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Calls vouchers 'a shameful disservice to children'
Update, January 30, 2006: NEA mourns the death of |
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The most destructive societal trend for young people today is the inadequate funding of public education, civil rights activist Coretta Scott King said Thursday (October 28, 1999) in the keynote address at the 1999 WEAC Convention. (66-second audio clip of Coretta Scott King's comments on the value of public education)
"I don't know what it's like here in Wisconsin, but in my home state of Georgia schools are beginning to look more like trailer parks than citadels of learning," she said at the Milwaukee convention.
Policymakers who criticize the cost of education are shortsighted, she
said.
"By almost any measure, education is the most cost-effective investment taxpayers can make," King said. "Letting schools deteriorate will end up costing a lot more."
King spoke out strongly in support of arts and music education.
She lashed out at private school voucher programs, saying strong public schools are an essential element to American society. "Anything that undermines them does a shameful disservice to children," she said.
She said she has nothing against private schools, but "I see no good reason private schools should be subsidized by taxpayers."
Voucher programs, she said, detract from the real issue: that every public school should be able to provide the best possible education for all children.
There are many ways to strengthen public schools, she said, including increasing parental involvement and increasing the use of technology in schools. But the best approach toward improving education "is to have more public school teachers and reduce class sizes," she said to a sustained applause.
Coretta Scott King visits with WEAC Board members following her keynote speech at the WEAC Convention. Here, she shakes hands with Tjuna Eggson, a member of the Milwaukee Educational Assistants' Association. Eggson works at Clarke Street Elementary School. |
Studies support the common sense logic, she said, that teachers can do a better job in reaching kids in smaller classes.
King, saying it is important for schools to be safe and orderly, advocated stronger gun control legislation. Six months after the Columbine High School tragedy, Congress still has not passed "even modest restrictions on the sales of guns at gun shows," said King who is the widow of slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Something is wrong when it is so easy for children to obtain guns," she said.
Schools and teachers must nurture a culture of non-violence, King said, to overcome a society saturated with violence in movies, television and music.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of love, forgiveness and reconciliation is very relevant in today's society, she said.
"We must begin to more aggressively teach the values of American democracy," she said.
King praised the profession of teaching, saying teachers do not receive the recognition they deserve.
"You make the difference in so many lives. You don't know how many because few will come back and tell you, but many will remember," she said.
"Teachers in America are the unsung heroes and 'sheroes' of democracy."
Posted October 28, 1999