Government School Monopolies Leave Children Behind

America's failing government schools, the educational establishment, and the teachers' unions are running scared, and they should be. On Tuesday, November 26, the federal Department of Education issued final rules for the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. These rules give school districts 12 years to bring all students up to proficiency levels in reading, math, and science. In addition, students must show "adequate yearly progress" on national standardized tests. If they do not, schools can be designated as "failing".

For the first time in decades, government schools will be forced to be accountable to the parents of the children they serve. Government schools, long the beneficiaries of one of the last remaining state-sanctioned monopolies, will have to face competition, and this is a good thing. Businesses and private schools alike both know that real competition provides the onus necessary for institutions and organizations to improve and streamline operations. Those organizations that cannot or will not improve are faced with extinction. Many government schools know this as well, and they operate on that principle, producing student success after student success. Beyond the mere competitive model, they understand the moral duty they have to educate the young and they do so extremely well. Other government schools, protected from real competition and shielded from their moral obligations to students by the teachers' unions and other members of the educational establishment have been content to graduate students who cannot read, cannot write, and consequently cannot succeed in American society. It is schools such as these that have much to fear from the new law.

Those government schools failing to make "adequate yearly progress" are faced with serious consequences. If a school fails for two years in a row, its students must be offered public school choice. In other words, students must be allowed to transfer to another area school that is not failing, be it a public, charter, or private school. Schools that fail three years in a row must offer low-income students supplemental educational services, such as private tutoring; fail four years in a row and schools must take a "corrective action", that is, replacing staff, implementing a new curriculum, and/or expanding the school day. If a school fails to make "adequate yearly progress" for five years in a row, the school must be restructured, consisting of reopening as a charter school, replacing all or most of the staff, state takeover of the school, or some other major restructuring of the school's organization. These consequences are genuine concerns for failing government schools. The fact that such severe consequences are necessary at all is a cause for alarm, however, for all who are concerned about the education of our nation's children.

The solution to failing government schools proposed by the teachers unions and their generally left-leaning coalition partners is always more money. Since 1965, however, the federal government has spent more than $321 billion to help educate disadvantaged children. Yet, today, only 40% of white fourth graders read at the age-appropriate grade level, while only10% of African American, and 18% of American Indian and Hispanic fourth graders, could read at the age-appropriate grade level. Clearly, the answer cannot simply be more money. Rather, it seems a real change in the American education system is warranted.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has been roundly criticized, and some the criticisms are justified. The NCLB Act is one of the largest intrusions of federal power into state affairs in recent history. Additionally, creating yet another standardized test does not necessarily mean that that this new test will any more effective in measuring real student achievement. Indeed, with so much at stake, there is a real possibility that some principals and teachers will choose to cheat on these tests in order to avoid the stiff penalties that would result in continued poor performance. Such a situation is not unheard of in the contemporary educational establishment. There is always a danger of such immoral and unethical behavior in standardized testing, but it could be even more pronounced given the penalities that could be imposed.

On the other hand, the educational establishment fears that NCLB will set up a "system where the states feel hard pressed not to fail" according to Kristin Tosh Cowan, a lawyer representing dozens of state education departments and large school districts. Additionally, the National Education Association and other government school defenders are concerned that NCLB will result in too many schools classified as failing, resulting in students crowding into schools that do make "adequate yearly progress".

The real concern in all of this debate, however, is overlooked. Even one school whose students are not making progress in reading and are not reading to grade level, is one school too many. There is too much at stake for government schools to fail in the duties to educate students. In American society, reading is a fundamental skill necessary for advancement. Individuals who cannot read have difficulty carrying out the most basic tasks, such as filling out a check, reading a prescription, passing a driver's test, reading a recipe, or using the Internet. More to the point, the US Department of Education estimates that 60% of the unemployed lack basic skills necessary to be trained for high tech and other higher paying, jobs. Illiteracy and a lack of reading competency in America leave individuals forever at a disadvantage in our increasingly technologically reliant world. The failure of government schools to adequately teach reading and other basic skills is a scandal of the highest order.

In the end, substantial change must occur in the educational system. A parent's freedom to choose which school will teach their children must be vindicated. Furthermore, this choice must be extended to all families, regardless of wealth, race, or location. Parents of poor inner city students must be given the same educational choices as parents of wealthy suburban children. Without this choice and this freedom, students, particularly students from poor and minority families, will be left stranded in schools that consistently and continually fail them.

Justice demands that all people be given sufficient opportunities to succeed. In the modern world, education is the route by which people achieve the foundations for success. The No Child Left Behind Act, despite its flaws, offers new and substantive opportunities so that assistance can be provided to those who need it most. When the educational marketplace is open to all and when the government school monopoly is finally broken, all schools-government and private alike, will benefit. Only then, truly, will no child be left behind.

In American society, reading is a fundamental skill necessary for advancement. Individuals who cannot read have difficulty carrying out the most basic tasks, such as filling out a check, reading a prescription, passing a driver's test, reading a recipe, or using the Internet.

School Reform News: Skills at Literacy Level 1 (February 2001) Almost one in four adult Americans has only Level 1 literacy skills

Government Standards: Will they Save the Schools or Destroy them ... Prisons often give citizens good value for their money. Harvard University economist Steven D. Levitt estimates that the average criminal does $53,900 worth of damage a year. Annual incarceration costs average about $30,000, leaving a net benefit of $23,900 per year per criminal behind bars. Increased school spending, to the tune of a 70% inflation-adjusted per pupil increase nationwide between 1970 and 1990, has had no effect on achievement.

Grandfather Education Report by MWHodges

How Much More Do We Have to Spend to Achieve a Totally Illiterate Society? "for the sake of the children"

Twenty-one ways "public schools" harm your children

R. C. Hoiles

C 1957

R. C. Hoiles was the publisher of the Santa Ana Register, now the Orange County Register, the flagship of media giant, Freedom Communications. We are commemorating the 40th anniversary of Mr. Hoiles publication of his great vituperation against "gun-run schools." It has been edited for length, a process newspaperman Hoiles would understand.

Now, what are the things that government schools dare not teach?

They dare not teach the spirit of the Constitution as set forth in the first official document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence. They dare not teach it because it says that all men, not just the majority, are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.The Declaration of Independence - EXPLAINED

A man isn't free to pursue happiness when the majority in any school district, state or nation can coerce him to pay for a school that he believes violates the principles upon which this government was formed.

The school teachers dare not emphasize this part of the Declaration of Independence. They dare not explain the true meaning of this statement. If they were successful in explaining and teaching the true meaning of these ideologies, there would be no gun-run schools. The Heartland Institute California Teacher Union Attacks Citizen Control of Schools
Again, they dare not teach that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed. They have to completely repudiate the ideas of the American way of life. They have to teach the old-world philosophy of the divine right of governments, only now they call it the divine right of the majority rather than the divine right of kings. History a Mystery to American Youth A Harvard educator who wants to awaken America's young to the inspiring power of heroism in American history has found that schools and the culture instead give students a "sour and suspicious" view of their national heritage.
They dare not teach in government schools the meaning of liberty. It is doubtful whether any teacher in gun-run schools dares define the kind of liberty the Founding Fathers mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to support. If the government schools successfully taught the meaning of the liberty our Founding Fathers had in mind, there would be no government schools that starve the intellects of our children.
The government schools dare not teach the meaning of the Golden Rule. If they were successful in getting their pupils to understand that they should not force other people to pay for something they did not want, then they could see that it was a violation of the Golden Rule to force others to pay for their schooling. Charter School Growth Slows As Opposition Intensifies

They, of course, dare not teach their pupils to believe that if it is wicked and a violation of the Golden Rule for one man to do a thing, it is still wicked and a violation of the Golden Rule if 49 per cent or 99 per cent of the people do the same thing. They, thus, dare not teach the youth that the ideal government, the only kind of government that can be of value to mankind, is one that is limited to the use of defensive force and never has a right, under any circumstances, to initiate force.

I want to continue suggesting things that tax-run schools dare not teach.

They dare not teach the First Commandment: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" because they are bowing down and worshipping the will of the majority rather than the eternal laws of God that no man made and no man can unmake. Ten Commandments Issue Index
They dare not teach "Thou shalt not covet," because they are violating the Coveting Commandment. Parents Fume Over School Referendum -- September 2001 Education ... CBG further alleges that: 1) Voters were not adequately informed about the property-tax hike or told that the school system's budget actually had a large cash reserve; 2) Voters and schoolchildren were unfairly exploited by scare tactics, and some students were so traumatized that they developed ulcers and other ailments requiring medical care; 3) Funds were transferred from one government account to another for the purpose of aiding the campaign; 4) School employees and public officials used their offices and public goods to promote the referendum for their own personal gain.
They believe they do not need to teach well enough that people will voluntarily pay their salaries. They get their pay by violence rather than by rendering service well enough so that those who pay them believe they are benefited by their employment.
They dare not teach discipline and self-reliance because they are not disciplining themselves enough to render such service that they can be paid voluntarily. The teachers take the shortcut and use a police club to get their money. That certainly is not discipline, nor is it self-reliance.Just the Facts: Sources and Uses of Public Education Dollars Total expenditures on U.S. K-12 public education and other related programs in the 1999-2000 school year were $381.9 billion, up an impressive $26.1 billion, HSLDA | Police Threaten Michigan Family with Arrest for Home ... When the mother countered that home schooling was legal, the officer responded, "Not in this county. Last year we arrested all kinds of home schoolers. Home school teachers are lousy." Intimating that the local judge was not friendly toward home schooling, the official added that an arrest warrant was sometimes issued for families who failed to put their children in public school. The police officer left after implying that she would seek such a warrant
They dare not teach thrift and the harm that comes from getting into debt. They dare not do this because the government burdens every child and every person in the United States with a monstrous debt.
They dare not teach respect for individual initiative because government schools are based on lack of respect for other people's initiative. They are based on the theory that "We've got the power and the individual is helpless and we're going to make him pay for anything our agents think is education." School Reform News: Parental Freedom in the States and Nation ( ... Monopoly situations provide little incentive for strong-willed, independent thinking. However, when competition exists, people of character rise to the occasion
They dare not teach humility and meekness because the means used by government schools are the exact opposite of humility and meekness. Are believers in tax-run schools so sure they are right that they are willing to initiate force to make people support their ideas of education? They see themselves as so exalted that they have lost all humility and meekness. And remember, "He who exalts himself shall become abased."
They dare not teach children to reason. They have to teach them not to recognize a contradiction or a dilemma. If the pupils were taught to reason, they would recognize the tyranny that is bound to follow making people pay for things and ideas they abhor.They dare not teach the harm that follows socialism, communism, collectivism and fascism for to do so would let pupils realize that aggressive force is part of socialism, communism, collectivism and fascism. Why Our Schools Teach Socialism -- September 2001 Education ... Chester M. Pierce, M.D., Professor of Education and Psychiatry at Harvard, had this to say: "Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our Founding Fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well - by creating the international child of the future." ....Bureaucrats, politicians and educators regularly appear on television blaming either parents or lack of funds for the failure of our schools. Their prescription is always the same: more money and more government control. For well over 50 years, American voters have fallen for these fallacies. Victor Gollancz, a famous socialist publisher, explained why he believed that socialism would take over America: "Christians are not exactly bright, so it will be easy for socialism to lead them down the garden path through their ideals of brotherly love and 'social justice.'"
They dare not teach that what man wants must be obtained on a voluntary basis. They dare not teach this because they get what they want on an involuntary basis.
They dare not teach the difference between socialism and private ownership of property. They dare not explain that under socialism the only way a man can benefit is by injuring another, as in the case in compelling people to pay for schools they think will destroy the country.
They dare not explain that in free enterprise, including free enterprise in education, the gain of one is the gain of all. Education Reform? The Devil's in the Details -- Phyllis Schlafly ... ESEA will fulfill Bill and Hillary Clinton's dream of national economic planning fed by a federalized workforce training system domiciled in the public schools. ESEA is the capstone of their plan to restructure our American system away from free enterprise, academic achievement in schools, and the freedom of individuals to select their future occupations.
Tax-run schools dare not teach love and charity because they are using aggressive force. They seem to think that aggressive force is better than persuasion by love and charity. . HSLDA | Michigan District Harasses Home Schoolers Then, much to the Hendricks surprise, a police officer showed up on their doorstep on December 26, two months after their initial withdrawal from public school. The officer demanded to come into their home to examine and approve their curricula. When the family refused, he threatened the parents with 90 days in jail and indicated he would seek a warrant against them if necessary. He then left.
They cannot teach patience because they are so impatient about getting what they seem to believe is an education that they dare not wait to persuade those who should employ them to pay their salaries.
They cannot teach peace and goodwill because they are an example of the opposite of peace and goodwill. They are an example of initiating force, of threatening to get from others by aggressive force what they think they should get.
They cannot teach that the government is a servant of individuals because they believe it should be supported by giving it a monopoly to use aggressive force to make people pay. They can only teach that it is a master of the individual. II:End Compulsory Education "Do you think nobody would willingly entrust his children to you or pay you for teaching them? Why do you have to extort your fees and collect your pupils by compulsion?"
They cannot teach justice because their method of supporting the schools is based on injustice - arbitrary, initiated force.
They cannot teach that each man is responsible for his own life because they deny that by using force to take part of man's energy against his will, and man cannot be responsible for his life unless he has the right to choose.

There is nothing more important for parents than their duty to see that their children are treated fairly and have an opportunity to learn from schools that can teach these great moral principles and axioms. It is not the money we're wasting in our tax-run schools that is so important, but it is that our children are not being taught the moral laws that tax-less schools can teach. Pro-Gay Curricula -- November 2001 Education Reporter, What Caused Columbine? -- June 1999 Phyllis Schlafly Report

It is because children can be taught what is right in tax-less schools and they cannot be so taught in tax-run schools that I am obliged to do what little I can to get parents to see that they are not doing their duty to their children by sending them to tax-run schools. If the Curriculum Has No Content, What's Left to Teach? "Want to scare yourself?" asks Goldblatt in his article in National Review Online. "Sit down with a half-dozen recent public high-school graduates and ask them what they believe."

What we need above everything else is more people devoting more time to seeing that the youth of the land are instilled with belief in the great moral laws, the Golden Rule, and the Declaration of Independence. Government schools cannot teach successfully the will to learn. The best way to teach anything is by example. But the superintendent and managers of the schools themselves are not enough interested in the will to learn to be willing to answer questions as they would before a court to determine whether what they are doing is in harmony with what they profess to believe. If there is anything a man of integrity should want to learn, it is whether what he is doing is in harmony and consistent with what he says.The National Education Association: Emphasis on the Ass. New Business Item 5, for example. This one calls on the NEA to provide "ongoing strategic information to members and affiliates that increase member knowledge of the ongoing attacks designed to destroy NEA and its affiliates, limit educators' freedom of speech and their right to political participation." This "strategic information" is to consist of "identification and history of individuals and organizations that support the attacks and sources of funds that support these attack efforts," "status reports on tactics used by attack groups at the local, state, and national levels," and "status reports on responses by NEA and its affiliates to deal with the attacks."Survey shows one fourth of Americans want to end Public Schooling

IJ Launches School Choice Offensive

Some 37 states have provisions in their constitutions that forbid public support of sectarian institutions. These provisions--called "Blaine Amendments"--date to the late nineteenth century, when religious bigots actively campaigned to prevent public funds from flowing to support Catholic schools in the same way public funds flowed to support the Protestant-instilled public schools. At that time, Catholic schools were viewed by the majority as "sectarian" while the Protestant public schools were not.

Since vouchers and tax credits are aid to students and not to schools, Blaine Amendments do not pose a problem in states where they have been interpreted narrowly as simply barring aid to religious schools. However, other states, including Washington, interpret their provisions broadly and exclude not only religious schools but also their students from public benefits otherwise made available to state citizens. The Institute points out these broad interpretations could block the implementation of school choice programs that have religious options unless the interpretations are challenged and ruled to be inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution.

Calculating NEA and AFT "Market Share" by State

The largest NEA-AFT combined "membership" totals lie mainly in the states with the largest numbers of K-12 staff, with Texas and Georgia being notable exceptions. More than 50 percent of NEA-AFT national "membership" strength comes from just eight states: California (10.9 percent of total U.S. members), New York (8.7 percent), Illinois (5.9 percent), Pennsylvania (5.8 percent), New Jersey (5.6 percent), Michigan (5.3 percent), Ohio (4.5 percent), and Florida (3.9 percent).

In a dozen states, the NEA-AFT share of potential membership exceeds 80 percent, with the shares in Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Massachusetts exceeding 90 percent. However, NEA-AFT share of potential membership is 25 percent or less in five states: Mississippi (11.5 percent), Texas (13.1 percent), South Carolina (13.5 percent), Georgia (20.1 percent), and Arkansas (25.0 percent). Notably, the two unions combined have managed to capture only a little over half (54.9 percent) of total K-12 staff across the U.S.

Conservative states and liberal states

Ranking of states, most conservative to least conservative, based on Senate voting records:

Rank	Rating
3	94	Texas
11	87	Mississippi
14	80	Ohio
18	65	South Carolina
19	64	Pennsylvania
20	60	Arkansas
27	48	Illinois
31	37	Georgia
37	18	Rhode Island
38	17	Florida
42	9	New York
44	7	California
45	7	Michigan
47	6	New Jersey
50	4	Massachusetts

Ranking of states, most conservative to least conservative, based on House of Representatives voting records:

Rank	Rating
14	70	Georgia
17	68	South Carolina
18	67	Mississippi
24	61	Florida
28	55	Texas
29	54	Ohio
31	52	Pennsylvania
32	47	Illinois
33	44	Michigan
35	43	Arkansas
38	40	California
41	35	New Jersey
42	30	New York
45	20	Rhode Island
50	5	Massachusetts

I searched in vain to find what is right with public schools.

the monopoly granted to "teachers colleges" and "Colleges of Education" by most of the servral states to credential teachers is also broken.

6 Feb 2001-Protecting Teacher Incompetence in Los Angeles...There are approximately 300,000 teachers in California. According to the state records, between 1990 and 1999, only 227 dismissal cases even reached the decision phase. If all these cases occurred in a single year, they would amount to only slightly more than one tenth of one percent of the tenured teachers in the state. Over a full decade, the number is a proxy for zero. "It takes longer to fire a teacher than to convict a murderer," says Diana Halpenny, general counsel for the San Juan Unified School District near Sacramento.

...The Grossmont district near San Diego spent eight years and more than $300,000 to fire Juliet Ellery, an instructor described by her superintendent as the worst teacher he had ever seen, and who refused to answer students' questions in class. With firing incompetents a practical impossibility, most districts buy out contracts or transfer the teacher to another school, a process known as the "dance of the lemons." In many cases no action is taken, with many of the state's six million students bearing the consequences. Recent research by William L. Sanders at the University of Tennessee confirms that the difference between a good and bad teacher is enormous, a full grade level by some estimates. Successive years of bad teachers is devastating for a child, a situation surely common in Los Angeles, which spends more than $9000 per student per year, far above the state average.

People with real degrees in real subjects cannot teach our children only those with specialized degrees in education.

Policy Review, September-October 1998 -- Laboratories of ... A study by the National Center for Education Statistics confirmed that grade inflation has been far more pronounced in the nation's education departments than in other fields. The average grade in an education course was 3.41, compared with 2.96 in social sciences and 2.67 in science and engineering. We also found that many teacher-preparation programs were increasing the departmental requirements for education courses at the expense of strong preparation in academic subjects.

...New York's state education department recently discovered that hundreds of its teachers, most of whom have master's degrees, could not pass a standard test in English, math, and reasoning skills. In response to a storm of public criticism, state education officials in Massachusetts recently repealed their decision to lower the qualifying score on a rather basic teacher-licensing exam after 59 percent of the applicants flunked it.

"Freedom to Teach" laws which permit anyone with a degree from an acredited college or university to teach the school version of his or her major subject.

In point of fact the only thing one needs special training beyond a good knowledge of the content to teach is reading.

06/13/97 - New Nationwide Study!

...The parents had higher than average educational attainment; 46% of the fathers had a bachelor's degree or higher and 42% of the mothers had the same. These families' median annual income of $43,000 was a little lower than the median for all married-couple families in the United States. The parents spent, on average, $546 per child per year for home education.

The mother did 88% of the formal teaching of the children while the father did 10% of the teaching. The large majority of these children were not being taught by professionally trained and government certified teachers.

On average, the children had been taught at home for 5 years since age 5, 85% were in grades K through 8, and their parents planned to home educate them through their secondary school years. Parents hand picked curriculum materials-rather than purchasing complete programs-for 71% of the students. The social activities of these children were quite varied; for example, 47% were involved in music classes, 48% were involved in group sports, and 77% participated in Sunday school.

These students scored, on the average, at high percentiles on standardized academic achievement tests: (a) total reading, 87th, (b) total language, 80th, (c) total math, 82nd, (d) total listening, 85th, (e) science, 84th, (f) social studies, 85th, (g) study skills, 81st, (h) basic battery (typically, reading, language, and mathematics), 85th, and (i) complete battery (all subject areas in which student was tested), 87th. (The national average is the 50th percentile.)

Achievement was statistically significantly related, in some cases, to father’s education level, mother’s education level, gender of student, years home educated, use of libraries, who administered the test, and use of computers. The relationships were, however, weak and not practically significant.

The Home School Court Report Vol. XVI, No. 5 -- Encouraging Test Scores ...Home schoolers' outstanding test results have blown away the myth that parents must be certified teachers. Over 30 state legislatures have recognized home schooling as a valid educational option since 1983.

Encouraged by home schoolers' impressive test results, many parents, who would not have started otherwise, have gained the confidence to begin home schooling. Additionally, such test results score points with concerned grandparents, in-laws and friends.

Volume 10 Number 26 Bauman: Home Schooling in the United States

Home schoolers are not especially likely to be young or old. They are about as likely to be of one sex or the other, with perhaps a slightly greater percentage female. In some ways, however, home-schoolers do stand out. Home schooled children are more likely to be non-Hispanic White, they are likely to live in households headed by a married couple with moderate to high levels of education and income. They are more likely to live in households with three or more children and they are likely to live in a household with an adult not in the labor force.

Table 2 Characteristics of Home-Schooled Children and their Families Current Population Survey & National Household Education Surveys
	1994		1996		1999
	Home School	Regular School	Home School	Regular School	Home School	Regular School
Age
6-7	24.0	17.2	11.7	17.4	13.8	17.8
8-10	30.6	25.6	25.9	25.6	26.1	25.0
11-14	27.8	33.8	34.0	33.1	31.7	32.4
15-17	17.5	23.4	28.5	24.0	28.4	24.9
Mother's education
Less than h.s.	8.8	17.7	14.2	16.4	5.3	16.4
High school	31.2	35.4	23.6	33.7	28.9	29.2
Some college	37.9	28.9	40.5	28.3	34.3	29.9
Bachelor's	19.3	12.9	17.5	15.1	22.5	16.3
Advanced	2.9	5.1	4.2	6.5	9.0	8.1

... Must it also be limited to households where parents have moderate to high education? While it would seem that having a (well educated) parent at home would be a prerequisite for engaging in home schooling, this is not an absolute requirement. Many home school households have working adults and adults with low education. In all three surveys a small number of home-schooled children lived with a single parent or with two adults in the labor force full time. In addition, a small number had no adult in the home with a high school diploma.

Grandfather Education Report, page B - by MWHodges

Home-schoolers:
Signicantly outscore public school students
in SATs, ACTs, spelling & geography bees.
Three times more students are home-schooled than in charter schools,
and growing 11% per year

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Table 2

Characteristics of Home-Schooled Children and their Families Current Population Survey & National Household Education Surveys

Characteristics of Home-Schooled Children and their Families
Current Population Survey & National Household Education Surveys