School Choice Ohio Blog

Parents leave a lasting impression on children.  Everything that we do leaves a mark on their little minds and their little souls. They know that we love them in great and small ways; with spoken and unspoken words.  Children know that as parents we will go out of our way to protect them from all harm and that protection assumes various forms. 

Those parents that rallied in D.C. yesterday to save the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program have left a lasting impression upon their children about how far they are willing to go to ensure that their children receive the best education available. What is amazing is how the Obama administration continues to completely ignore these parents, that by all accounts he continually asks to become “actively engaged” in their child’s education.  They have, they are and their decisions should be honored.  The program should be reauthorized.

The D.C. public school system has long been an embattled system of underperforming and failing schools.  Since 2004, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has provided 3,300 low income students the ability to attend the private school of their parents’ choice and as far as parents are concerned the program has helped their children to succeed academically.  Furthermore, a report released by the U.S. Department of Education confirmed parents’ beliefs of academic gain.

Why then would the government actively seek to end a program that does not leave children behind and helps to bridge the ever widening achievement gap?  Why ignore parents who are actively involved in their child’s education?  Why put the educational future of these children at risk?

If we are to actually put children first, then all avenues that lead to academic achievement must be made available.  Why is it that the discussion of where a child is educated becomes less about the child and more about maintaining the status quo?  The idea that only one system can educate a child is a false one.  Parents know this and this is why they rallied by the thousands yesterday. Parents want, need and should have school choice.

Tisha P. Brady

Crayons, pencils (endless supply), notebooks (spiral, perforated, wide rule, single subject, five subject…the variations are endless as well as the want of each individual teacher), ink pens, tissues, etc.  This is the supply list that many parents are familiar with and when you add on to that school clothes, shoes, socks and other school necessities, even with good back to school shopping deals, somehow you still seem to be out the same amount of money if not more than last year.

Going back to school is fraught with anticipation and anxiety alike for both parents and students.  We want our children to excel and in most cases children want to excel also, but can quickly succumb to learning handicaps from which they may never recover.

As we pack lunches and ensure that every labeled item is in that spanking new backpack, parents and students alike harbor an unspoken hope for the year:  that students will enjoy learning. This not only means the ability to place your child in an environment that is safe and conducive to learning, it also means arming your child with the knowledge of why he or she is learning.  A learner’s bill of rights, if you will.

Curious as to whether someone was inspired to create such a bill of right’s for learners, I came across two that speak to the nature of learning and also why school choice is important. If children are to exercise these rights, the ability is often found in a parent’s ability to choose the best school that fits the individual needs of their child.

John Harris Loflin who is with the Democratic Education Consortium in Indiana has creatively combined a learner’s bill of rights with the music “Get Up, Stand Up” on YouTube.  He describes the ideal school as a place where children want to be and he believes that these rights are inalienable and fundamental human rights.

Very similar in nature to Loflin’s but more succinct and tangible are the bill of rights penned by Kirsten Olson in her newest book Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture.  Olson states:

1.       Every learner has the right to know why they are learning something, why it is important now, or may be important to them someday.

2.       Every learner has the right to engage in questioning or interrogating the idea of “importance” above.

3.       Every learner has the right to be confused and to express his confusion openly, honestly, and without shame.

4.       Every learner has the right to multiple paths to understanding a concept, an idea, a set of facts, or a series of constructs.

5.       Every learner has the right to understand his or her own mind, brain, wiring, and intellectual inclinations as completely as possible.

6.       Every learner has the right to interrogate and question the means through which his or her learning is assessed.

7.       Every learner is entitled to some privacy in their imagination and thoughts.

8.       Every learner has the right to take their own imagination and thinking seriously.

So, let us add on to our list of back to school supplies a learner’s bill of rights. After all, all the supplies in the world are just meaningless instruments if children do not understand what they are learning and why they are learning.

 — Tisha Brady