a Masters's degree in education. Today, it’s hard to staff many schools and they will take any live body that will stand in front of a classroom.
I have seen this first hand. My kids initially went to public schools. We moved to the city of Chicago, and we weren’t going to send them to Chicago’s public school system. It’s among the worst in the US when you take out magnet schools. We aren’t Catholic, so that was out. We went to an independent school.
We live in Nevada now and the public schools here aren’t good at all. Nevada needs school choice desperately. I have met a few people and they do a lot of alternative types of schooling, parochial schooling, and in rare cases expensive independent schooling.
Years ago, I invested in a company that became Brilliant. Sue has built a great company and is making a big difference in the lives of people. It’s available on your phone. Kids can do things on Brilliant instead of being on TikTok.
It is high time for school choice to go far and wide in America. Money needs to follow parents and students, not feed a useless federal bureaucracy and go into the pockets of teacher’s unions and crony capitalists.
Jeff, do you happen to know or have you crossed paths with Bob "Muz" Muzikowski, founder of Chicago Hope Academy on the West Side? Seems like someone you might know. School choice would play right into what Muz is hoping to accomplish.
First, I'm 100% for school choice. But I think it ends up having less impact than one would hope, at least in the short term. Polls show that most people like their public schools. Think many people are going to abandon New Trier when part of the reason to move to the North Shore is the school?
Some current Chicago Public School information. There really are lots of good neighborhood elementary schools. This is different from when your kids were young. These schools were built up by parents in those neighborhoods starting in the 1990s. Many good high schools too. The issue is that these good schools all exist in a dysfunctional system. During the recent CTU work stoppages polls showed that most people supported the union. Including those in the wealthier neighborhoods. I have a kid going to high school next year. We're going private for a few reasons, but academics are not high on that list. A moderate driver is the high probability that the CTU will go on strike again as their new leadership is as militant and nuts as the previous group.
And then look at the private options. I think you said previously that your kids went to Parker. I'm pretty sure you can't find a more "progressive" school around. It's what the most "socially conscious" wealthy parents want. And that's true of the vast majority of private schools in the city. Parochial schools are a bit better, but even they're trending towards "progressive".
I support competition and I think it's part of making schools better. But there's a whole lot more to do to make schools better than just put out more options that are mostly similar to the existing options.