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"Only the educated are free." Epictetus,
Discourses
As Americans, we value freedom above all else; yet we
have been denying many of our young citizens the freedom
derived from a quality education.
America's system of public education is in crisis. Our
children are failing at an alarming rate. Many do not
learn to read and are still allowed to graduate from
high school. Tragically, our students are often without
trained teachers, adequate supplies, and safe,
well-maintained facilities.
America is plagued by failing schools that do not
educate our children despite the countless millions of
dollars we spend on education every year. The money is
not making a difference because we are not addressing
the root causes of the problem. There is no
accountability in our public school system, no choice,
and very little local and parental control.
Education plays a vital and enduring role in the growth
of our young people, so why have we allowed our
educational system to deteriorate so extensively?
There was a time, years ago, when America’s public
schools were a model for the rest of the world. Now the
test scores of our students are lagging behind many of
the industrialized nations. What happened?
For some reason, we began to tolerate mediocrity and
failure in our students. We grew more concerned with
their self-esteem rather than whether or not they were
actually learning the rudimentary skills necessary for
acquiring knowledge - reading, writing, and arithmetic.
This is why I’m advocating for a revolutionary, ‘back to
basics’ approach that seeks to instill character in our
children and includes testing to ensure they are
learning.
We must hold superintendents and their administrators
accountable for how students in their school districts
perform. We need smaller districts, smaller schools,
smaller class sizes, and more qualified teachers. We
need to retain the good teachers by providing them with
a more comfortable and attractive working environment
and higher salaries. We need to ensure that the money
we’re spending makes a difference in the lives of the
students. And we need to introduce competition in the
form of more charter schools.
If our children have supportive families and a sound
educational system, they will be better able to reach
their potential and achieve their dreams. That’s why I
support more parental involvement and local control of
schools.
There's no question public school systems are failing
our children, despite the fact that the federal
government has been throwing money at the problem for
decades. Whether or not it's symptomatic of a culture
that doesn't place enough value on education (i.e. it
isn't 'cool' to be smart), we have to attack the problem
differently.
What is the federal government's role in education? For
much of our history, public education has been the
responsibility and concern of state and local
governments; yet there's no dispute that education is an
important national issue.
Teacher unions have too much control, and the rudiments
of math, science, history, and English are no longer
being stressed. Too much emphasis is being placed on
raising students' 'self-esteem' and group learning.
Although children do learn differently and
accommodations should be made for certain individuals,
there is nothing more absurd than the notion that
students will learn more from one another than from a
good teacher. Surprisingly, a kind of ontological
relativism pervades our public school systems.
Educators are placing too little emphasis on correct
answers to some of the most elementary questions. More
competition must somehow be introduced into the
system. One way of accomplishing this is school vouchers
for students who would like to attend either a public or
private school. |
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