Education

Whatever needs fixing in public education today it is not a matter of more money. The fact is, the American taxpayer has been generous to a fault with money for education; the US spends more on education than any other country in the world. But no amount we ever spend will be enough to satisfy the so called “Education Coalitions”.

What needs fixing in public education is a lack of accountability to parents, the existence of a monopoly in the provision of public education and the unconscionable concentration of power over the whole education system by vested interests. Given the power of these vested interests it is little wonder that an outrageous proportion of education funds that go to “administrative costs” and therefore never reach the classroom. With the current system of administrative overspending it is not surprising that in Vacaville only $34 out of the $5000/student that we spend is available for textbooks. With the current system, parents who seek more choices for the education of their children are thwarted by big money vested interests, interests that are disguised as so called “Education Coalitions”. And what happens to those who suggest that we address these issues or that we stop writing blank checks to the education establishment? They are described as uninformed, simplistic, irresponsible or the “enemy of children”. These insults are then treated as an answer to the issues raised! While the Coalitions insult those who question them, the education establishment continues to steal our tax dollars and, worse, our childres' lives.

I propose the following:

1) Limit the whole educational system to 15% administration costs.
2) End micromanagement by state education administrators and free school districts to innovate and find new and better ways to do their jobs. Further, I propose that we do away with the State level bureaucracy
3) Make teachers accountable to the parents of the students. This means competition, and competition means vouchers and charter schools and standard examinations in the basic subjects.
4) End the tenure system now! This system does little more than protect an enviable lifestyle for the mediocre and reward serving time, with no payoff for being a good teacher.
5) Require the informed consent of parents before students are included in any classes other than those of classical education.
Fullyinformed consent should be required for classes such as sex education, “health”, human development, multicultural diversity, sensitivity training etc. Parents should have the absolute right to preview all classroom material including books and movies. They should also have absolute power to remove their child from any of the nonclassical classes or programs without prejudice. Any attempt by school employees to intimidate or discourage parents should be grounds for immediate dismissal.
I absolutely reject the Education Coalition argument that the problem with schools is the fault of parents!

Notes

1) To cover up the failure of the public school system, the Education Coalitions changed the method of calculating the SATscores for this election year. A score of 508 on the verbal test this year represents the same performance as a 428 score last year! They used the same kind of dishonesty for math scores. This bit ofpolitical corruption does not change the fact that our schools still fail to educate our children.
2) If tenure supports freedom of thought and ideas, then why are our institutions of higher education fortresses of dogma and political correctness; why are they the most intolerant institutions in American society?
3) Teacher salaries grew by 45% in real dollars between 1960 and 1990. Teachers were one of the few groups that had this luxury. The rest of us saw our real income remain unchanged or decrease.
4) The rising tide of mediocrity in our schools has put American kids at the bottom of the education ladder when compared to children in other developed nations. This disgrace will only be reversed when the vested interest monopoly over public education is broken.
5) During a TV talk show last spring a young woman called for a reduction in the taxes taken from her husbands paycheck so that she can stay home and raise her children. A short time later a senior state official (Ms. Eastin) labeled people calling for tax cuts “enemies of children”. The real enemy of children is the Education Coalition that steals our hard earned tax dollars and uses our children as guinea pigs in their bizarre psycho-babble based education experiments.

Last modified on Tuesday, October 15, 1996