Oprah Winfrey has been getting some flack for spending millions of her own money to open a school for girls in South Africa. She has critics who maintain that she should be spending that money here in the USA. Conservative columnist Star Parker offers us a sensible defense of Oprah's decisions in a recent article, "Lesson in education from Oprah". Some excerpts:
[...] I can't say that Oprah and I have similar visions of how the world works. When I was working on welfare reform 10 years ago I did her show and it was quite clear that Ms. Winfrey and I are on very different wavelengths.
But now I'm going to defend her.
First of all, it's her money. Unlike many in the entertainment business, Oprah isn't hanging around Washington lobbying for you and me to pay for her pet programs. She isn't even doing Oprah-thons asking us to send in checks.
Oprah made her few billion on her own and she runs her own philanthropy program. It's her money, and it's her business how she chooses to give it away. [...]
She goes on with several other strong points in Oprah's defense, and even discusses Oprah's attempts at helping American inner city kids. Oprah admits failing at this, but Star points out that throwing money at American education is NOT the answer to it's problems:
[...] Who knows how Oprah's school in South Africa will fare?
But could she possibly waste any more money on education than our own government does?
How about our Department of Education, with a budget of $90 billion this year? DOE got started in 1979, compliments of President Carter, with a budget of $14 billion. Anybody out there think our kids are doing six times better on tests?
Despite appropriations for elementary and secondary education that are, in real dollars, more than 50 percent higher today than in 1980, reading scores for 9-year-old kids are virtually unchanged. [...]
(bold emphasis mine) That is just shocking. And why has all this money made NO difference? Star tells you exactly why, as well as the solution. Do read the whole thing, it's short and Star doesn't waste your time. If education in this country really matters to you, this is a must read.
U.S. talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, centre, and students cut the ribbon during the opening of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in the small town of Henley-on-Klip, South Africa, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007. Winfrey opened a school Tuesday for disadvantaged girls, fulfilling a promise she made to former President Nelson Mandela six years ago and giving more than 150 students a chance for a better future. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
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