Public Education’s Not So Excellent Adventure

With apologies to both Bill and Ted for the title, what education needs is a little math lesson to go with the history of information accumulated here. According to a Redstate article (yes, it’s not a neutral site), we are getting less out of our education dollars than other countries. Those countries spend a lot less to educate their population, and yet we continue to beat around the bush to this  problem. More money does not equal better outcomes.

When things are free, people are more likely to take advantage of the opportunity more than if it costs money. If it is also convenient and allows us to use our own time as we please, such as work or more leisure time, then what a bonus. However, the issue with public education is that unless a person is fully invested in the outcome of a child’s education, it gets taken for granted that the system will do the job without any interaction required. It becomes a “required service” for dual income families and single parents, or as the Redstate article calls it, “daycare.”

Parents may show up to sporting events or the occasional performance, however, the only real interaction many parents have with the school is transportation or whatever communication received through the student. Think of public education as kind of “child rearing instant coffee”. Now, there are different “flavors” and that may depend on your district, school, program, or teacher. However, not everyone gets what they want, and are relegated to what’s available. There is no real competition unless you want to buy your own school, which is private education. The parent may not be invested any differently, other than the fact that they choose what brand of coffee maker they want. But parents are offloading more and more of what should be their responsibility to the school. It’s not fair to the community, staff, or the child. But it is widely accepted as normal behavior.

If you tie in the recent testing cheating scandals and the myriad of interest groups (teacher’s unions, school board and administrator associations, etc.) for public education, it is easy to see that this system has a major financial interest in keeping your child in public schools. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be that much of an argument against charter, private and homeschooling. I applaud those educators in all schools who do take the profession seriously, and do what’s best for the student and put learning first above the needs of the district. Those professionals understand that it is knowledge and achievement, and not the system that should be held up as the standard. The profession can survive without the system, but the system cannot survive without those individuals who transcend the interest groups. The kids and parents know them, and request their classrooms above all others.

A lot of what is wrong with public education is not the system itself, as there has to be some sort of order. It is our acceptance of the current system, and the only remedy that is given to a parent is to spend more money on the same system. By allowing the federal, state and local governments tell us what to expect out of education and what we will have to pay for it is crazy. What if the only hamburger you could buy in your cost an extra dollar than the next town and the quality could not be counted on hour to hour? Would you just accept it, move to the next town that had a great hamburger at a reasonable price, or would you fight to change it? The local parent has little to no choice other than to move and afford a district that meets their approval, or pay to send their kid elsewhere. If parents did not accept this, then the schools would have to change or would become obsolete in the face of competition. Instead, parents are content to complain that their child does not get exactly the education they want, and is forced to support higher taxes in the hope that the end result will be a better education. And as with government, there is never enough money to satisfy the possibilities.

According to the article above, the more money spent, the less return received out of every additional dollar (i.e. marginal utility). In addition, those children graduating today are more likely to need remedial study if they do indeed go to college. Add to that the state’s report cards are flawed and do not accurately show how a school district is achieving and if the children are even learning. Otherwise, school districts would not be supplementing them. Not that I think this is the best way to show achievement, but it is a step in the right direction to be responsive to the needs of a community. How can this be measured accurately other than taking their word for it that kids are learning or not learning other than to set our own criteria?

There are a lot of great people in education, but thinking this system can continue on without massive changes is delusion. Not that there won’t be some failures along the way, but thinking that government can solve this problem is in itself the problem. If parents want control of the issue, then take control of your own lives and children. As a parent and first time homeschooler, I can tell you that I’m livid that I will now (at all times during the school year) be required to carry paperwork around that states the school system “allows” my children to be with me instead of with the district. That alone should tell you how much control parents have already given away. At this point, I’m not sure who to put as a dependent on my tax return. Do I have the right to claim my child as a dependent, or just my local school district?