About a year ago I was wandering around the internet looking for blogs on education and homeschooling. I came across Friends of Dave. Dave works in the education industry in California. He frequently writes about events he is involved in, or is close to. He is knowledgeable and I look forward to getting emails when he posts.
Last week Dave wrote that there was an upcoming, exhaustive report on education in California. Taking a line from Babylon 5 for the title of his post, And So It Begins, Dave worries that the report will be a call for more money. He found an article which hinted at what was in the report. The article said:
“California schools are woefully under-funded--one estimate of the shortage hovered at an astonishing $1 trillion--according to a massive new study due next week that is believed to be the most comprehensive evaluation ever of California's education system.”
To put that in perspective Dave explains that California is already spending $50 Billion each year. Dave says more money is not the answer. He explains:
“Unfortunately, I believe the biggest problem is that no one in public education has any incentive to change. As long as the big checks keep coming... as long as the union's retain their power.... as long as it is nearly impossible to fire bad teachers... as long as the public education monopoly continues, I just don't see significant improvement happening. People are just too comfortable with the way things are now. They'll pay lip service to closing achievement gaps and increasing academic achievement, but they're not willing to pay the price to actually make it happen. They're not willing to take on the unions, fire the bad teachers or shake up the monopoly. So things just continue as they are with about 60% of students below grade level, huge numbers of kids dropping out each and every year and the majority of college students needing remedial classes.”
I think Dave is optimistic. I don’t think things will continue as they are now. I predict that over the next ten years public education will get worse. It may be hard to imagine how they will get worse, but Dave is right, there is little incentive to improve.
This week Dave posted on the California education report - Big Secret Report Released... Partially. Big is the key word here. The report is over 1700 pages. What are people thinking? Hardly anyone is ever going to look at a report that big. Is that the point? Build a report so huge that only those who have a vested interest will take the time to read it? The rest of us will think something important has happened, and trust those who tell us what the report says and means?
Dave has skimmed part of the report and already found half a dozen issues that concern him about the report’s findings.
If you are interested, or need some help in going to sleep at night, the report is Getting Down to Facts.
In his post Thursday Quote of the Day Dave writes that the California Teachers Association President Barbara Kerr is upset with the report. He speculates that there is some good in the report.
I am afraid the professional educators are too much fish swimming in the ocean. All they can see is the water around them. They are trying to “fix” public education in terms of the environment that has created the problem. They want more government programs and bureaucracy. They want more money. They want better training to produced certified teachers.
They need to think outside of the ocean. They need to get back on the land. Get the federal and state government out of education. Let the local governments take ownership and be held responsible by parents. If they’ll allow greater flexibility with charter schools, and give parents vouchers, then public schools might have a chance. Otherwise the problems are only going to get worse.
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