Public, er, government, "educators"

ABC's John Stossel has been railing against "public education" (i.e., government schools) in the USA for sometime, most notably in his recently aired "Stupid in America" documentary. As you might guess, he's received quite a bit of feedback, especially from the teachers' union, NEA. Here are a few excerpts from his recent column on townhall.com:

"Several hundred people showed up at my door Wednesday to teach me a lesson by offering me a job. They were unionized public-school teachers .....

..... And I was especially surprised by one history lesson they taught me: "Public schools are what distinguish democracies from every other system in the world," and a country without strong public schools "lends itself to authoritarian thinking." Fascinating. I guess the Communists all went to private school. And I guess having a unionized government monopoly running most of our schools, and forcing students to attend those schools regardless of whether they or their parents approve of what's taught there, will make sure that the government can never indoctrinate our children -- and neither can labor unions .....
Another speaker said the union's goal was to ensure that a quality education was "free and accessible to all of New York City's children, regardless of income . . . or geography." Ironically that's what school choice would provide. If the education dollars were attached to the student, then parents could pick a school for their kids regardless of geography or income. It would free parents and kids from the current education system's school-zone bureaucracy and give them real choice. Today, geography is often the only determining factor in a child's assignment to a public school. With school choice, you might be able to send your child to any school within commuting range, not just the one in your school zone."

(to the read the entire column, http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/JohnStossel/2006/03/15/189907.html )

The level of hypocrisy (ignorance?) from some of these "teachers" is stunning to me. I'm grateful my own kids are now adults (though I sometimes wonder how much we may have erred in sending them to our local public schools). I pray that my grandkids will either attend private schools or have the privilege of being home schooled.