It was a bit overstated for the media to characterize conservative
outrage over President Obama’s address to the nation’s schoolchildren
as “foolish” or overblown, since that concern caused the president to
modify his brief remarks and certainly caused the U.S. Department of
Education to re-word the materials that directed classroom exercises
after the president’s speech. (Never mind that the Department of
Education even got involved in the whole affair at all, at what cost,
directing what students should ask themselves after hearing the
president.)
What has been largely overlooked is the point no one in the media seemed to address, until the WSJ brought it up here.
They would have done far more good joining those who
protested on Tuesday against the President’s decision to shut down a
school voucher program for 1,700 low-income kids in Washington, D.C.
“It’s fundamentally wrong for this Administration not to listen to
the voices of citizens in this city,” said Kevin Chavous, the former
D.C. Council member who organized the protest of parents and kids
ignored by most media. Mr. Chavous, a Democrat, is upset that the White
House and Democrats in Congress have conspired to shut down the program
even though the government’s own evaluation demonstrates improved test
scores.
The nationwide black/white achievement gap has grown in recent
years, and it’s significantly wider than it was two decades ago. Yet
the Obama Administration, in deference to teachers unions that oppose
school choice, is shuttering a voucher program that is narrowing the
racial learning gap.
And….denying parents a real choice in their children’s education. Why won’t the ‘elite media’ cover this?