Jun
23
They’re working hard, are WE?
June 23, 2008 | |
I was blessed recently to be able to attend a conference and workshop in Orlando about education and school choice where many, many good ideas were advanced and where I had a chance to meet some folks from all across the country. There are obstacles in place here of course, but every where else as well. It seems unlikely but it is true, that if you have a new idea about anything, a new process to streamline or make anything better, there is a large contingent of people who stand in your way for whatever reason, usually selfish.
It’s hard for someone like me who believes in the process to read about, or be involved in gridlock as new and positive ideas are advanced and then sometimes to have those ideas either shot down or worse yet watered down.
In one of the sessions I attended, I sat in front of two people, one self- identified as a lobbyist and the other a politician. The lobbyist was from Utah, the politician from a neighboring state. The politician asked the lobbyist about the recent referendum on school choice and vouchers. (Utah legislature passed a bill on school vouchers, mandating their implementation after a year.) A faction in Utah lobbied for the bill to be put on the ballot instead of just being made law, and the bill was ultimately defeated. The lobbyist said, (the quote of the conference)
“The teachers union, the feminists, and the superintendent’s groups are all organized and they’re out there beating he drum everyday. The parents and those directly affected by the bill only get up in arms every so often. Who do you think the courts and the media will listen to?”
As parents, can we afford not to stay informed and be engaged? Don’t we have to keep working and just as hard as THEY do?
Comments
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Don’t be fooled or discouraged by the Utah results. In retrospect, Utah was the worst possible place to try vouchers. Despite the image, Utahns are not conservative on many fiscal issues. Utahns are ultra-conservative on guns, gays and abortion but not on economics.
Utahns love government services, whether its telecommunications, electricity, recreation centers, golf courses, or government-controlled education, money-bleeding light rail etc. etc.
Utah has a long history and tradition of communalism.