I agree but don't stop short. Vouchers for any school should certainly include homeschool.

Obama's fascination with the Chinese educational system is misplaced and self-serving. Obama looks at it and sees the wonders of central planning. The Chinese look at it and see the vital and necessary investment in a better future for their children.

As can be seen with the disparities of educational achievement between Asians in our country and other cultural groups, everyone knows that the Asians as a group consistently prize education as the doorway to a better life for their children. Teachers in China are revered because they enable the children to achieve their potential. Asian parents (wherever they are) make sure their children do their homework and take very, very seriously the consequences of not preparing themselves intellectually and professionally for overcoming challenges and becoming productive members of society.

Wish the rest of our parents would tell their children to quit playing so many video games and do the same. Wish we had teachers who could actually be fired when they don't do the job they are supposed to be doing. Wish we could have real schools that actually educate our children, instead of producing a whole generation of 20-somethings that parrot their teachers' liberal ideology and have no concept of what real achievement looks like.

It is their own cultural tradition from the grassroots up that sustains the Chinese focus on education, not the dictates of the top echelons. Obama should quit using the Chinese educational system as an inspiration for central planning, and instead use the widespread Chinese reverence for real education as his inspiration to overhaul our own educational system here at home.

Maybe vouchers, maybe not. I believe it is wrong to force those who have no children, or those who have educated theirs and are done to continue to pay to educate "the children". The responsibility that comes with having children includes paying for their every need which includes education. Vouchers, with the value unchanged, is just another form of redistribution of tax money. I do not believe that it takes this much to properly instruct a child. Demolish the DOE and let the free market take over but don't artificially set the cost of education in private schools in a tit for tat manner. Eventually the costs will climb to meet those of a worthless college degree. That is not the right direction to head in.

My parents' income was below the poverty line, I enjoyed a 2 month summer vacation,and I got my reading material from the local library. I borrowed enough money to pay for my college education and gradually paid it back.I have taught in public schools for 36 years. I consider myself and my collegues of similar age and experience to be well educated. Why did I succeed in life? As first generation American citizens, my parents valued education, hard work,religion,ethical behavior and responsibility.Those values were inherited by their children. Entitlement was wrong...There was nothing wrong with my education and there is little wrong with today's teachers and schools.The problem lies in states accepting that dangling federal carrot and losing local control of the education of its citizens.Teaching for mandated tests in lieu of studying history and the arts, spending countless dollars trying to educate those who will never have the capacity to contribute to society, and providing services that are the parents responsibilities are what those carrots cost. Generations of handouts are creating a population of complacent and apathetic recipients of whatever they perceive they'll get for free. Keep the government out of the education business, and education by the people and for the people will take care of itself.

And now, for the rest of the story:

>I sit down with the mayor of Shanghai, and he talks about the fact that teaching is considered one of the most prestigious jobs and a teacher's getting paid the same as an engineer, that, I think, accounts for how well they're doing in terms of boosting their education system."<

In the Chinese education system, students who can't keep up are placed in "slow-learning" classes. They are forever classified as "slow."

When they take university entrance exams, and ALL are expected to go to university, the whole nation does it on the same day. Anybody caught cheating gets a two year suspension before they can take the exams again. Anybody who fails must wait two years before they can take the exams again.

When they get to the working world, looking for a job, employers will ask them, "Why are you two years older than all the other applicants?" They do not want to hire cheats or dummies. Or "slow."

My first trip to Shang hai I found a story in the local paper about two men who rented and apartment. Neighbors called police because "all kinds of people were coming and going at all hours of day and night." Two policemen went to the apartment to speak with the men. When the knocked on the door, it flew open and one cop was stabbed repeatedly while the other was beaten with a club. The two men ran off. A few days later, police received a report of where the two men were hiding, and sent over a bunch of cops. They arrested the two men. They were indicted, tried by a jury, found guilty, and sentenced to death. They had ten days to introduce new evidence and appeal the sentence.

The police were attacked Feb. 9, 2004. The date of the paper I was reading? Feb. 22, 2004!

The Chinese don't put up with any crap about, "Ever'body be pickin' on me 'cuz I's (whatever)." You either learn or you are committed to a life time of menial labor. They still use pick and shovel in road work and construction, and straw brooms to sweep the streets. There's plenty of work for those who don't want to apply themselves.

Typical of a democrat, and especially this particular democrat to tell only half the truth.

One change I would make is to give the parents a CHECK for the total amount spent per child, which they could then spend on education in any way they chose. If they wanted private instruction, a military school, home instruction, or, if they thought it best for their child, beer, that was their decision, with no appeal.

Agree! Public education is completely unnecessary. It is ultimately the parent's responsibility to educate their children, which my parents did for their four, along with paying taxes for other children's education.

While the free market works best, it is also noted that the USA has lost local control of school systems. In 1930 there were about 117,000 school districts in the country. Now there are only 15,000 along with much larger state and federal bureaucracies. Yet, looking at "average" textbooks, the grade level in 1930 was more advanced.

The Chinese school where I taught had at least one student monitor in each class who reported to the Party. There is pressure for conformity for sure.

Education in this country is overpriced and produces substandard graduates. We think that by "throwing money" at the problem, it will be solved. This principle can be refuted by looking at Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society". It's an unmitigated failure as we have more poor now than then.

Get rid of teachers unions and motivate teachers to produce quality students rather than quantity. Teachers who care more about the welfare of their students rather than the amount of their paycheck and pension are badly needed and are in short supply. Find a way to reduce book prices by teachers creating their only study material as in earlier times. Spend less money on buildings and useless extra-curricular activities and purchase equipment to motivate students to excellence. This, and keep education LOCAL. The federal government should have no business in local schools!

This is going to sound harsh, but too many "conservatives" go wobbly when it comes to "the children." But principles don't change based on emotions. Terence Jeffrey is only half right: we need to abolish all public funding of education.

Abolish publik skuulz? Absolutely! Replace them with government vouchers to parents? No way! It's all about two related things: authority and responsibility.

The authority to make educational decisions for their children rightly resides with parents, not taxpayers. But with that authority comes responsibility: that means paying for it is also the responsibility of parents, not taxpayers. Parents should make the calls AND foot the bills.

As the saying goes, "He who pays the piper calls the tune." That's true here as well. Parents can't use government to reach into everyone's pocket to pay for education (public, private, home, voucher, whatever) and then demand decision-making authority. I'm all for parents making those calls, as long as they don't ask government to confiscate the fruits of my labor to do it.

Using tax dollars for ANYTHING means it legitimately falls under government oversight and control. Want to get Uncle Sam out of the classroom? Terrific! I'm totally with you. Now stop taking tax money. As long as taxpayers are on the hook to pay little Johnny's teacher, government has a fiduciary responsibility to make sure Johnny's teacher meets standards set by the government and learns what the government wants him to learn. The fact that they often do a lousy job is ultimately between taxpayers and legislators. Parents have no special claim to be heard since they have no special taxes levied on them - quite the opposite, in fact, as the tax code favors adults with minor children.

Vouchers are just another way for parents to use the taxing power of the government to reach into my pocket to subsidize their life-choice to bear children. "If you can't feed them, don't breed them."

A house without books is like a room without

windows. No man has a right to bring up his

children without surrounding them with books,

if he has the means to buy them.----Horace Mann

(1796-1859)

After home-schooling our son for K-2, we enrolled him in k12, the Georgia Cyber Academy, which started, for us, this week. I did not know of this online school until shortly after the school year began. The reason we chose this route for third grade was to ensure our son was "properly tested" and "documented" enough to satisfy the government's requirements. Heaven forbid we attract the malevolent attention of our beloved masters in Washington!

Until now we had used books and materials from,say, The Schoolbox and went as a family to puppet shows and museums for field trips. Cub Scouts provides an ideal environment for socialization and supplemental educational acitivities. Books are everywhere in our house and reading is our favorite bedtime activity. I set the curriculum according to state standards available online and reported attendance in line with county school days, all while paying tax dollars to support public schools, one of which is right across the street from us. I challenge any of their students to an academic duel with my son because his father and I take an active interest in him which, I think, is far more important than money spent on public education. Therein lies the rub: underperforming schools consist of apathetic parents and broken families. And no amount of money can fix that.