Supreme Court Strikes a Blow Against Racism in U.S. Schools

Edited for typos & clarity – Saturday, June 30, 2007

The Supreme Court of the United States struck a blow against racism in our schools today — despite some of what you might have heard on your local news this evening. I, for one, am happy about that.

Martin Luther King, Jr. preached about judging people on the content of their character, and not the color of their skin. On Saturday, August 28, 1963, in Washington D.C. he spoke the following words;

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”, August 28, 2007

Affirmative action programs, and using race as the basis for ANYTHING in this country is the OPPOSITE of what MLK, Jr. preached. It is the OPPOSITE of what those who fought for civil rights were fighting for. I just saw on my local news a representative from the NAACP stating that this ruling set back Civil Rights causes. I see it as completely the opposite.

ALL schools should be of good enough quality to attend, should be safe enough to attend, and offer not only equal, but the BEST education you can offer to anyone.

We need to ‘de-federalize’ education in this country. It should be up to the states to govern whatever educational laws there are. Our forefathers designed it this way in order to prevent specific ideas and idealogy from being dictated by a federal government vs. the way education is handled in countries such as China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and other Socialist/Communist/Facist countries around the globe.

‘De-Federalizing Education also retains more control of the taxpayers in regards to the quality of the schools in their communities. When the taxpayers have an ability to oversee school districts more directly, they have a much easier time implementing changes that positively affect their schools — much easier than of group bureaucrats in Washington who can’t possibly know what’s best for every region/state/community. [Frankly, I think they have enough on their plates just trying to manage this country. I think we can all agree — no matter what our political idealogy — that our government is not doing a very good job of things right now.]

The people who have the greatest investment in our schools — in more ways than one — are the residents, the parents, and other community taxpayers, the future employers, family, friends, and neighbors who care about the education the children in our community, are receiving. Local people are also more in touch with the specific needs for the immediate future in their school disctrict.

One more benefit of localized control of our school systems and their funds, is that it frees up the money that currently goes to Washington for administrative duties. Besides freeing up a large portion of money currently devoted to education in this country, it would be much easier to coordinate information concerning good textbooks/programs that work, and other curricular needs that all children should never go without.

Best of all, we will have the children’s teachers in our local schools better equipped in and fully able to address the needs of their students. Thus, making their jobs that much easier.

Many people entrust their children to these members of our community, and we should make sure our educators all have what they need to do the job they wanted to do when they became teachers in the first place. They contribute a priceless asset to our society by educating our children… the future.

That is the way we can fix education in our country once and for all… for everyone…