A friend of mine sent me a little AP News story regarding President Obama and his new “plan” for public education in this Country. Politicians like to campaign, address, and pass legislation regarding Education. It happens to be a hot topic because there are millions of parents who want the “best” for little Johnny so they are concerned about Education. As a politician who is concerned about getting re-elected the votes are what matters so they take some stance regarding education and push some form of “Change”, and spend some more of the taxpayer money to “fix it”. Somehow ever since I can remember no one ever seems to “fix it”, no matter how much money is spent, it seems to be perpetually broken and in need of more money. Sound familiar – just look at the Economy as a whole – thank god it is broke because Pres. Obama can keep spending more money to fix it, or the health care system… lord knows this is so broke more money will fix it. I digress… this is about Education and I owe it to my dear friend to opine about it.
Obama has allocated 5 Billion of your money as part of the Stimulus Package for some program called “Race to the Top” that he is dangling as the carrot in front of States in order to push his agenda on the States. As most people know States typically run their own Education systems, although we do have a Federal Department of Education. One man appointed by Obama will have control of awarding the 5 billion dollars to States that somehow fit into the criteria Obama has set up to get the money.
The first problem I have is with the the very fact the Obama is taking 5 Billion dollars and dangling it in front of the people in school districts in order to make them do what he wants. As we all know, many Americans hate the fact the Government is spending all this money, unless they are the beneficiary. Money is power and this is bribery because school districts are so desperate to get more money. Secondarily, is the money really going to be allocated based on an unbiased set of parameters or might it be based on a local house Representative or political donor in the recipient State. Could it be tied to some other requirement of the State… in other words what other strings are attached to the money. You dance with the devil… ah heck you know the rest!
Part of the program is that teacher pay will be tied to student test scores. On it’s face this looks like a good idea.. but in practice this is ridiculous. How to do reconcile the difference between the teacher who teaches Freshman Algebra and the teacher who teaches AP Calculus. How do you reconcile the difference between the PE Teacher/Coach who ends up with all the knuckleheads in class. In Texas just about any activity a student is involved with exempts the student from PE, so PE teachers typically end up with every pot head loser piece of crap student there is… judge that performance against the AP Calculus teacher. Weird because I typically don’t agree with any union, and this may not be the argument the teachers unions are using, but they do not like to be judged on standardized test scores.
The only way standardized test scores could be effective is if you give teachers the ability to “manage” out the shithead students. That will never happen, after all, school funding is tied to attendance to the point where most districts have truancy officers who round kids up to get them in school so head counts go up so the school can get the funding they need.
Think about it like this – You get hired as the CEO of a company, you are given a workforce, you can not fire them, you have to “utilize” them in the best fashion possible, and you also have to turn a profit. 90% of people would say you are out of your mind. You see this in sport where a head coach is given a bunch of shit players from a general manager and then is expected to go win a Super Bowl.
Our school systems are broke because they are a model of Socialism. The bottom is forced to go to school and become educated which is taking away from the top, and the teachers are stuck trying to “accommodate” the bottom, instead of focusing on making the top even better. This type of Socialism is reflected throughout our entire society now, and will become ever more pervasive because our Country continually accepts second rate and keeps dragging the bottom along with it. Personal and parental responsibility for many doesn’t exist and our school end up being over paid baby sitting services.
It doesn’t take a village… it takes Parents taking responsibility for their kids and Schools standing up and saying your son is a loser… he is not the problem of the State… Mom/Dad(if you are around)… you fix him.
The Government should set standards for Elementary, Junior High and High School Education in the form of an examination in areas of study, and not liberal art programs but real areas of study that could actually be beneficial to kids some day like Science, Math, Business, Reading, etc. The standards and tests allow for comparison between schools and students, and also to assess the students to see if the are eligible to move to receive the credentials granted from passing the test.
I also think that maybe after a certain grade level of completion it really doesn’t matter if little Johnny takes AP Calculus, because Johnny might be better at other things such as a trade… auto mechanic, plumber, electrician… just take your car to the shop and see what it costs… these jobs are good jobs and going to get better as technology advances. Why are schools worried about every kid needing to go to college… college is so diluted now that a bachelor degree doesn’t really mean much… the things taught in the first two years of undergrad should be completed in high school… why take Texas history again in college… so it takes longer to get a degree and the college can make more money. Yeah that really helped the accountant out to repeat a history class.I digress again… (although the first two years of college are a good time)
If we are going to continue to fund a public education each student should have a dollar amount attached to them and when they enroll in a school the school gets the amount of money. Schools should be privately run and offer whatever programs they want as long as the school meets the standards. Maybe your son/daughter is great at music and their is a school that offers, in addition to the required standards, an excellent program for your child.. you should be able to send them there… maybe their is a school the focuses on engineering and science and your child has an interest in that… you should be able to send them there… maybe your child is not college bound and their is a school that focuses on trades instead of college prep… send them to that school instead.
The point is that each school can do whatever the heck they want as long as the kids meet the basic uniform requirements.(Those requirements should be met by 14-15 years old)
And then we get to the dip shit students and parents who drag down our current education system… Parent are going to have to start parenting a little better to get their child into a better school or because market forces will be in place… a Wal-Mart style school will open up to meet those needs. It seems we are afraid to admit our differences because it is not fair… but some kids are smarter, some are dumber, some are good at one thing, some have behavior issues… we are not all the same and a market will be there to meet the needs of all learning types because that is how capitalism and the free market system works. (If only the Government would get the hell out of the way)
