The Civitas Institute's 7-Point Conservative Agenda for General Assembly's Short Session

My children have been homeschooled and are enrolled in a charter school. Until you've had to seek treatment for a 6 year old because she had night terrors after witnessing her teacher beaten in her classroom, you have no idea what lengths you will go to, to make sure your children are safe while getting a decent education.

Until we address safety in schools we will have to provide for alternative schools. It's that simple. I volunteered full time trying to help at the girl's school. When parents walk in drunk and in bedroom slippers cussing out the school secretary, how can you expect the kids to act?

I caught a girl stealing out of my pocketbook when I was working in the media center. I simply told her to get her hand out of my pocketbook right then. She quickly pulled out her pockets and said, "I didn't take anything and you can't do anything to me anyway". I told her that I would take it up with her teacher and the principal. Before I could do so, I was called into the vice Principal's office and lectured about making a child empty her pockets. I, of course, set the VP straight. I went to the teacher and in front of the teacher and the class asked the girl why she accused me of making her pull out her pockets. Since the entire class had witnessed the incident she knew she would have few backers. If I hadn't decided out of anger to confront the student, absolutely nothing would have been done about the fact that she had been trying to steal from my pocketbook. This is one story out of many I have from five years at this school.

The problem is, we've taken all power away from teachers to discipline. Parents and children both have no respect for teachers and the administration at our school never backed up the teachers. They almost always sided with the parents. Sadly, the school we were in was 68% free and reduced lunch and most came from the roughest public housing complex in Charlotte. It was a nightmare. Nobody could control these children. I stuck it out for as long as I could, but I wasn't going to let those student's ruin my girls' school experience. There is no amount of sympathy or empathy in the world that will make me put my children in harm's way.

You guys figure out what someone should do who can't afford private school when this is what they have to deal with.

Sorry for the rant, but I've had it up to my eyeballs with people bad-mouthing alternative education. Money isn't going to solve the problems we face in the schools and it's about time progressives realized that. We need to stop excusing the poor behavior and performance of all students - red, yellow, black or white, rich, poor or middle income.

Stop feeling so much sympathy for those kids who don't have a good example set for them at home, because by the time they've been in school for a few years they've had plenty of good examples set for them. When kids get to 4th grade and have been in an organized school setting since they were 4, they've had 6-7 years of good examples set. They know how to behave, but they also know that they don't have to because there will always be someone there to make excuses for them. It's abstolutely sickening.

If you don't believe me, just ask yourself how George Bush got the way he is today. He doesn't take responsibility for anything because someone was always making excuses for him and cleaning up his messes. Is this how you want the children of tomorrow to turn out? I didn't think so.