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Mainstream, Progressive Education, and Tuition Hikes

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

1.       Where’s the mainstream, and who’s in it? 

          The media continue to report that President Bush’s judicial nominees are extremists, who are far out of the mainstream, so I have been wondering where is this “mainstream” they keep talking about, and who is in it?  The main stream we have here in Louisville is the Ohio River, but you don’t find many people swimming or wading there, so it would not be a good place to look for judges.  Maybe the Washington media are looking for judges in the Potomac River, but I bet they won’t find any there, either.   So I am not sure where this so-called “mainstream” is, or what judges might be in it, but my test for the suitability of a judge is not what stream he is in, or even whether he can swim, but whether he plays the game by the rules.  As far as I am concerned, a judge can have any personal opinions he wants to have as long as he applies the law rather than making it up himself.  The judge can be pro-abortion, anti-abortion, pro-gay marriage, anti-gay marriage – I don’t care.  But any judge that “discovers” a new right or new language in a law that isn’t really there has no business being a judge.  We need humble judges who stick to the law, not arrogant judges who think they are the law, and if it takes changing the senate rules to get those kinds of judges approved, then that’s what needs to happen.  As for the threat by Democrats to slow down the operation of the Senate in retaliation for ending the filibuster, that sounds pretty good to me.  If we can get good judges and  fewer intrusive laws,  that would be terrific!

2.       Progressive Education?

          The Pritchard Committee has discovered that Kentucky schools are not providing our children the quality of education they need, and it has come out with new recommendations for improving education in Kentucky.  Not surprisingly, this so-called “progressive” group is suggesting the same kinds of things it has suggested in the past – various tweaks leading to major spending increases.   Too bad the committee is not interested in changes that would really make a difference, such as introducing competition, giving parents choices, and shutting down failing schools.  Yes, we know the schools have failed our children for many years and continue to fail them, and we know that dramatically increasing education funding has not improved matters.  Anyone who really expects us to get a cure by applying more of the same failed medicine is only fooling himself.

3.       U of L Tuition Hike

          When the University of Louisville announced that it would be hiking tuition rates, some students protested, and Bob Hill called it a tax hike, describing how difficult it was for a single mother to pay the tuition for her children.  I am sure it is very difficult for a single mother with a low-paying job to afford lots of things, but when the price of milk goes up or the price of a haircut goes up, Bob doesn’t call that a tax hike.  So why is it a tax hike when a university student is expected to pay a bit more for his own education?  If an education is as valuable as we all say it is, then the people receiving the value ought to be willing to pay for it.  They may have to take out a loan or a part-time job, but a good education would be worth it.  If they are learning marketable skills, then future employers also may be willing to work out a deal with loans, work/study, and so forth.  Maybe even Bob Hill, who claims to be so concerned and compassionate, will pull out his own checkbook and make a large donation to a scholarship fund to help struggling students, but somehow I doubt it.  I’m sure he finds it much easier to sit at his elevated perch and demand money from other people’s pockets than to put his own money where his mouth is.

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