Linda Chavez writes that “The Obamas could send a powerful message if they were to enroll their daughters in the DC system” and that it would enlighten them on “the problems those schools face” (“What Obamas Can Do for DC Schools,” PostOpinion, Nov. 15).
Are their daughters guinea pigs? And why reward a failing system by sending the two most famous children in the world to it?
The Obamas can best help the public-school system by snubbing it. This would pointedly state that, despite their liberal ways, a private school is the best option.
David Bergstein
Manhattan
The Obamas would not be the first family to be insulated from the detrimental effects of the monopoly in public education.
The Clintons, Bushes, Gores, Roosevelts and most senators and congressmen in Washington send their kids to elite private schools.
Why should any parent enroll their child in a school that serves the interests of a teachers’ union or bureaucratic monopoly over their own child?
I wouldn’t.
Gene Roman
The Bronx
Chavez’s article is just another attempt to blame the problems of our school system on the teachers and their union.
The major problems that the Obama children would face in public schools go much deeper than the teachers.
As a parent, it is worth the enormous expense of private schools to ensure that your children will not be faced with excessive, meaningless testing, ridiculous student behavior which makes it impossible for children to learn and teachers to teach, long waits at metal detectors to ensure that the children are not bringing weapons to class, huge budget cuts that create enormous class sizes and a shortage of proper supplies for both teachers and students, gangs roaming the hallways, creating havoc and trying to recruit new members, etc.
The old call for merit pay only works if there is a fair way to judge the pay-scale without creating anarchy in the schools, but I don’t see a plan listed in Chavez’s article.
Do something to control the problems in our schools, and then parents, such as the Obamas, will send their children to the public schools.
Joel Moss
Brooklyn
The Obamas will not send their children to public school for two simple reasons: First, they love their kids.
In this, they are like other American parents; they want the best for their children.
Second, the Obamas can afford a top-notch private education. Here they differ significantly from lots of American parents, many of whom will suffer financially under President Obama’s tax plans.
Something can be done, however, for Americans who love their children but can’t afford to rescue them from failed public-school systems: vouchers. Can we do it? To quote Barack Obama himself, “Yes, we can!”
Paul Francis
Manchester, Conn.
DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is trying to do what has been attempted for decades in New York: Get rid of incompetent teachers and reward efficiency.
Sorry, Rhee. It will never happen. Democrats have been promising improved schools forever, but as long as the teachers’ unions have them in their back pockets, the children will have to take it on the chin.
What’s more important to these liberal hacks, re-election or the plight of the helpless?
Chris Michaels
Morganville, NJ