The silence of the lambs: McMillan blasts bureaucrats for destroying public education

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, August 15, 2002 | Craige McMillan

[JohnHuang2]

No matter where you go in America, some things remain the same. One is the acute injustice of the "education lobby." State budget woes have brought educrats out in force. In Oregon, they want to borrow against next year's budget to avoid this year's cuts. In Seattle, espresso-cart operators have gone ballistic over a 10-cent-a-cup "latte tax" placed on the fall ballot, with the proceeds, in the millions, going to schools.

The educrats' universal slogan is "do it for the children." Invariably, "it" refers to the transfer of money from the taxpayer's pocketbook to the educrat's bank account.

When I was a boy, education was simple enough. Schools had a principal, sometimes an assistant principal, a secretary, a janitor or two, and – teachers. Yes, lots of teachers. We also had playgrounds, buildings and school buses. The buses only transported farm kids to school – the rest of us walked in winter and rode our bicycles in spring and fall.

I suppose even back then principals had administrative duties, but in our view their primary responsibility was to inspire good behavior through fear, and it worked splendidly. If you were extraordinarily unlucky, principals also did substitute teaching. The secretary was there to keep the principal in his private office, so the regular office wasn't quite so frightening during non-disciplinary visits. Janitors tidied up and, of course, teachers taught.

It was a simple arrangement, but extraordinarily successful. You could tell at a glance that the entire enterprise was engaged in teaching – kids went in ignorant and they came out educated. Teachers were respected in the community. "Do it for the children" wasn't their slogan, it was their life.

Today, the situation is different. Support staff (I call them educrats) are approaching a 1:1 ratio with teachers. Both the product (students rescued from a lifetime of ignorance) and the service (the teaching process) are awful. Kids go in ignorant, they learn political correctness, pseudo-science, hatred of America and sexual perversion before being dumped on the street – uneducated. The bill for all this has skyrocketed and every year, it seems, taxpayers are clubbed over the head with the empty slogan, "do it for the children."

This would be disastrous enough, but teachers now aspire to educrat status. This is because the pay is so much better and you don't have to deal with the rude and uneducated kids passed on by a previous teacher who believed that "no child should fail." Life on the outside is rarely so kind, a lesson schools today delay.

If dangling financial incentives in front of teachers to stop teaching were not enough, educrats seem intent on forcing good teachers out of the system entirely. In Olympia, Washington State's capital, you could talk with Richard Robertson, a high-school math teacher forced out after 23 years of teaching. While students and parents flooded the meeting in support of him, school-board members went into "executive session" out of public view to craft the axe ("Students, parents decry teacher's exit," by Alma D. Sharpe, The Olympian, B1, 8/13/02).

So what is the teachers union concerned about in the midst of all this? They are busy fighting a ballot initiative that would mandate gasoline taxes be spent on transportation improvements ("Teachers' unions sue to alter initiatives," by Patrick Condon, The Olympian, A2, 8/13/02).

Public education in America is terminally ill. Educrats are obsessed with money, power and influence. They have forgotten why schools exist. Attempts to measure the level of their failure only serve to increase their bureaucratic fiefdom with funds coming out of the hides of teachers still struggling in the classroom. Educrats are in bed with the most vile and disruptive elements of society in their struggle to grow their bureaucratic empire on the backs of innocent children.

Most of these kids will never recover from their education "experience": They have instead been condemned to a lifetime of poverty, ignorance and vice – traits they will unwittingly pass onto their children and their children's children. We will all pay that price ad-infinitum, but educrats will observe the process from the comfort of their state-funded retirements, while they "tisk, tisk" taxpayers for resisting demands for ever-more money to "fix things."

On the contrary, state budget troubles give legislators the only opportunity they may ever have to reverse public education's decline. Pay as you go is a wise choice. Cut the education budget like all the rest, but mandate that all reductions come from bureaucratic, not teaching staff. Taxpayers would win twice: One less report filed means one less bureaucrat required to read the "product." Do it for the children.

[Billthedrill]

There are a number of issues involved here - it should be pointed out that the WEA, Washington State's NEA subordinate, is notable for the political involvement of union leaders and the deliberate and unapologetic subornation of union dues to the support of Democratic party politics. This despite recent losses in courts as a result of Evergreen Freedom Foundation lawsuits which were necessary to force the union to obey existing law (and resulted in a hefty fine for their not having done so in the previous national elections).

If you add professional union administrators to the number of government-funded non-teaching administrators in this state, the number of administrators-to-classroom-teachers may actually exceed 1:1 depending on whose numbers you use, and given that union administrators are paid out of dues that are ultimately billed to the taxpayer, the author's description of the problem is an understatement. The answer here is NOT more, and more, and more taxpayer dollars to sustain this unwieldy and inefficient infrastructure.

[don-o]

If parents can afford to send their kids to the school of their choice via vouchers why should homeschooling be permitted?

1. Vouchers is just a transfer of tax money that should not be levied in the first place.

2. The state does not own children, or any citizen, for that matter.

3. Parents are ultimately and eternally responsible for the way they raise and edcucate their children. Remember the millstone that that Jesus spoke of?

4. Many parents know that all the money and the "finest" educational institutions possible can not substitute for the love and attention that homeschooling offers to their children.

[sparkydragon]

Quite right.

But I'm afraid convincing the government of any of that is not going to happen. At some point in time parents got convinced that it is not their responsibility to see their child educated; that, in fact, they could not possibly do so. I have seen people claiming dual Masters degrees claim they are not as qualified to teach their child as the drama major who couldn't spell her own name is qualified to teach me calculus.

I think that vouchers can be a step in the right direction, but they may lead to several steps in the wrong direction. Vouchers typically are only allowed to be spent at approved schools, not for any educational materials your child should need. I don't know of any voucher program that allows you to use the money to homeschool. I don't think that it is in the nature of the government to legislate less regulation rather than more.

[Temple Owl]

I fear it will be a starting point to government regulation of the chartered schools and the ban of other forms of educational choice, such as homeschool. And you only give parents limited control. I have heard of no program that gives parents a check to use for education.

Your fears may be unfounded. Vouchers would probably be an asset to homeschoolers too. It is possible they could be used to take courses not available at home, I am truly concerned about our kids in the inter-city slums who are stuck in a no-win situation. They would be much better off in church basement schools where they would be safe and able to learn the three "Rs." What I envision is something like the G.I. Bill. I used it to to college and I feel these kids can use vouchers to go to any school their parents choose without any strings attached.

Taxes would also drop by a lot because will not have to pay for Taj Mahals eqiupped with Olympic-sized swimming pools.

[sparkydragon]

I think you have a marvelous idea. What you describe is almost everything I could wish for vouchers. The only problem is that there is a difference between a voucher and a check. It is not actually money. If a school doesn't enroll in the voucher program, and many don't, a kid with a voucher can't use it to go there. That's part of the reason it went to the Supreme Court. 99% of the schools that enrolled were Christian. While there were secular schools in the area, the argument was that they didn't really have a choice because very, very few of them would accept the vouchers. Parents can't use a voucher to buy educational material, they can only use it to go to a school that accepts them.

I've heard propositions to allow the money to go toward homeschooling, but I've studied too much history and seen too much myself to honestly believe that the government will actually get their hands out of it. It's nice to think that less money spenton a government program means lower taxes, but I've seen them time and time again just find something else to spend the saved money on.

sparky

[Constitution1st]

I don't care how much reform they would do, they could never duplicate what we do, and the success rate we have in our homeschool. Classical education has been gone in America for a long time, and more and more parents along with myself, are beginning to realize that one to one education can not be replaced by one teacher to 18 or 28 or 50 students!

By the time the children will be college age, they will be focused and disciplined; college could work for them, since they will know how to educate themselves. But even college by tutorials is superior to college by the 500 seat lecture hall. Homeschooling has brought about a revolution in education, and it is wonderful! People think and question things they would not have done, otherwise. What a rebirth for education in America; ironically occuring simultaneously with the death of the public school system.

[Constitution1st]

I don't believe that parents thought they could not possibly educate their own; if that statement were true, home education would never have arisen. What is more accurate is that the public schools did produce a good education, and parents learned to trust them, and hence they did not think about education any longer, because they ahd something that worked. I know the education I received in public school decades ago, was adequate and a bit more.

That is not the case any longer, though, and that is precisely why parents are leaving the schools. They have already thought, questioned, and moved onto better education choices for their children.

[2Jedismom]

I agree! I always say that even if the schools were excellent and perfect in every way, I wouldn't send my kids. I think it's inhumane, anyway, to force a kid to sit in a desk all day...a young child, anyway.

But of course I don't have too many opinions...ROFLOL!

[RightWingLady]

Very well said!

[Lizavetta]

If parents can afford to send their kids to the school of their choice via vouchers why should homeschooling be permitted?

Homeschooling is not yours, nor anybody's, to permit.

The union's constant drumbeat of the necessity of institutionalized schooling has been by and large successful; most folks simply cannot fathom the concept of education occurring outside such a system. Nonetheless, as it is my decision how my children are clothed, fed, housed, and reared, it is also my decision how they are educated. Statists can kiss my *ss.

[sparkydragon]

It started out that way, but if you listen to homeschoolers, many of them will tell you that they weren't sure they could do it, or took the attitude of "I can't possibly do worse." No matter what their education, many parents still don't believe they can do it. They honestly believe that you have to have seven to eight hours a day all year with someone hovering over them to make sure they learn to teach a kid what he needs to know to get from grade to grade, and they'll say they don't have the time. Or that you have to have the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment that schools have just to teach a child to read that they think they don't have the money. While the number of homeschoolers is growing, a majority of parents think that a certified professional needs to tell their child what to learn and when they are capable of learning it, and think that its severely damaging to children to be kept from school.

Part of the preblem is that the cure-all is supposed to be more money. Despite the fact that funding has been on the rise and education on the decline, the NEA still says that the solution is more money. Because $40,000/year to start is just not enough to get a quality teacher. Y'know what the first thing they told me in college was? They told me that almost no one makes $40,000/year right out of college.

[headsonpikes]

Stop the War on Children!

Smash the Education Establishment...preferably, in the teeth.

Oh, and teach your children to disrespect wrongful authority.

[RikaStrom]

Nailed it straight on!

[cynicom]

bob...

In my opinion, it is to late for reform in the education system. Reform will never happen, late or not. The cleaver has to come from the top at each state level.

[sparkydragon]

I'm sorry, please don't be angry with me. I may have stated myself badly, but I'll try to do better.

In response to your statement: The government seems to feel that, unless inarguably guaranteed by the constitution (and government has great capacity to argue), they have the right to permit, or not permit, anything they want. Thus compulsory attendance laws. I don't say I agree with this, simply that it is so. If the government can offer you the false choice of attending public school or attending approved private school they can say that there is no reason to allow you to homeschool.

Not only can most people not fathom the concept of education happening outside their little boxes; they think its almost criminal to try. They wonder how you can possibly think you can teach your children. You may have a string of degrees, but so what? You don't have a teaching certificate. You can't possibly teach math if you haven't had the appropriate courses in how to teach tolerance and sexual education. I think it is ludicrous, but that is the way many people see it. In most places you have to register with your community as though you were a criminal, and continually prove your good behavior, in order to exercise that decision.

When jr. is old enough I will be homeschooling. I had 11 years of education in, until recently, a "recognized" school district in Texas. That was plenty for me.

[Stand Watch Listen]

indexing

Here are links to various education threads (also containing numerous helpful links)

FReegards

’Open Directory’ --Society/Issues/Education/Education_Reform

Deconstructing Public Education
Source: www.newsmax.com; Published: July 26, 2002;
Author: Diane Alden

Specious Science In Our Schools
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: July 9, 2002;
Author: Alan Caruba

SYMPOSIUM Q: Is the National Education Association Being Fair to Its Religious Objectors?
Source: INSIGHT magazine; Published: June 10, 2002;
Authors NO: Stefan Gleason ////\\\\ YES: Bob Chase

Public Sector Subverting Productive Industry
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: May 16, 2002;
Author: Henry Pelifian

History of America's Education Part 2: Noah Webster and Early America
Source: Sierra Times; Published: March 27, 2002;
Author: April Shenandoah

How Communist is Public Education?
Source: sierratimes.com; Published:March 22, 2002;
Author: Chuck Morse

History of America's Education Part 1: Johnny is in trouble
Source: Sierra Times; Published: March 20, 2002 ;
Author: April Shenandoah

Audit rips Georgia schools' curriculum
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Published: March 11, 2002;
Author:JAMES SALZER

Why schools fail: Samuel Blumenfeld warns Bush's education legislation is ineffective
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: March 2, 2002;
Author: Samuel Blumenfeld

Public School Isn't Like I Remember It
Too Good Reports; Published: February 28, 2002;
Author: Phyllis Schlafly

What Is Lacking In Our Educational System
Source: Too Good Reports; Published: February 28, 2002;
Author:| Ben Cerruti

The charade of education reform
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: February 2, 2002;
Author: Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld

American public schools: Working just as designed
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: January 21, 2002;
Author: Vox Day

High Schools Fail Thanks To Grade Inflation And Social Promotion
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: December 5, 2001
Author: Vin Suprynowicz

WHY AMERICANS CAN’T READ
Source: Accuracy in Media; Published: December 4, 2001
Author: Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid

The Failing Teacher and the Teachers' Code of Silence
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: December 3, 2001
Author: Glenn Sacks

Time for outrage! Linda Bowles reports latest results in America's public schools
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: November 27, 2001
Author: Linda Bowles

Illiterate in Boston: Samuel Blumenfeld explains U.S.'s ongoing reading problem
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: July 20, 2001
Author:Samuel Blumenfeld

NEA - Let our children go!
Source: WorldNet Daily; Published: June 23. 2001
Author: Linda Harvey

COOKING THE BOOKS AT EDUCATION
Source: Accuracy In Media; Published: June 5, 2001;
Author: Cliff Kincaid

Why Do Schools Play Games With Students' Minds ?
Source: The Detroit News; Published: April 1, 2001
Author: Thomas Sowell

The Public School Nightmare: Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thought?
Source: http://home.talkcity.com/LibraryDr/patt/homeschl.htm
Author: John Taylor Gatto

Dumbing down teachers
Source: USNews.com; Published: February 21, 2001
Author: John Leo

Free Republic links to education related articles (thread#8)
Source: Free Republic; Published: 3-20-2001
Author: Various

Are children deliberately 'dumbed down' in school? {YES!!!}
Source: World Net Daily; Published: May 13, 2001
Author: Geoff Metcalf {Interview}

Could they really have done it on purpose?
Source: THE LIBERTARIAN; Published: 07/28/2000
Author: Vin Suprynowicz

New Book Explores America's Education Catastrophe
Source: Christian Citizen USA; Published: April 2000
Author: William H. Wild

Deliberately dumbing us down (Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt's, "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America"
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: December 2,1999
Author: Samuel L. Blumenfeld

Deconstructing the Western Mind: Gramscian-Marxist Subversion of Faith and Education
Source: www.petersnet; Published: Winter 1997
Author: Frank Morriss

Littleton Crisis to Government Control

The UN Plan for Your Mental Health

[Temple Owl]

I had 11 years of education in, until recently, a "recognized" school district in Texas. That was plenty for me.

There are lots of really good affordable private schools which are able to instill enthusiam and learning into their students. If you had attended one of them, chances are good you'd be going for a doctorate in education.

[Temple Owl]

Wow! You sure did a lot of work and research. I don't know if I'll ever get around to reading half of the stuff, but I thank you for sharing with me.

[grumpster-dumpster]

Thanks for the PING!

[sparkydragon]

Doubtful. Doctorates in education are usually aimed at aspiring administrators. If I hadn't been so disillusioned by what I heard about bureaucratic nonsense from the few good teachers I had, I'd have been a rank-and-file teacher. I like kids and I want to teach, but I'm not prepared to put up with what it takes nowadays. I'd rather homeschool and know for certain I made a difference in someone's education then get fired for trying to impart knowledge rather than political correctness or a private school's particular agenda.