Cato Institute 1000 Massachuetts Av. NW,Washington DC 20001 September 4, 2009 Add reply-11817@cato-subscriptions.org to your Address Book to avoid spam filters Obama Set to Address the Nation's Schoolchildren On Tuesday, September 8, President Obama will deliver a televised address to schoolchildren nationwide. This week, all public schools received guidelines from the federal government that originally recommended that students “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.” The administration later backpedaled and removed the wording. It now suggests that the children write about their own educational goals. Cato education scholar Neal McCluskey weighs in: It’s one thing for a president to encourage kids to work hard and stay in school – that’s a reasonable use of the bully pulpit. It’s another thing entirely, however, to have the U.S. Department of Education send detailed instructions to schools nationwide on how to glorify the president and presidency, and prod schools to drive social change….The only system of learning compatible with a truly free society is not one of government domination, but one rooted in educational choice – public education, not schooling – in which the public assures that all people can access education, but parents are free to choose their children’s schools and educators are free to educate how they wish. Cato scholar Adam Schaeffer explains the fundamental problem of a government run school system: This problem didn’t begin with Obama and won’t end with him. Politics in the schools is what we get when the government runs our schools. Don’t want your kids indoctrinated by government bureaucrats, special interests, or the President? Private school choice is the only remedy, and education tax credits are the increasingly popular and successful way to deliver it. When will a critical mass of the people realize that it is dangerous and destructive to allow the government to control the education of our children and finally do something about it? Andrew J. Coulson, director of Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom, discusses the troubling irony between the president’s words and actions: The real problem isn’t what the president or the education department have to SAY. The problem is what they are actually doing. If the president really wants to improve academic achievement and raise graduation rates, why did he kill the federal private school choice program in Washington DC? His own education department reports that this program significantly raises students’ academic achievement, and it’s doing so at one quarter the cost of the city’s public schools….Instead of just telling kids to get good grades and stay in school, president Obama should support policies that are proven to achieve those goals.

I always consider the source of the information. Private Schools are of course pro-anything that gets them paid. I'll have to check the reports for themselves. The public schools in DC get shitted on every level which is why they fail. Minimal funding, rookie teachers, politics, outside social problems, and lack of parent participation.

Me thinks that you've got an axe to grind, what with the Cato Institutes' loaded question.