Prior to the mid-60's America had THE BEST education system in the world. The deterioration began then and it has now become among the worst among Western countries. Why has this happened and what should be done about it?
Answer to the second question first: it is so fundamentally screwed up that it's beyond fixing without changes that get to the fundamentals; therefore the best solution that'll fix it the best and fastest is to scrap it, beginning at the federal level.
If a company was the best in the world at what it did and a new regime took over that took its product in a new direction very heavy in bureaucracy that led to steady deterioration in the quality of its product and, therefore, in company sales/profitability that turned its stock into a junk level investment what do you think the board of directors would do? The directors, if they were interested in returning to the top of the heap would get rid of the management and practices that caused it. They would strip out all the bureaucracy and get back to the basics. They would basically start over.
Our nation's K-12 educational systems are so screwed up in bureaucracies and mismanagement that it should be scrapped and we should get back to the basics. The alternative is perpetual mediocrity. Is that acceptable or not?
What do we have to lose by totally cleaning house and starting over? Realistically, it couldn't be any worse than what we have now. I'm certain that if ALL state and federal education system bureaucracy were made to disappear, local schools would be totally capable of keeping the education going all by themselves. We could then rebuild 'the system' from the bottom up.
The federal department of education should never again have such control over education. Control should be strictly maintained primarily at the local level with modest support at the state level.
Our first priority: ensure the restoration of discipline at the classroom level. For example, talking in class and being otherwise disruptive is FLAT UNACCEPTABLE. There should be discipline for students doing that ... going to the principal's office, suspension and reporting unacceptable behavior to parents for example. 'Old School' discipline worked!
Second, enforce a policy that it's the students' responsibility to become educated with strong support from parents and teachers.
Third, evaluate students' performance and let the control of it be at the local level. Return to the same kind of evaluations we used 50 years ago. In grade school that included citizenship, cooperation, attitude, and the like. Attitude of the students MATTERS!
Fourth, re-establish control of the classroom AT THE CLASSROOM/TEACHER level and give teachers complete authority and support to make it happen.
Fifth, re-educate parents on their role in their kids' education and re-establish the PTA and it's authority.
Sixth, restore schools' ability to easily get rid of incompetent teachers and to reward competent ones according to their achievements as teachers.
Seventh, ensure politics (government AND unions) is removed from what happens in the classroom and never is allowed to return! Teachers at the local level MUST have primary control over what is taught and HOW it is taught.
Eighth, return subject matter taught to the basics, including our ACTUAL history especially in the areas of our founding and founding documents. Knock off the 'progressive agenda' stuff!
Ninth, create two levels of education tracks in all high schools, one geared toward four-year college preparation and one geared more toward trades and other work not requiring a four-year college degree.
Tenth, the fix needs to be drastic. When something is THIS badly broken for THIS long a time, it is near impossible to fix it by tweaking on it. All the festering bad stuff that holds down our educational system is so systemic, so ingrainged, so intertwined and twisted that the only way to fix it the way it needs to be fixed is to tear it down and start over. That's what any sensible company would do with something that's broken this badly. That, for example, is what a builder would have to do to a house that was so screwed up. Tear it down to the foundation and get back to the basics that work. To start with, I'd argue that we don't even need a federal department of education and ALL evidence says that this federal bureaucracy has accomplished absolutely nothing to improve education in the 40 of its existence. In fact, ALL evidence strongly says this bureaucracy is the chief reason our schools stagnated.
THE big failing in education today is that government and even students think it's government's responsibility to 'give' an education to our kids. That is So wrong! Becoming educated is an active task on the part of the student. They will only learn well what they WANT to learn. The best, highest-paid teachers cannot make a student learn if the student doesn't want to. Money and bureaucracy ARE NOT the answers! Discipline and properly placed responsibility are THE ONLY things that'll work well.
It is NO ACCIDENT that our education system has gone steadily downhill ever since the federal department of education was created. It should be eliminated, PERIOD! Totally, completely! And it should never be reinstituted. It has become a destructive and inhibiting force that has destroyed our education system. Our system is the worst it has EVER been in our history. Take all that money poured into education 'systems', methodologies and bureaucracy and use it to reward effective teachers.
Democrats are making a huge deal over several Republican candidates' call to eliminate the federal department of education. This not only is NOT ridiculous, IT IS A NECESSITY! What's ridiculous is the sorry state that government, bureaucracies and unions have gotten our education system into.
When Art Robinson, running for Congress from Oregon, called for the elimination of the public education system he was talking a mixture of metaphor and fundamental need. The public education system IS totally failing our country. It deserves to be and should be done away with as it exists today. It's not as ridiculous a notion as it sounds. Nothing less than doing away with it as it exists today will do much to fix the mess government and unions have created.
THE PEOPLE need to take back their education system. It is OUR system, not the governments' nor the unions' but they have been allowed to make a mess of it ... badly. It's wll past time to do what's necessary and take it back folks! We owe it to our kids and to posterity!
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