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I don’t if you have been tracking the changes being made to education in

Montgomery, and in other state capitals around the nation…… but there is a

major fight between the usual suspects of the Teachers Unions, the School Board

Associations and those who believe that education cannot be improved without

making some serious changes……and there is nowhere to go but up around here

because Alabama is in the 21 st century in last place…..

You heard me……deadlast! There used to be a time when people could shrug their

shoulders and say “well, thank goodness for Mississippi!” because they always

ranked below us……not anymore……Alabama is last in the nation in

education……deadlast……and you know the old adage……continuing to do the

same thing over and over again and expecting the same result is just the

definition of insanity……..but this past year Republicans in Alabama finally threw

off the yoke of oppression from days past and passed what became known as the

CHOOSE Act….CHOOSE is an acronym that stands for “Creating Hope and

Opportunity for Our Students Education”……a full-on comprehensive school

choice bill that allows education dollars to be spent on the education of a child,

and not the feeding of a bloated failing bureaucracy called the Department of

Education……Parents actually apply for the funds, and then the parents get to

decide how they are applied…..take your pick: change schools, private schools,

home schools…….parents and legal guardians are given the say-so and the funds

to go with the child…….why not? It’s their tax dollars!......this is an exciting change

of the status quo for Alabama……and we have nowhere to go but up…….Donald

Trump said that school choice is the civil rights issue of our lifetime, and I believe

that he is right…..and the wave is sweeping the nation…….state level leadership

and Republican in various offices who say that they want to fix education…… will

be confronted with the opportunity to do so…….school choice is in the Statehouse

in a big way…….

But it will take more than just political will……it will take statesmen……it will take

leadership…..it will take a fight…….So as I was pondering all of this I also stumbled

across a summary of what one person believed should be counted as the top

quotes of General George Patton…..stay with me here……what if General Patton

ran education…….what if those same quotes that took us to victory in the arena of

warfare could be applied to changing the dynamic of our state, or any state……Let

me run through them with you:

‘If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking’

1. “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” – the next

time someone tells you that we’re doing fine…..we’re going to put more

money into it…..it will all work out….remind them that that level of

creativity is the reason why we are dead last…….there has to be a change in

the dynamic……there has to be a means to educate our children without

continually feeding the beast of the education system……

‘I Don’t Measure a Man’s Success by How High He Climbs but How High

He Bounces When He Hits Bottom’

2. We are at the bottom……right now……that’s a given…..do we just lay

there….and wallow in our continual educational misery……if we do then the

many kids around this state who’s parents cannot afford to move them to

better opportunities will continually be relegated to less than they

deserve……studies have proven that a quality education is one of the

surest means to overcome a cycle of poverty…….we have to bounce from

this bottom….I hope that the CHOOSE Act will do just that

‘When There Is Fear of Failure, There Will Be Failure’

3. Is it scary to do something new? Of course……there has never been success

without risk……but when you’re already last there is nowhere to go but

up…..a few years ago I was proud to stand among other legislators to face

down the teachers union and pass the first ever forays into school

choice…..we also freed teachers from the burden of being forced to pay

dues for an organization that held their profession down, gave teachers a

stipend for achieving national certification, and the teachers union fought

us every single step of the way……nasty and desperate……if legislators fear

failure hear they will be in paralysis and nothing will happen….except more

failure….

‘Never Tell People How to Do Things. Tell Them What to Do and They

Will Surprise You With Their Ingenuity’

4. What an amazing thought that we should trust parents……wouldn’t that be

novel…..hello Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, here are the funds that you already

pay into the system how would you like those best applied for your

child?....single Moms, grandparents raising kids, legal guardians trying their

best to change the life of just one kid ……the level of ingenuity they could

express in the development of their child’s education would astound the

old school naysayers…….isn’t it time that we gave them that right?

‘Do Not Try to Make Circumstances Fit Your Plans. Make Plans That Fit

the Circumstances’

5. The circumstances that we find ourselves in are the archetypical evidence

of trying poorly over the years to react …..react…..react……to form the

perfect moment…..it doesn’t work that way…..strategy is the combination

of planning, tactics, and application of resources in such a way that the

circumstances are driven by the plan. Not the other way around. If we

continue to just sit idly by, hope for the best and throw money at education

in Alabama we will only be staring at the perpetuation of our given

circumstances……it is past time that we strategize a means of reaching the

goal of quality education for every child that puts the child at the front of

the plan……and thereby change the circumstances.

‘Moral Courage Is the Most Valuable and Usually the Most Absent

Characteristic in Men’

6. This is going to take some steel fiber in legislators…..many of whom have

already become accustomed to taking campaign donations from the

teachers union despite the fact that the Republican Party platform urges

them not to do so……You ask any of us who were there in the 2010 class of

legislators…..it was a daily fight…..I got all of the hate mail….they tried to

dox me…..they published my cell phone number in the AEA journal and

drew caricatures about me……people dropped threatening letters in my

home mailbox without a stamp meaning that they came to my house…..and

I was not alone…..and we won……Legislators in states that are still

considering school choice either take this stand now with all the moral

courage that it will require or the status quo elitists will know that they can

beat you up and get your lunch money any time they want to……and the

public…..the public will know it too……..

Can you imagine if General George Patton was around to take charge of

education in Alabama?......Or anywhere for that matter……This is what it

takes…..it takes a strength of will, a statesmanlike view, a willingness to recognize

that dollars are for the child, not for the system…….bureaucrats will wring their

hands, and teachers union sycophants will shout and scream……but education of

a child will be retooled if they will stand their ground and see their constituents

and not their paychecks and campaign coffers……the CHOOSE Act kicks off this

month in Alabama……I for one am excited about what that means…….we have

nowhere to go but up…….

well, maybe there’s a few of Patton’s troops in Montgomery after all…….

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way