In response to the 9/25/12 post, “Pretty Lies and Powerful Truths (A),” a LYS Superintendent writes:
SC,
As you know I follow the LYS blog almost daily. The monthly diatribes against school choice, vouchers, and charter schools, however, are the weakest part of the blog.
A case in point: to casually lump Milton Friedman in with his “tax break for the wealthy” comments is a disservice to a brilliant, thoughtful economist. Friedman would argue that internal change is difficult in a large, entrenched system like public education. What people want is choice – it is why our higher education program is the best in the world.
The argument that the rich want to dismantle public schools (“…the true intention is to achieve voucher tax breaks for the wealthy…”) so that they can get a little more in tax breaks is ridiculous. BR
SC Response This is why I love the LYS Nation. When you gather a group of smart, driven educators that seek out the toughest of instructional settings and then give them a forum, the arena of their ideas force us consider and re-consider our positions, almost daily. Vouchers represent a significant change in the public school environment, something we need to discuss. But you are right, if the only views that are expressed on the topic belong to just one person, then we don’t have a forum, we have an echo chamber. So I would welcome the pro-voucher side of the argument.
In fact, when it comes to the LYS Nation, we are better off when we follow the lead of President Reagan. To paraphrase his philosophy, “The LYS Nation doesn’t need 100% agreement. If we agree 70% of the time, we can work together and we change the World.”
Note: BR signed his letter, but in the sprit of friendly discourse, I chose to use initials instead of names.
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