Opinion> Roland Martin> Mccain Right Obama Wrong On School Vouchers

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McCain Right, Obama Wrong on School Vouchers

"All I want is for my children to get the best education they can."

That statement, along with so many others, has been a consistent one that I've heard on my radio show and in discussions with parents for years, especially those who are stuck with inner-city schools with decrepit buildings that lack critical resources.

And for the past 20 years, one of the most talked-about solutions is for parents stuck in dead-end, failing schools to have the option to use vouchers to allow them to send their children somewhere they could get quality educations.

Republicans have made vouchers a linchpin of their education overhaul initiatives. Democrats steadfastly have refused, saying it would take vital dollars out of the public school system.

This year's presidential candidates are lining up right along with their parties. Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee, says vouchers are the right way to go to give parents an option for a better education, while Sen. Barack Obama says the GOP has talked and talked about vouchers and it hasn't amounted to much more.

But part of the reason vouchers have been denounced and dismissed is Democrats have been far too obstinate on the issue. They're not listening to their constituents, especially African-Americans, who overwhelmingly support vouchers.

There is no doubt that on this issue, McCain has it right, and Obama has it wrong.

The fundamental problem with the voucher debate is that it is always seen as an either/or proposition. For Republicans, it is the panacea to all the educational woes, and that is nonsensical.

For Democrats, they say it will destroy public education, and that, too, is a bunch of crap.

I fundamentally believe that vouchers are simply one part of the entire educational pie. There is no surefire way to educate a child. We've seen public schools do a great job (I went to them from kindergarten through college) along with private schools, home schooling, charter schools and even online initiatives. This is the kind of innovation we need, not more efforts to prevent a worthy idea from moving forward.

Obama's opposition is right along the lines of the National Education Association, and the teachers union is a reliable and powerful Democratic ally. But this is one time he should have opposed them and made it clear that vouchers can force school districts, administrators and teachers to shape up or see their students shipping out.

It is unconscionable to ask parents to watch as their children are stuck in failing schools and ask them to bank on politicians coming up with more funds to improve the situation. Fine, call vouchers a short-term solution to a long-term problem, but I rather would have a child getting the best education now than having to hope and pray down the line.

McCain and Obama have presented comprehensive education plans, and those are noble. But leaving out vouchers does a tremendous disservice to the parents who are fed up with deplorable schools, and it allows school districts to operate with impunity and without any real competition.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN contributor and the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith." Please visit his Web site at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

Comments

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So sad, Mr. Martin that you are stuck to the racist right wing flypaper on the voucher issue. Study after study shows that you should be in the Obama camp on this issue.

The most recent was highlighted in the LA Times' Lincoln High School experience with the same curriculum, same teachers, same poverty levels as Blacks and Chicano kids, Asian students in the same ghetto outperformed even the most prestigious private schools in the country. Part, a significant part, of the success of the Asian phenomenon is the Obama meme of responsibility and expectations. Asian parents, as a rule, intensely monitor, motivate and help their children achieve to the highest expectations. Other minorities generally suffer from low expectation home environments, parental indifference and peer disdain of high academic achievement. Where minority homes enrich and are part of the education of our children, our kids outperform their peers…even in “war-zone” schools. In the Lincoln High Study, a Chicano student who excelled was ironically elected president of the Asian Club.

While there is much to criticize about the public schools such as the NEA's resistance to outcomes evaluation of teachers and the subtle racism of even minority teachers in expecting less of their minority kids, vouchers are an escape from a democratic quality educational goals where common values should be nourished and the foundation for a cohesive society is initiated.

While it may be a sign of “getting even” for minorities to support vouchers and provide some emotional relief from the vicious burdens of racism, such a position is not based on sound educational theory. Minority kids do very well in parochial schools where many of teachers are neither certified nor credentialed. So the “crappy teachers” argument is not enough.

As Obama so truthfully and painfully reminds us minorities, when we expect public institutions to compensate for centuries of deep and virulent racism, we need now to focus on meeting them half-way by our own higher expectations and “work on our own game”…that's where an equal and just society is born.

Comment: #1
Posted by: Hank Quevedo
Sun Jul 20, 2008 1:41 PM

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i agree Sen. obama should be for vouchers. For those of us for whom the Bible is not just a book and evolution is a theory with many holes in it not a law, we should have a right to let our children and grandchildren know more than what mainstream ublic school systems want them to know. Sorry about the technical difficulties.
i also think he should reconsider his views on Roe vs Wade.

Comment: #2
Posted by: Ann Bruce
Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:37 PM

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