One of my brothers brought this good quote by Walter Williams:
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The teaching establishment and politicians have hoodwinked taxpayers into believing that more money is needed to improve education. The Washington, D.C., school budget is about the nation's costliest, spending about $15,000 per pupil. Its student/teacher ratio, at 15.2 to 1, is lower than the nation's average. Yet student achievement is just about the lowest in the nation. What's so callous about the Washington situation is about 1,700 children in kindergarten through 12th grade receive the $7,500 annual scholarships in order to escape rotten D.C. public schools, and four times as many apply for the scholarships, yet Congress, beholden to the education establishment, will end funding the school voucher program.
Any long-term solution to our education problems requires the decentralization that can come from competition. Centralization has been massive. In 1930, there were 119,000 school districts across the U.S; today, there are less than 15,000. Control has moved from local communities to the school district, to the state, and to the federal government. Public education has become a highly centralized government-backed monopoly and we shouldn't be surprised by the results.
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This is from his column the Dumbest Generation Getting Dumber.
Thanks Derek!
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Technorati tags: government schools, public school, public education, education
6 comments:
Here! Here!
I would have to disagree. I don't see homeschool efficient, since it misses the essential part of high school, which is making friends.
Thanks Spunky.
Highclass, did you read the post? It didn't address anything about homeschooling. It was about the problems with throwing more money at government schools.
I'm not sure if you are joking or not. Making friends is not, or at least should not, be one of the most important parts of getting an education.
R.I.P. Common Sense R.I.P.
Henry, I don't know: I made some friends in high school. Of course, I really haven't talked or seen any of them since... But relationships are essential to our lives--not just in high school [smile]. Of course, my true and closest friends have come from many sources... none of them from high school.
As for the money thing, I keep coming back to it: You could get all of the best curriculum and pay a parent to stay home and homeschool for that kind of money.
~Luke
Luke, I agree that people often make friends in high school. I agree it is a good thing. But people also make friends outside of high school. I don't think the focus of high school should be making friends.
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