So what's wrong with the public schools?

There are many fine public schools in America where students learn the 3R's and emerge well prepared for college. But still they are failing our children and our country. Then there are those mostly in poorer areas "serving" blacks and immigrants where failure is endemic. During the last 25 years nearly everything in America has improved while public schools have resisted reform. The average K-12 test scores in America more resemble the 3rd world than the developed nations. This at a time when our economy is robust and the expenditures on education are enormous (eg 40% of the California budget). So what the hell is wrong with this picture?

The problem begins with the teacher's unions, among the most reactionary institutions in America. Reforms such as pay for performance and vouchers are strenuously and expensively fought, while the blame is placed on politicians and voters who refuse to pay even more. When the issue is debated the two sides are accountability (Republicans) and money (Democrats). But the debate does not even address the most important problems.

Liberals say that more money will attract better teachers and reduce class size and the result will be better education. Seems obvious, right? But this only addresses a tiny part of the problem. Teachers and classroom learning account for a small fraction of the educational process, maybe 10% or less. Consider the following thought experiment. Imagine you have a fabuluous teacher, a small class of well behaved students and a luxurious facility. The pupils pay attention as they usually do, but then do no homework. The fab teacher is also nice, as she never demands homework, so nobody is stressed out. The semester flies by and final exams arrive. Still nobody studies and, of course, everybody flunks. The test scores range from 2 - 10% depending on intelligence. (If you don't agree, what do you think your score would be if you never studied?) I conclude that the teacher and classroom experience account for maybe 10% of the result. The rest comes from personal effort. And the students are 100% responsible for their achievement. What really matters is the behavior and effort of the students, and that is the responsibility of the students themselves and their parents. Good students are the product of good parents.

What about the fine schools where most of the families have dedicated mothers and fathers and the kids get into the best colleges? I maintain that those schools are still failing their students, parents and country. Because the schools of education, the teacher's and administrator's associations and the school boards have moved so far to the political left, they actually harm their students. They no longer teach about good and evil, our judeo-christian heritage, the true constitutional rights and responsibilities, patriotism and the exceptionalism of America. Instead, moral relativism, agressive secularism and anti-Americanism are force fed for 12 years.

Then these kids enter the elite colleges where 90% of the professors are political leftists. Every kind of diversity is celebrated on college campuses except intellectual diversity. Schools of law and journalism graduate leftists who wind up practicing judicial activitism and praising it in the mainstream media.

So what can we do about this dismal state of affairs? In poor districts we should enable parents who really care about education to send their kids to private schools where discipline will be maintained and standards upheld. Support school vouchers. We should applaud and support leaders like Bill Cosby who tell the black community that their kids are failing due to an appalling lack of parental control and involvement. In all school districts we must elect right- minded candidates to the school boards and hold them accountable for a curriculum that teaches moral values and celebrates our national heritage and American goodness. At the college level, search out institutions like Hillsdale college that "vigorously defends the classical liberal arts, individual rights, limited government and the free market." (Go to www.hillsdale.edu for a free subscription to their fine monthly letter "Imprimis.") Let your alma maters know that they need to change or your donations will cease. Support the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (www.cspc.org) that is promoting the "academic bill of rights" aimed at liberal bias in colleges. Just do something!