Schools, Murder And Smoking
By Walter Moore, Candidate for Mayor of L.A.
I’ve taught high school in the LAUSD, and I’ve smoked cigars. Guess which I consider the more dangerous of the two activities?
This past summer, a student was murdered near Hamilton High, which is located just north of the intersection Robertson and the 10 freeway. Early in the school year, a student was killed at Venice High. Yesterday, a student was stabbed to death at Washington High in the Athens area, near the intersection of the 110 and the 105.
The schools are not just ineffective at educating children. They are dangerous.
Parents should not have to send their children to dangerous, mismanaged institutions just because career politicians, who send their own children to private schools, are willing to sacrifice others' children to win the approval of the teachers' union.
Mayor Villaraigosa and his wife send their children to private schools. Everyone in this City should have the same freedom of choice. Call it “pro-choice on education.”
My platform calls for parents who want to opt out of the LAUSD to receive vouchers to help pay for private school.
Now, if for some reason the people who oppose vouchers want to send their own children to public schools, they would still be free to do so. But they should not have the power to deprive other parents of meaningful educational choice. We should help all parents, regardless of income, get a good, private school education for their children.
Where is City Hall in all of this? Yesterday, the City Council, whose salary you pay, was spending its time coming up with an ordinance to stop people from smoking in public parks. Forget the murders, forget the fleet of trucks that's on its way from Mexico with no emissions controls, forget the millions of cars already here -- City Council believes the highest and best use of the City Council's time is to protect you from a whiff of Macanudo. Remember Nero fiddling while Rome burned? You live in Rome, my friend, and not at its height.
We need someone in City Hall with his head screwed on straight, who understands the importance of prioritizing. That would be me. Put me there: contribute today, would you?
Saturday, March 24, 2007
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