The law of supply and demand sets my salary, and teachers’ salaries. At least mine is paid for by the people who directly want my services. I’m not demanding my neighbors pay my salary. Every time teachers complain about their salary, I grit my teeth because that means they want to take more of mine. Obviously they are not providing a service that enough people want if the only way they get paid is by taxes.
“Free” education is a disaster. The students place no worth on it. Which gets a bigger reaction from parents? Suggesting a schedule change to the school year that interferes with their work schedules, or releasing abysmal test data? I’ve seen bigger protests over school delays than the fact that kids can’t read. That should tell you what the American public thinks of their schools - they’re babysitting facilities.
My criticism is not of any particular individual teachers, but a system that is so rotten, so corrupt, that the longer we delay, the more painful the remedy will be. Unfortunately, many people think it is not as bad as I think it is. So they will delay and delay, prop up an old system, until it becomes obvious even to them... and then what? All the people they needed to help them fix it are leaving, have left. We’re on the second generation of homeschoolers now. Many stay at home moms who might have been the linchpin of a school’s rehabilitation have given up and are learning to educate their own children.
They can take my tax dollars, by the threat of violence. But when they come whining that my kids can read and theirs can’t and it’s not fair, tough. It’s too late to take the easy way out. Children’s minds and souls are too valuable to gamble on a broken system.
You could say the same thing of the police, firemen, and the military.
“Free” education is a disaster. The students place no worth on it.
There's a lot of truth in that. I think we'd be better off with a system such as that Europeans and Asians use, where the quality & status of your education is directly related to your talent and effort.