Posted on 06/13/2007 4:04:18 AM PDT by Kaslin
Here's a good question for you: Why have public schools at all?
OK, cue the marching music. We need public schools because blah blah blah and yada yada yada. We could say blah is common culture and yada is the government's interest in promoting the general welfare. Or that children are the future. And a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Because we can't leave any child behind.
he problem with all these bromides is that they leave out the simple fact that one of the surest ways to leave a kid "behind" is to hand him over to the government. Americans want universal education, just as they want universally safe food. But nobody believes that the government should run nearly all of the restaurants, farms and supermarkets. Why should it run the vast majority of the schools - particularly when it gets terrible results?
Consider Washington, home of the nation's most devoted government-lovers and, ironically, the city with arguably the worst public schools in the country. Out of the 100 largest school districts, according to the Washington Post, D.C. ranks third in spending for each pupil ($12,979) but last in spending on instruction. Fifty-six cents out of every dollar go to administrators who, it's no secret, do a miserable job administrating, even though D.C. schools have been in a state of "reform" for nearly 40 years.
In a blistering series, the Post has documented how badly the bureaucrats have run public education. More than half of the District of Columbia's teenage kids spend their days in "persistently dangerous" schools, with an average of nine violent incidents a day in a system with 135 schools. "Principals reporting dangerous conditions or urgently needed repairs in their buildings wait, on average, 379 days ... for the problems to be fixed," according to the Post. But hey, at least the kids are getting a lousy education. A mere 19 schools managed to get "proficient" scores or better for a majority of students on the district's Comprehensive Assessment Test.
A standard response to such criticisms is to say we don't spend enough on public education. But if money were the solution, wouldn't the district, which spends nearly $13,000 on every kid, rank near the top? If you think more money will fix the schools, make your checks out to "cash" and send them to me.
Private, parochial and charter schools get better results. Parents know this. Applications for vouchers in the district dwarf the available supply, and home schooling has exploded.
As for schools teaching kids about the common culture and all that, as a conservative I couldn't agree more. But is there evidence that public schools are better at it? The results of the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress history and civics exams showed that two-thirds of U.S. high school seniors couldn't identify the significance of a photo of a theater with a sign reading "Colored Entrance." And keep in mind, political correctness pretty much guarantees that Jim Crow and the civil rights movement are included in syllabi. Imagine how few kids can intelligently discuss Manifest Destiny or free silver.
Right now, there's a renewed debate about providing "universal" health insurance. For some liberals, this simply means replicating the public school model for health care. (Stop laughing.) But for others, this means mandating that everyone have health insurance - just as we mandate that all drivers have car insurance - and then throwing tax dollars at poorer folks to make sure no one falls through the cracks.
There's a consensus in America that every child should get an education, but as David Gelernter noted recently in the Weekly Standard, there's no such consensus that public schools need to do the educating.
Really, what would be so terrible about government mandating that every kid has to go to school, and providing subsidies and oversight when necessary, but then getting out of the way?
Milton Friedman noted long ago that the government is bad at providing services - that's why he wanted public schools to be called "government schools" - but that it's good at writing checks. So why not cut checks to people so they can send their kids to school?
What about the good public schools? Well, the reason good public schools are good has nothing to do with government's special expertise and everything to do with the fact that parents care enough to ensure their kids get a good education. That wouldn't change if the government got out of the school business. What would change is that fewer kids would get left behind.
Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Online.
Send to the list?
It’s not the government’s responsibility to feed any kid, cloth any kid, get him to the doctor, make sure he has toys, so why is it their business to provide an education? I mean, seriously, what gives the government such power?
Thanks for posting. A very big issue for me.
So why not have people pay to educate their own children?
I thought Jonah Goldberg was smarter than this. Surely he know that when the government pays, the government controls.
It is well past time for the Separation of SCHOOL from State.
Lookee here ... http://www.schoolandstate.org/home.htm
The problem is fear. People fear that without Government schools that to many kids will go uneducated. Its amazing that we got by without mandatory government schooling at all until the industrial revolution. At which point Public Schools were being founded to provide good little workers and managers for the factories.
I can at least compromise on Public Schools that run up to 7-8the grade that are purely academic. After that good luck.
Public schools are what makes America great.
Public schools are the very essence of our incredibly successful melting pot.
I thought we needed public schools because “It takes a village” to raise and indoctrinate our kids?!
ping
A big issue for me, too. Let schools compete for kids and the quality will go up. Maybe, maybe have charity schools, but that’s it. And still let the private sector compete for those kids via vouchers.
I’m sure your question is rhetorical, but as another poster stated, it’s about control.
There was a shift in the purpose of education around the time of the industrial revolution, and it’s escalated even more so today. Once upon a time, people were educated for their own benefit, to grow and mature and gain Godly wisdom. Now, education serves the sole purpose of producing ‘bots for the good of the global machine. Instead of producing wisdom, it’s bent towards producing producers.
As early as 6, Little Johnny is asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. In other words, “What can you contribute to the socialist utopia we’re forming?”
Add to this a decline in pre-adult responsibilities, an increase in entertainment-on-demand, and the overall ‘whatever’ attitude of public schools, and we’ve got ourselves a recipe for disaster.
I thank God daily that he allows us to homeschool our children. There is no way I would willingly send them into the belly of the beast day after day, to have their minds filled with pc-mush by godless heathen.
One of the great things about supporting the left is that it gives one the chance to utter amazingly racist statements.
It was essentially a 'done deal' with Planned Parenthood the author.
But parents, who were suppose to be the last to know....got wind of it.
And parents, myself included, managed to get copies of the curriculum draft..
....made more copies..
...disseminate them to other parents..
...prepared our talking points after getting informed on the issue and what we could do to effect change, even at this late date
.... alerted parents, teachers, preachers, business folk...county wide...
..and even sent off & found a sex-ed curriculum that reflected the moral values of the majority of parents...(Abstinence Only)......
After weeks and weeks of stalling the school board decision....
..after informal gatherings around the county to encourage parents to attend school board meetings and speak out!!
....the final vote was taken....and there were hundreds of parents in attendance!
The board rejected our replacement curriculum....
...but instead of pushing their Planned Parenthood curriculum on us....
..they rewrote their own....and it reflected, almost word for word, the one we had presented!!
It was a total win!
And for 15 years, they held the line...
..if anything 'new' came up to be introduced into the curriculum, it had to be reviewed and voted on by a committee expressly selected & with parent involvement!
HOWEVER, recently Planned Parenthood reared their ugly head again, and tried to introduce 2 entries to the curriculum......
...Same sex relationships-(homosexuality)
..and promotion of birth control
County by county, state by state, Planned Parenthood will not give up....
My two children went through public school....but as a parent, I was 'hands on' with every event, every meeting I could attend.
I knew the teachers, principals, curriculum, social engagements, etc.
If parents are not paying attention....
..if they are not engaged with what is affecting their own children...
..I pity them and I pity their children.
I would encourage every parent to get a copy of the NEA guidelines and read what they actually believe and try to promote in your child!!!!
> I thank God daily that he allows us to homeschool our
> children. There is no way I would willingly send them
> into the belly of the beast day after day, to have their
> minds filled with pc-mush by godless heathen.
This bears repeating, and I COMPLETELY agree.
We homeschool all our children, by the mercy and grace of God.
The quickest way to start turning public education in America around is to go to a voucher system.Giving people a REAL choice about where they send their kids for an education will foster competition between private and public schools,something that’s lacking with the present system.Ultimately I believe it could lower the cost of education also because in many private schools teachers are NOT members of unions like the NEA,and we all know how these union pirates have pushed the cost of education through the roof !!!
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