Five Quick Steps for Reforming Education in America
1. Blow up the Department of Education.
2. Eradicate the teachers' unions by hiring Pinkertons.
3. Abolish government control over running schools and place most of the governance and day-to-day operations in private hands.
4. Create a comprehensive school choice voucher system funded by the States.
5. More pizza parties.
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I don’t buy it. I assume by private hands, you mean for-profit, correct? I have not been too impressed by private-run public schooling experiments so far. The charter schools in Ohio, for example, have been accused of falsifying attendence and test scores to meet goals. Some have gone out of business and some of the people opening schools have shady backgrounds.
School choice sounds good, but on what basis do parents make the choice? Test score and attendence numbers? Not reliable, and strict government oversight and auditing would, after all, be a commie plot to take back control. Advertising? Some charter schools have radio ads touting how little work they give students.
One of the most insidious, overlooked issues with market solutions is the information gap between buyers and sellers. Show me a neighborhood that has parents educated enough and engaged enough to make a “rational” decision about their child’s schooling, and I’ll show you a neighborhood that already has great public schools.
October 19th, 2006 at 12:07 am