Posted on 09/26/2003 7:15:43 AM PDT by Scenic Sounds
There are two issues commonly focused on by the American people at this time in our history – the war on terror and the economy. While both have to do with our everyday and contemporary survival, there is another issue that is of deep and long-lasting importance that seldom gets the attention that it deserves – the demise of the public school system in America. Public education is fading away, and while it is doing so, it is taking a whole generation of children with it. The problem lies within the very foundation of public education – the notion that education itself entails parenting and raising children instead of educating them. Instead of simply being accents of parents and families, public schools have become the families themselves, and the results have been devastating.
We are losing our unchallenged standing and superiority in commerce, industry, science, and technology to a rising tide of mediocrity. Teachers are no longer concerned with whether or not their students have a firm grasp of the core curriculum – they are more concerned about whether or not they offend someone with their curriculum. Instructors must embrace every child’s opinion – no matter how wrong it may be - in order to teach them in a politically correct manner. Teachers are taught in college to teach from every point of view, so instead of a nationalistic viewpoint, the content is more general, and students suffer from the lack of depth and detail.
Public schools are facing declining test scores, poor performance, high functional illiteracy rates, watered-down curriculum, and declining standards, and yet no one sees any correlation between these statistics and the expanded role of public schools as socialization centers. Public education has become all things to all people, and academics are suffering. It has become so focused on providing nutritional, medical, psychological, religious, and social care that it has lost sight of its original purpose – to educate. Public schools are no longer places of learning – they are set up instead to be social service centers that, according to Sharon Robinson of the American Educational Research Association, “accelerate progression toward the day when reform is guided by the joint efforts of researchers, practitioners, parents, social workers, health professionals, law enforcement officials, members of the business community, and other civic-minded citizens.”
Beyond the very important argument that the government makes a horrible parent, there is the added issue of “busyness” that has overtaken schools. By focusing on too many programs, their standards are lowered and their focus on the details of academics – science, history, and language – is lost. Instead of making sure that students have a firm foundation of knowledge, public schools are focusing on solving the social problems of the community around them. Instead of education, it has become socialization.
Is there a solution? Not under the existing structure. In a socialistic system – our current public educational structure - there is no competition; therefore there is no incentive for improvement or innovation. Public schools have a monopoly on the education market. Private and charter schools are only allowed to compete on a limited level because of high costs.
The only viable solutions that can be seen are either complete privatization of the public school system, or, barring that, school vouchers. Competition improves quality, and until we see public schools having to fight for their funding, we will see no improvement whatsoever in the educational system. When schools are privatized – when the government is no longer a factor in education – then we will see a difference; with vouchers, parents no longer are chained to a horrible district – they can take their money and children elsewhere.
Cathryn Crawford is a student at the University of Texas. She can be reached with comments at feedback@washingtondispatch.com.
I agree with you totally on this, and most of the rest of what you said. You really should have toned down the 8th paragraph, however: it's bad form for the newbie on the block to start throwing mud at the old-timers.
You are correct that many conservatives (and many liberals as well, I'm sure) are insular. Perhaps it's human nature to prefer to only associate with people who are like us, and either pretend the "others" don't exist, or think the "others" are inherently inferior in some way (intellectually, morally, ethically) - but in a country like ours, the "others" will not go away.
Many people on this board have a hard time understanding that not all parents are caring, educated, moral people as they are.
I think the picture of father going to work and mother staying home and educating the children is a nice one, but what does it have to do with the 16 year old mentally retarded girl I taught, who had 2 children out of wedlock and an extended family on approximately her intellectual level? Do you think that girl, or anyone in her home, is capable of effectively homeschooling those children, if indeed they are capable of learning?
I could go on & on, but I don't have time this morning.
I was a science major math minor (BSEE, MSEE, MBA). I am still baffled that they laid me off from a job I loved, (the only job I ha real affection for). But I only had ten years senority. (I would have needed 12) I taught one schence course, but the science department was very hard to crack, since teachers never left. So I taught bonehead math and geometry and trig. (Also coached and led clubs). Even after my success in aerospace, if I went back to work, it would be tutoring or teaching.
I believe in public education in one sense, but it is terribly politicized at least in CA where I worked. If they had their way, my son would be a socialist, and would have dropped out of math along the way to calculas. I would like to see the plan I posted to let teachers compete for higher salaries, (I received a 20% raise to go back into aerospace from teaching.) If I could not have direct salary negotiation, then I would allow the voucher system to come in and let the chips fall where they may.
You don't say why your not in teaching, but I suspect some parallels to my story. I am currently in retirement.
Absolutly correct. I worked in two fields, aerosapce, as an electrical engineer and teaching, as a math teacher and coach. I took a pay cut to teach, and after a period of declining enrollment was laid off and went back to my old aerospace job. Got a pay raise of 20% to go back. But you know what? I met many engineers who envied me my time at teaching. If they could have received a comparable salary, they too would go into teaching. (And the schools/kids would be the winners.)
PS, when my aerospace company found out I could teach, they made it possible for me to break from my line job from time to time to teach our engineering style to the new engineers in the company. I also lead many week long seminars teaching management how to solve problems and make decisions. I found that in industry, teachers are paid very well, and the teachers who can do it, should break from the union. The first step is to change laws to bring "right to work rules" to those states that are mired in union backwaters.
Do you believe in compulsory education laws?
Public education is a "good" so bad that its vendors can't even give it away. The "beneficiaries" must be forced to partake at gunpoint.
What is your solution?
I'm not sure the problem will be completely solved without another cultural revolution. How do you put broken families back together again? How do you make parents raise children as they used to? How do you make the majority of people embrace the same values social conservatives do? How do you make all families and all cultural subgroups value education? How do you force them to be willing to work at obtaining knowledge?
I do know that some of the things people in more liberal areas complain about in their public schools are not problems in more conservative areas, but public schools could use improvement in most areas of the country.
I think the part of the "No child left behind" act which forbids promoting students unless they can pass certain tests is a good start, but I think there are loopholes to that. I know that it doesn't take effect soon enough, and I would be much happier if local school districts had taken the initiative to do this without the Federal government needing to get involved.
I have called on schools in nearly every state. I was amazed of how few teachers were in their area. One district had their science curriculum written by a supervisor, who was not a science person.
I have met a few administrators who are truly competent in their field of eeducation. Many are empty suits.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, administrate.
One of the best professors I ever had in environmental science, had come from industry, and really knew the applications. So many other profs are just able to write grants and bring in money - teaching is a side line.
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