News Herald – Juliann Talkington
Is the U.S. education system following a socialistic model?
SOCIALISM: controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies
RESULTS OF SOCIALISM: poor quality, high cost, and little innovation
U.S. K-12 EDUCATION SYSTEM: controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies
U.S. K-12 EDUCATION SYSTEM RESULTS: poor academic performance relative to other countries (poor quality), second highest per student spending in the world (high cost), still using 20th Century education model in the 21st Century (little innovation)
Based on the definition and performance, the U.S. K-12 education system is following a socialistic model.
Many kids hate school. Teachers are overwhelmed with paperwork and unruly students. School districts always need more money and frequently want to lower standards.
The problem is curriculum, credentialing, and labor organizations are making a lot of money off the current system. As would be expected, they want to maintain the status quo. They actively support political candidates, hire lobbyists, and flood the media with studies that support their position.
Sadly, these organizations help ensure our kids are trapped in underperforming schools and face uncertain futures.
This means we need to take proactive steps to make sure our children can obtain high quality K-12 education.
Remove entry restrictions. Many smart people have the ability to teach. Teachers should not be required to attend accredited training programs if they already have the subject area expertise to teach the material and the skills to manage and motivate students. Schools should have the freedom to train teachers as they see fit.
Encourage vouchers. Parents have the right to pick the best school for their child. The competition for students will force schools to hire and keep high quality teachers and to run cost competitive programs.
Eliminate accreditation for schools. Most accrediting bodies use peer review to evaluate schools. This ensures everyone will remain at the same level of mediocrity.
Allow schools freedom. Schools need to be able to come up with innovative ways of handling advanced learners and students with learning disabilities. They also need the freedom to come up with effective, cost effective ways of delivering material, and monitoring student performance.
Transparency. If K-12 education is less regulated, schools will have an incentive to monitor and report student performance to attract and retain students.
The socialized K-12 education system in the U.S. is not working. We need to move to a freer, more student centered model.