Common Sense of a Conservative 32

The state of public education in America is reaching a crisis point. It is a mystery to me why a liberal organization such as the NEA will not entertain new ideas to try and solve our declining education institution. They are quick to adopt all sorts of new ideas when it comes to teaching the "new" math and other controversial teaching techniques. They are always claiming that they need more - a little more money to improve our education programs. The prove is in the results. The test scores have shown that our system is not working compared to other systems in Europe and Asia. Let me make a distinction between the teachers and the Administrators. The vast majority of public school teachers are hard working and trying to do the best to teach our children. The problem lies with the "system". It is a bureaucracy that lends to inefficiency, waste, corruption and maintaining the status quo. There is no incentive to improve, or to reward the better teachers, or to correct any problems. The teacher's union is part of the problem and a road block against solutions. There are enough case studies today that prove a charter school or vouchers are viable solutions to our declining education institution. Yet, again and again, the NEA and other politicians will not allow this to be tried. They insist that vouchers will only degrade the public schools further rather than change it for the better. It is ironic that a liberal institution like the NEA will be so conservative in its actions as to preserve the status quo at any cost and thereby condemning many of our children to attend a failing education system.

John Stossel of 20/20 did a story recently on this very topic. It is a must see TV on the current status of our public school system. It is called "Stupid in America". I urge all parents, students, teachers, administrators and politicians to watch this show. It is an important topic worth discussion and worthwhile of finding a solution. The American students are not stupid. The system has failed them and we are all to blame. There is no reason at all that a High School graduate cannot read. I challenge any school administrator to defend this policy. It is common sense that a student cannot get a diploma if he cannot read what is written on that diploma. The latest outrage in NY State is the scoring of the Regent exams. Some educator has come up with a unique way to score the Regent exams such that out of 84 questions, a perfect score of 100 is 84 correct answers. So far so good. However, a passing grade of 65 can be achieved with only 33 correct answers. This "new" math is almost magical. The dumbing down of American students is happening right now. Only a revolution by the parents can save this institution.

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