Reporting on key Nebraska K-12 education issues on a daily basis from Susan Darst Williams, a writer who lives at the base of Mount Laundry, Nebraska. To subscribe to this blog's mailing list, and see a variety of other education features and information, visit the main education website, www.GoBigEd.com
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Posted
11:08 AM
by Susan Darst Williams
GOOD GAME, BAD SCHOOL SYSTEM
John Stossel has a good article that points out how foolish it is to expect a government monopoly to do a good job delivering an important item like a child's education:
www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2010/02/17/education_too_important_for_a_government_monopoly
In the last few days, I've talked to three teacher friends who are all down in the mouth over what they CAN'T do. It's all because they are forced to do things a certain way by the government monopoly.
One wants the freedom and flexibility to teach to the children's passions and interests, but has to stick to the multitudinous, micromanaging standards which bore her as much as they bore the children.
One wants to be able to flunk kids who aren't working hard in his high school science class, but it's against district policy to flunk anybody, and the kids KNOW that, so all he can do is let them take the same test over and over until even an eggplant would be able to pass.
The third would like to recommend to the parents of a short, frail seventh-grade boy to switch him to a private school, because he is getting bullied by the public school "toughs" who are already in gangs. But if she did that, she'd get fired.
What should we do?
End the government monopoly over schools. The question is, how?
Comments:
John Stossel,and Susan,you are correct as usual! If the teachers unions and most educational administrators really put the kids first, they wouldn't be so opposed to charter schools, vouchers, tuition tax credits.They have a big vested interest in the public school monopoly. Their general attitude is: Get all the money we can possibly squeeze out of taxpayers, and then find ways to spend it. Recently, Dennis Pool, Finanace Director of the Omaha Public Schools, stated that some of the sharply increased state aid money would have to be put in the bank, because OPS needed more time to spend the money "wisely."! In real terms, OPS, after screaming for more state aid for years, didn't know how to spend some of the increased state aid! Competition keeps business lean and efficient, and it will do the same for education.
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