Fixing Education
There are thousands of wonderful teachers in our public schools, millions who just get the job done, and thousands of others who are destructive of the educational process. There are way too many administrators, tons too many regulations, a plague of crumbling facilities, and an inundation of outdated and inaccurate textbooks. Not to mention under-prepared students.
This offense to the very notion of education has been worsening over the past forty years. Where once our public school system was the envy of the world, today it is an embarrassment, at best.
The reasons for this disaster are several but before getting to them, let’s realize that when we don’t educate people, we sew the seeds of our own demise. I have frequently quoted Thomas Jefferson who observed, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Producing generation after generation of un- and ill-informed Americans produces bigotry and corruption, much like what we see with the tea-baggers in the streets and the self-aggrandizing poseurs in our federal, state and local governments.
Schools are the victims of parents who don’t know enough to care, children who can’t vote, politicians who don’t fund education or support system reform, unions who put members’ dues ahead of schooling.
Parents at a lower-end elementary school in Oakland have been trying to get rid of a lousy three-grade teacher for two years. He has been shifted from school to school because he’s so bad. The parents didn’t get the attention of school officials until they pulled their children out of class, costing the school thousands in state funding. It shouldn’t take that.
The solutions are simple. Eliminate all public education unions, set new standards based on the wonderful teachers, cut school administration by 70%, extend the school year to 220 days, dramatically expand vocational training, and end social promotions.
Learning is one of life’s greatest experiences. Surely we can share that wonder with our children.
©2010 SetonnoteS
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