Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Is the problem with Public education that they have too much money?

Natalie Criss (Of I Will Survive - Homeschool Version) had a link on Facebook to an article by John Taylor Gato: The Public School Nightmare. He asks "Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thought?"

He starts with:

"I want you to consider the frightening possibility that we are spending far too much money on schooling, not too little. I want you to consider that we have too many people employed in interfering with the way children grow up – and that all this money and all these people, all the time we take out of children’s lives and away from their homes and families and neighborhoods and private explorations – gets in the way of education."

It is an interesting thought, that government schools have too much money.

2 comments:

Eric Holcombe said...

Public education consumes 45% of TN state tax revenue. State spending has increased 54% in the last ten years. The student population has increased 6% in the same time period.

Public education devours 51% of our local/county tax revenue. We are looking at a 40% local tax increase to pay for the county debt coming largely from recent public school construction bonds.

No one is willing to make a cut. Neither are they willing to explain how area private schools can get the job done for 40% less per pupil - or why we don't employ the use of public charters who operate on about the same financial level. When the economy is good, most people are willing to keep throwing money at the problem "for the children", give the state employees their cadillac health insurance and retirement plans and pensions, but now that it is tight, they are calling to "cut spending", but refuse to acknowledge the 400-lb gorilla that is doing the spending.

Henry Cate said...

Eric - thank you for the details. I hadn't realized that so much of a state budget went to education.

I agree that few will do anything to fix education. Too often many seem to be ostriches with their heads in the sand.