In his Sept. 12 column, "Inspired by conservatism," Oliver Sherouse praised Sen. John McCain for advocating vouchers, an idea put forth by right-wing conservatives aiming to destroy the public school system. This isn't Lending Tree. When schools compete, children lose. Why? Because money spent on a voucher program is money taken away from public schools.
This old idea is coming from the same guys who brought us No Child Left Behind, a law that actually punishes struggling schools. "School choice" is to education what "trickle-down economics" is to the economy. Cutting taxes for the richest one percent didn't help our economy and wasting money on private school tuition for a tiny fraction of our nation's children will not help our education system either. We need real change in our education system, not gimmicks.
Pat McCrory, the Republican candidate for governor, is currently advocating taking away hundreds of millions of dollars from North Carolina public schools for vouchers. Lt. Governor Bev Perdue, the Democratic nominee for governor, correctly rejects this distraction and pledges to not "allow vouchers to break the back of public schools" in North Carolina.
On the national level, Sen. Barack Obama has a comprehensive education plan that will reform No Child Left Behind by fully funding the law and making sure that schools prepare children for more than just filling in bubbles. Obama and Perdue, a former teacher, know that excellent teachers are the key an excellent education system.
Obama will recruit an army of new teachers by offering scholarships that would cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate education for four years of teaching in high-need fields or locations. Sherouse may be inspired by McCain's willingness to continue President George W. Bush's failed record on education, but the rest of us aren't. McCain and McCrory offer more of the same failed conservative solutions for Washington and Raleigh; that's not the change we need.
Ben Bergmann
Trinity '11
President, Duke Democrats
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