Remarks by David N. Taylor at National School Choice Week Rally
January 23, 2024
The Capitol, Harrisburg
Thank you very much.
I’m David N. Taylor and I have the great honor of serving as school board president for Reach Cyber Charter School, one of Pennsylvania’s statewide virtual schools.
Each one of Pennsylvania’s young people is unique, with inherent potential. Each one has a unique contribution to make to our commonwealth and our country. We as adults, parents, citizens, and taxpayers have a DUTY, a PROFOUND RESPONSIBILITY to help each student to reach the fullness of his or her God-given potential.
There is a role for every type of school in serving these students. What do you do with a student who is immunocompromised? Or who suffers from crippling anxiety? A student who can’t focus on learning because of bullying or ostracism or some other kind of in-school abuse? What do you do with a student who is making steady progress but can’t keep up with the class? What do you do with a student who is acing the material and is eager to work ahead?
Our school can help those kids. And we do, every day, thousands of them, in all sixty-seven counties.
Virtual learning is the answer for those students and their families. Some other students may need another kind of learning environment to thrive. That’s why school choice is so important to so many Pennsylvanians.
It is not a cliché to say that the rising generation will be the leaders of the future. That is the absolute, literal truth. That means the future prosperity and stability of our commonwealth depends on how well we prepare our young people TODAY. That is the urgency of this moment – to ensure that our students receive a learning experience that is rigorous, challenging, and meaningful, that prepares them for success in life, including success in the workplace.
What hope can we have for our future if we don’t help our students to excel? To realize the fullness of their potential, to become their best selves?
Pennsylvania’s workforce is aging. There are thousands of good-paying, family-sustaining jobs that go unfilled. We need people with the talents to take up those roles so our economy can grow and those employees can enjoy the wages, benefits, and retirement funds that come with them. The dignity of self-sufficiency is central to human thriving and an effective educational experience is the key that opens up all of those possibilities.
The great American humorist Mark Twain once said, “I always tried to make sure that my schooling didn’t interfere with my education.” There’s an awful lot of insight in that observation. Too often we mistake the one thing for the other, which is why we need to strip away the externalities of what is actually just schooling to instead prioritize actual student success measured in LEARNING. We want our kids to thrive not just get by.
We need school choice to drive innovation by introducing competition. Not destructive competition but competition to excel, like in sports. Innovation brings new tools, new techniques, new experiences for students that can be used by schools of every kind. Just as we need to challenge our students to improve so they can grow, the same is true of public education itself.
Sometimes I think our state motto should be, “Pennsylvania: We’ve Always Done It This Way.”
Here’s the unavoidable truth: the 19th century factory model of education is obsolete. Technology and the cumulative progress of educational innovators has brought forth new opportunities for each young person to learn, grow, and excel.
They deserve to have the full benefit of these new opportunities.
Pennsylvania deserves to have the full benefit of the potential God gave them.
Thank you for being here today.