WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL
SYSTEM?
by
Dr. Lawrence Wilson
© May 2022,
LD Wilson Consultants, Inc.
All
information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment,
prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Table
Of Contents
II. DEEPER CAUSES OF SCHOOL PROBLEMS
1.
Economic – a unionized, government monopoly
2.
Moral – anti-Biblical
3.
Technical – outdated teaching methods
4.
Safety
5. The
growth of centralized control
IV. QUESTIONS ABOUT SCHOOL CHOICE
______________________
This
is a very brief overview of one of the most serious problems in modern
society. Many authors have written
large books about the subject.
Two
prominent economists were recently asked what is the greatest challenge facing
America. Both agreed it is not
terrorism, energy or health care, but the decline of the American system of
education. In summary, the
problems are:
1.
Declining test scores and knowledge learned. Test scores and knowledge
is worse than most industrialized nations. This is especially a problem if America wishes to stay
competitive in science and technology, an area she has done well in.
2. Skyrocketing costs. This is well-known. Most is due to high pensions and
administrative costs.
3. High dropout rates in some areas, up to
20-30% or more. In other
words, too many children are very unhappy in school and just decide to leave,
regardless of the laws.
4. Serious safety problems, especially for
girls.
II. DEEPER CAUSES OF SCHOOL PROBLEMS
1. ECONOMIC/STRUCTURAL - A UNIONIZED,
GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY
A
critical problem in education is its structure. The government school system is an economic monopoly. This is the least flexible and most
difficult type of system to change!
A
monopoly in business terms means
there is no meaningful competition.
This means there is little real incentive to change or modernize.
Voucher
programs and charter schools in some American states are helping to change
this, but government schools still receive many perks, tax breaks and other
advantages that are not given to charter schools, voucher programs and similar
attempts to break the government school monopoly.
A
government monopoly is the worst
kind of monopoly imaginable.
Unlike private monopolies such as the former telephone industry monopoly
and others, the school monopoly is paid for by everyone without a choice. Money for it comes from your
taxes. If you donÕt pay, you are
jailed or can lose your home. This
makes this monopoly even harder to break.
A
unionized monopoly is even worse.
Unions support:
A. Tenure. Once
a teacher has taught for a few years without being fired, the teacher cannot be
fired except for horrible crimes, even if they are not good teachers. The ones who are hurt by this rule are
the children, and they are the ones that are supposed to be the beneficiaries,
not the ones hurt.
B.
Generous pensions and other benefits. Teachers, we often hear, make little
money. It is true they do not make
as much as some jobs. However,
they work only 9-10 months a year and have excellent health care, and retirement
benefits. Some earn every penny
them make, and deserve more.
However, many do not deserve to earn more, yet the unions are always
pressing for more benefits, whether or not the teacherÕs performance is up to
any standards.
C.
Blocking change and innovation. The teacherÕs unions do a lot to
maintain the status quo and tend to oppose any changes that would affect their
members. In other words, they work
for themselves, not for the children, no matter what they say.
D.
Liberal political slant. The teacherÕs unions support almost
exclusively Democratic Party candidates in America who do their best to stop
education choice and change in education, since that is anti-union. The unions tend to support many liberal
causes. This harms the students
and the education.
E. The teacherÕs union in America is known
to be corrupt. This means they pay their leaders large salaries for doing
nothing, for example.
F. Public sector unions – a very bad
idea that was formerly illegal.
Unions are not needed in the public sector because it is not Òthe
workersÓ versus a Òstingy corporate managementÓ. No one is forcing teachers to work
in sweat shops, for example. Even
as liberal an American president as Franklin Roosevelt spoke out against the
evil of public sector unions.
2. MORAL – ANTI-BIBLICAL
Government
education has been divorced from the Biblical concepts that founded the nation
of America, and that are responsible for much of the success of Western
civilization. This is nothing
short of ridiculous.
It
is due to sustained efforts of some groups to destroy the religious and moral
fabric of the nation. ÔCommon
coreÕ, a horrible national government program, is the latest insult to our
moral values. For more on this
topic, please read Common Core Must Be Stopped
on this website.
3. TECHNICAL - OUTDATED TEACHING METHODS AND
PHILOSOPHY
Teaching
methods and educational philosophy in schools have changed little hundred
years. Among the outdated methods
are:
A.
A highly authoritarian system that forces all the children to learn at the same
pace, and at a place, a time, and in an order determined by a teacher's
convenience or by administrative decree.
This may have been necessary at one time in
history. However, modern technology
and communication have changed the situation.
Even
without the most modern technology, over 100 years ago educators such as Maria
Montessori found that children could have a different type of relationship with
a properly trained teacher - not an adversarial relationship.
She
devised a method that allows children to learn at their own pace, in their own
order, within a properly designed environment. However, her innovations have not filtered into the
government schools much at all.
For a few more details, read Maria Montessori.
Another
great educator who influenced this author was Booker T. Washington, who founded
the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama, USA. His book, Up From Slavery, is must
reading for anyone interested in education and a wonderful human
interest story. Mr.
WashingtonÕs school was way ahead of its time.
B. Classrooms versus home schooling. Classrooms are good for some children,
but not for others. They tend to
be distracting, dangerous for girls, and very inefficient because usually the
students all must go at the same pace and all must use a similar method of
learning, neither of which are best.
Perhaps at one time they were the only way to do things. But this is certainly not true
today.
The
home schooling movement is growing fast, especially in America, because it
works. Even without using advanced
technology, it is far more efficient than classrooms. Students tend to learn the same amount in about half the
time, it is more flexible, can be tailored to each child, and is more
comfortable and safer.
A
few misinformed parents believe their children need the Òsocialization skillsÓ
learned in classrooms. This is
totally untrue, if you ever been around home-schooled children. They are as socially advanced or more
so than government-schooled children, or better.
Many
other educational arrangements are possible as well. Some small schools group children of all ages together with
excellent results. The point is,
we are stuck with a one-size-fits-all approach that is no better than expecting
everyone to wear the same size shoes.
It is terrible for a majority of the children and contributes to ADHD
and hundreds of other learning problems. For more, read Home Schooling
on this site.
C.
Rewarding uncreative behavior. The child who gets the best grade is
generally the one who can repeat like a parrot what the teacher says. Those who think independently and
creatively are often punished for their independence. Yet creative, independent thinking is critical to modern
society.
D.
School Grading – An often stupid system. Present
grading systems label children as "C" students, or even ÒfailuresÓ
when they just learn a little slower than others. This is pure insanity.
They are not failures. Some
children learn faster than others for physical, nutritional or other reasons.
It
also sets up a reward system for learning that does not help students to be
self-motivated. In
fact, quite the opposite.
The children become motivated by grades and pleasing teachers, so when
they are not ÒforcedÓ to learn they donÕt want to bother. This is a terrible situation that is a
direct result of the present government school system.
The
author once taught a health class to high-school dropouts, using a positive
reinforcement grading system. At
the first, class meeting, the students were told they would all receive an A in
the course. There would be daily
quizzes on the course material, and if they did not obtain a perfect score on
each daily quiz, they would repeat each test until they did obtain a perfect
score.
Students
were skeptical. But the following
year, ten of the twelve students decided to go back to school. Their self-esteem improved by receiving
good grades and not because my standards were lower. This might be called "success-oriented
education".
E.
Different learning styles. Some children are auditory learners,
while others are visual learners.
Still other are kinesthetic learners. Other learning styles include more
abstract versus more concrete approaches to course material. A simple test can assess which method
is best for each child.
An
excellent book about newer educational technologies is The Learning Revolution by
Dryden and Vos.
Negative reinforcement through grading works for some children, but is
harmful for many.
4. SAFETY
Schools
today are dangerous places.
Bullying has always been a problem. Today, may schools teach bad values and lies such as
critical race theory, gender nonsense, socialist values and much more.
Schools
are often Ògun-free zonesÓ. This
means they are vulnerable to shootings.
Schools
are often where children are introduced to drugs and sex. Girls are especially vulnerable and
there is a lot of molestation and rape.
The group we call the Rogues often use schools
to attack children.
We
speak with many children and this is the truth! Many young people, especially girls, hate school and hate
their parents for sending them there.
Please wise up, parents, and do
not send girls to schools.
Colleges are also very dangerous for women today.
The
problem has become much worse as most schools and colleges have abandoned
Biblical values and instead embraced liberal values.
5. MORE CENTRALIZED CONTROL
Government
schools in America used to be locally controlled. This is always better to reduce corruption and maintain
better control over the entire system.
However,
it is less and less true. Now, the
national government controls more education funding and dictates to the states
more and more how the schools will be run, and what will be taught.
We
believe there are only two solutions:
1.
Reform the government system. Reforms would need to include:
A. No unions. They do not serve the children, and they are not needed.
B. Restore Biblical values to
the government schools. This would be a great improvement, but
is unlikely at this time.
C. Bring
in much more innovation. The trouble is that there is little
incentive to do this, no matter how much anyone believes in it and desires it.
D. Allow students to learn at home. This is much safer, much less
expensive, and much more convenient than having to get up at an early hour and
rush off to school.
2. End the current system. We believe that current government school systems around
the world are outdated, very costly, and not serving the children.
In
their place, one parent should be paid to stay at home and be in charge of
their childÕs education. You may
say parents are not competent to do this.
However,
we answer that today there are a multitude of home schooling curricula and
programs available that do a much better job than a crowded classroom because
the education is individualized for each student and goes at each childÕs pace.
Home
schooling is already a thriving and growing movement that works well, and is
much safer for the children. The
private sector and home schooling are also already much better in terms of
performance than the public schools in America and elsewhere.
IV. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT CHOICE IN EDUCATION
1.
Does school choice violate the US Constitution? Absolutely not.
In fact, choice in education is a founding principle of America. Imposing one school system is not in
alignment with the principles of the American founders or the American
Constitution at all.
Some
say that school choice means the government is 'establishing' or favoring a
particular church or religion, in some cases. This is not true.
The only intent of the Constitution is to avoid a state religion and
preserve choice.
2.
Are the poor really able to choose the best school for their children? Elitists
believe that only a select few can make good choices for childrenÕs
education. Selecting a school
involves a similar process as picking a car mechanic or a doctor.
It
is the height of arrogance to believe that only a few are able to choose a
school for their children. As
Thomas Jefferson wrote, the best principle is to give power to the people, not
to central authorities.
3.
Won't educational choice ruin the government schools and cause chaos? The answer
is no. First, the government
schools are already a terrible mess.
We are sad to have to say this, but it is true, especially in terms of
safety for girls, but also academically.
Secondly,
the effect of offering school choice has been the opposite. Giving people choices forces the
government schools to improve by offering people competing options. However, the unions and some others who
desire total control do not want to change.
4.
What if school choice doesn't work? It does work. In fact, statistics show that most home-schooled children
easily outperform those that attend government schools at a far lower cost and
requiring far less time to learn as well.
5. If Japan, Germany and other nations
have workable government schools, why can't we? The fast answer
is these nations are not in better shape than we are. In fact, many are in worse shape. Japan is so competitive the suicide rate among students is
enormous.
Other nations spend almost as much as we do. Many are more corrupt than ours. So we cannot look to Europe for
answers, just as in health care options.
Better to look to our heritage as a nation that believes in the power of
individuals to solve problems without government interference.
6. What is the proper role of
government in education? It is to
establish and maintain laws that protect parentsÕ rights to educate their
children as they see fit. Systems
that are successful will be copied.
Those that are not will die a natural death. Those who cannot pay for an education will be helped by
private charities.
References
1.Dryden, G. and Vos, J., The
Learning Revolution, 1999, 2005. (A superb book)
2. Fader, Daniel, N., The Naked Children, 1971. This is an excellent book.
3. Fuller, B., Education Automation. Also excellent!
4. Illich, I., Deschooling Society. Another excellent book.
5. Krishnamurti, Education and the Significance of Life.
A more philosophical book and also excellent.
6. Books by and about Maria Montessori such as The
Montessori Method and Spontaneous Activity In Education,
and others.
7. Washington, B.T., Up From Slavery and other
books about Tuskeegee Institute.
Many
other books also discuss the problems of the school system.
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