I’d like to say to those who believe that our public schools aren’t broken…No, they’re not broken at all. They function precisely as they are intended to, though effectively and efficiently teaching our children those things that would benefit them, our society and our country, the most or even what their parents would like them to learn, isn’t actually the intention of our public schools.
The intention of our modern public schools is, clearly, to provide jobs to people that, in many cases, couldn’t get a real job; a job in the private sector. As the saying goes; those that can, do; those that can’t, teach. Unfortunately, like most sayings that are this hyperbolic, there’s usually some element of truth to them. But wait, it gets better. Those that can’t teach aren’t fired either, as they would be in the private sector; they’re relegated to our inner city schools, where no one expects ‘those kids’ to learn anyway.
To the families that live in our country's inner cities, I’d like to ask…Have you had enough, yet, or are you going to sit around and demand nothing of those that claim to ‘represent’ you but, clearly, could care less about you, for 2 or 3 more generations? I’d like to ask them if they’d like to send their children to a school that is safe, where teachers actually teach because they’re livelihood depends on their ability to teach their students and that if the student needs a good swift kick-in-the-pants, the teacher will gladly oblige the student, with the parents blessing and support. I’d then ask them if they knew that, more than likely, their representatives’ children actually go to such a school. So, then I’d ask these inner city families, why don’t your children go to such a school? If they were to ask their ‘representatives’ this question, and their representatives actually told them the truth, it would sound something like, “Because, silly, then you’d screw-up everything!”
If every student, and their parents, had the audacity to expect the same opportunity for an education as the children of their elitist ‘representatives’, that really would screw-up everything. Those representatives know that, with a better educated constituency, they’d have absolutely no shot at being elected...none. It would completely screw-up their carefully cultivated constituency of under educated, lower-income voters that elect them, year after year, no questions asked. Their constituents would stop voting as a block, and start demanding representation, from their representatives, like their better educated and higher-income compatriots do. “That simply cannot be allowed”, say their representatives, en masse. “We must never allow these children such an opportunity. How dare they be so audacious as to expect, or even to hope, for the same opportunity as us. Who do they think they are?”
Actually, that’s a very good question; Who do they think they are? I can’t answer that, but I can tell you who I think they are. They are human-beings, all of them; no better, no-worse than any one of us. They all want the best possible future for their children; they want them to be doctors and lawyers and such…well, maybe not lawyers so much, but I digress. They want what they deserve, as Americans…an opportunity to experience life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As a fellow American, I say, give them what they want, give them a chance…just give them the opportunity to receive an education, a real education, not what our government schools, and the teacher’s union’s, are trying to peddle as an education; last in academic performance of the 23 or so industrial nations; an ‘educational institution’ sporting the gaudy graduation rate of 30% of the High School seniors, not coincidentally, in their carefully cultivated constituency, of poverty…clearly, our national disgrace.
I recently saw an ad attacking, and gratuitously vilifying, Bob Shaffer, the republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Colorado, for his support of school vouchers. The ad was paid for by the National Education Association; the NEA. What a shocker, I know! Vouchers really would screw-up everything, as far as the NEA is concerned. That would open up competition in the educational market-place that the NEA, and the other teacher’s unions, currently monopolize. Of course they oppose school vouchers and every other form of market driven education.
Monopolies are great for those that hold the monopoly, but really bad for those who need the products or services that the monopoly provides. That’s why we have antitrust laws, laws that break up monopolies, because they don’t allow for competition, for market forces to set the bar, the standard, for those products or services. Monopolies force the consumer to accept whatever is being provided; there is no other, real choice. Obviously, and demonstrably, the NEA could care less about the quality of education that our government schools provide to our nations children. They are not so inclined and have no incentive to; they're the only game in town! So, now I would ask, have we all had enough…yet?
In 1955, Milton Friedman, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 1976 and later served as President Reagan’s Chief Economic Advisor, proposed allowing competitive market forces to set the standard for our nation’s education, just as those same forces set the standard for every other product and service that American consumers use, and need, everyday. The best providers of those goods and services flourish and grow stronger; those who can’t compete at a level acceptable to the consumer, either change how they do business or close their doors.
Friedman's approach would dramatically improve our government schools, not destroy them. There would be a surge in alternative schools, of all types. Sure, there would have to be accountability; some form of accreditation. After awhile, the market would drive out those not truly interested in improving our nation’s education; other, non-government schools, would flourish and spread. There would be more talented and gifted people that would want to teach; teacher’s pay and benefits would be set by the market, by their abilities and commitment to teaching their students, not by the union’s strong-arm tactics and the unapologetic exploitation of their monopoly, and our love for our children. It’s a no-brainer…it takes no brains, at all, to ‘get-this’…none.
Vouchers, a GI Bill for kids or however market education might be implemented, nationally or locally, doesn’t matter nearly as much as breaking the union’s monopoly on education. When the former Democratic Senator from Colorado, Tim Wirth, worked to dismantle the monopoly AT&T held over the telecommunications industry, it paved the way for the unimaginable growth and expansion of the telecommunications industry that we realize today; from the internet to smart phones and beyond. Obviously, no one can predict, with certainty, all of the ramifications that breaking up the teacher’s union monopoly of our government schools would bring, but to continue to ignore or rationalize or to redirect attention away from the national disgrace that our government schools clearly are, is simply asinine. It’s not about more money, smaller classes, how irresponsible the parents are or any of the other red-herrings constantly being recited by those who oppose market education. It’s about our kids, all of them, their futures and the future of our country.
As the ad against senatorial candidate Shaffer, or anyone else that would have the audacity to actually talk about this subject openly, and honestly, clearly shows, the NEA and the other special interests that support maintaining their monopoly over our nation’s education, stand in visceral, unethical and powerful opposition to market education. I stand with Bob Shaffer and the most vulnerable members of our society; our children…all of them! Where do you stand?