An Arizona lawmaker says society might value education more if we weren’t forced to attend school. The Arizona Daily Sun reports:
Rep. Paul Mosley, R-Lake Havasu City, questions whether any parent should ever be forced to send a child to public school, at any age.
Mosley, who attended public schools and has a bachelor’s degree in business management, said he’s not anti-education. But he told Capitol Media Services the current system of forcing children to go to school and forcing their parents to send them there is not creating a better educated society.
“Do you know what our dropout rate is?” he asked when queried about his position. “One of the highest in the world.”
And Mosley said Arizona, with more than 40,000 people behind bars, has among the highest incarceration rates in the world.
“And we spent $1.1 billion every year,” he said. “So how’s compulsory education working for us?”
More to the point, Mosley said he believes there’s a nexus between compulsory education and incarceration.
“Maybe we’d value the actual free education that the state offers to the children of Arizona,” Mosley said, with the students who are in schools voluntarily more interested in learning what they can.
I’m with Mosley on this one, but something tells me his “don’t make kids go to school” campaign isn’t going to get far. Teachers unions already blow a gasket every time someone suggests simply not forcing kids to attend a public school, let alone no school at all.
SOURCE: Arizona Daily Sun
IN THIS ISSUE:
- TENNESSEE: Tennessee lawmakers who supported an unsuccessful voucher bill this session will be doing their summer homework before re-introducing the bill next session, Chalkbeat.org reports.
- COLORADO: A star Colorado student credits her success with her decision to transfer across district lines.
- NEVADA: Nevada Republicans are vowing not to support the state budget unless it funds the state’s education savings accounts program.
- TEXAS: The Dallas, Texas public school district wants to expand its education options to keep kids enrolled.
- WISCONSIN: Students in Wisconsin face barriers to participating in the state’s school choice program.
Common Core and Curriculum Watch
- OHIO: Two bills to repeal and replace Common Core are under consideration in Ohio. Truth in American Education puts both under the microscope here.
- WEST VIRGINIA: West Virginia’s governor signs a bill to ban Common Core.
- NEW YORK: New York is tweaking its Common Core standards.
- NEBRASKA: Teachers unions in Nebraska are pushing for a “social justice” curriculum.
- NEVADA: Nevada considers legislation to make learning cursive mandatory in public schools.
- BULLYING: Bullying is down in U.S. schools, new data show.
- LUNCHES: Some schools in Kansas are seeking waivers to forego the federally mandated nutrition guidelines so students will actually eat school lunches.
- ILLEGALS: San Francisco will soon allow non-citizens to elect school board members.
- ONLINE: The Associated Press reports online “education startups” are the next big thing.