Our “Public” Education Is A Failure For Millions: Change is Needed
Pre and post-pandemic testing of the education accomplishments of our children reveal extremely disturbing comparative results (Ref.1,2). Yet although the U.S. allocates more monies for “public” education than just about any other nation these dismal results are excused by teacher unions and their political allies falsely claiming a lack of sufficient funding (Ref.3,4). The education sector, a special interest or faction, is a master at using public funds to maintain, and if possible increase, union dues that it uses to be a major contributor to the Democratic party (Ref.5,6). Its goal is to maintain its power by vehemently opposing all other alternatives to its monopoly on childhood education that would threaten its cash flow and thus its control of local, state, and national politicians. In effect the taxpayer is funding this scheme by blindly accepting that this archaic system created in the mid 19th century must be maintained because of its importance to our young (Ref.7). This despite the advances and improvements in most other societal activities in the ensuing hundred plus years.
We have been warned against certain factions that work for their own gain at the expensive of the general good. In 1787 James Madison in Federalist 10 wrote, “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction. The friend of popular governments, never finds himself so much alarmed for their character and fate, as when he contemplates their propensity to this dangerous vice………..By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community” (Ref.8.). President Franklin D. Roosevelt in an August 16, 1937 letter regarding federal employees but reasonably pertaining to all government workers, wrote, “All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service…….Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the function of any organization of Government employees” (Ref.9). In 2016 Milton Friedman in a speech delivered in New York City documented the prolonged decrease in the proficiency of American schooling and its causes, proposing the solution of giving parents control of these public funds (Ref.10). More recently, Betsy DeVos has written that we are hostages to an archaic childhood education process dominated by the educational establishment, a certain faction, that are sacrificing the future of millions of children for their own power and material gains (Ref.11).
With the forced closure of schools during the pandemic and the dismal results of competency levels post-pandemic, as well as the teaching of social issues that belong in the home, the idea of putting parents in charge of educational tax dollars is rapidly gaining in popularity (Ref.12). We are realizing that because each child is unique, there is a crucial need for a variety of educational venues to accommodate each child’s distinctive style of learning.
1. Elliot Hannon, New Test Scores Show U.S. Students Continue to Trail Global Peers in Reading and Math, Slate, December 3, 2019, available at: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/global-test-scores-us-american-students-performance-trail-reading-math-science.html#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20was%20outperformed%20by%20China%2C%20Singapore%2C,in%20the%20administration%20of%20the%20exam%E2%80%94and%20its%20results. (accessed September 27, 2022)
2. Mark Schneider, Downward Trends: Pre- and Post- Pandemic NAEP Results, Institute of Education Sciences, September 1, 2022, available at: https://ies.ed.gov/director/remarks/09-01-2022.asp(accessed September 27, 2022)
3. Annual Reports and Information Staff, Education Expenditures by Country, National Center for Education Statistics, May 2022, available at: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd(accessed September 26, 2022)
4. Dave Jamieson, Democrats Want To Boost School Funding To Address Teacher Walkouts, HUFFPOST, May 22, 2018, available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-school-funding-teacher-walkouts_n_5b043ff3e4b0740c25e5c2d8 (accessed September 22, 2022)
5. Thomas Catenacci, Teacher Union’s Donations To Democrats Increased Amid Pandemic, School Closures, Daily Caller, April 29, 2021, available at: https://dailycaller.com/2021/04/29/teachers-unions-political-contributions-democrats-coronavirus-pandemic/ (accessed September 25, 2022)
6. Edward Ring, Teachers’ Independence: Why Teachers Unions Are The Worst of the Worst, California Policy Center, August 1, 2018, available at: https://californiapolicycenter.org/why-teachers-unions-are-the-worst-of-the-worst/ (accessed September 27, 2022)
7. Horace Mann, Lectures and Annual Reports on Education, Lee & Shepard, 1872, p.210
8. James Madison, The Federalist Number 10, Founders Online, November 22, 1787, available at: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0178 (accessed September 15, 2022)
9. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Letter on the Resolution of Federation of Federal Employees Against Strikes in Federal Service, The American Presidency Project, August 16, 1937, available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-the-resolution-federation-federal-employees-against-strikes-federal-service (accessed September 17, 2022)
10. Milton Friedman, Putting Learning Back in the Classroom, You Tube, Free to Choose Network, 2016, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JurdxfNQ0-Q (accessed September 22, 2022)
11, Betsy DeVos, Hostages No More: The Fight For Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child, Hachette Book Group, inc., New York, New York, June 2022, ISBN: 9781546002017
12. James Freeman, A New Ranking for Education Freedom, WSJ, September 8, 2022, available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-new-ranking-for-education-freedom-11662659868 (accessed September 9, 2022)
Glad to see so many varied ideas on such an important issue. Surely it is time for a change. Ken
Not too much talk about school vouchers any longer. They never were a panacea but could allow motivated students to get a real education. My kids went to the local public schools where they got a “B” if they showed up most of the time.
How about Arizona’s plan? I don’t live there, so not familiar. Sounds like they got the green light for a big expansion.
Public schools are terrible because no competition, no Firm Standards ,unable to fire incompetent teachers, counselors, and Politics..Everything is a BUSINESS MODEL.SCHOOLS GOVERNMENT, MEDICINE,MCDONALD’S. STOP FEDERAL FUNDING OF SCHOOLS!.State and local funding ONLY..NO FEDS.ABOLISH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. WE HAVE 50 PLUS ONE IN EVERY STATE AND TERRITORY. Money was never the problem ..Modern communication tech, Radio, Television, internet, tic tok, not controlled by parents,loss of community standards, single parent homes.. Parents must be in Local Control.Teaching the basics reading ,writing , Math, Science. If you have an 8th or 9th grade Good education you can tackle anything the world throws at you..You can then utilize radio,TV,COMPUTERS,INTERNET TO LEARN MORE.. EDUCATION IS UP TO EACH ADULT AND EACH PARENT TO EDUCATE THEIR CHILD AND HELP PREPARE THEM FOR THE WORLD.. EVEN RELIGION IS A BUSINESS MODEL. BASIC. The individual will find their way. JuSt educate them about ALL THE PREDATORS NOW IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM.NOW JUST MORE OBVIOUS CAUSE THEY WERE ALWAYS THERE… ALWAYS PREDATORS TO PREY ON THE YOUNG AND DUMB..
“We are realizing that because each child is unique, there is a crucial need for a variety of educational venues to accommodate each child’s distinctive style of learning.”
We realized that in the late 1960s. It’s the reason why classrooms are now made up of clusters of desks and activity areas, instead of the desks bolted to the floor in rigid rows that we had when I was a kid.
What, exactly, are you proposing? This reads like half of an essay.
And answer me this: If teachers’ unions are so powerful and doing so well, then why does every single teacher you encounter say that s/he hates his or her working conditions and is considering quitting, for exactly the same reasons that doctors are? And why are teachers everywhere except for the large cities paid so badly that they have to take second jobs, but still expected to buy supplies for their students out of their own pockets?
Teachers and teachers’ unions are not out enemy. They are our natural ally. We would be more successful if we followed their example and organized, and allied ourselves with other professions, than we can trying to go it alone.
Metropolitan public school districts have been failing for years!! This didn’t just happen because if the pandemic. It pre-dates the pandemic by easily 10 or more years.
Buffalo Public Schools are a classic example!!
Test scores have steadily declined. Graduation rates are down. Suspension rates are climbing.