America's Public Schools - Still Receiving Failing Grades

Consider the following facts from Christine Armario of the Associated Press in her May 11, 2010 article, "Nation Has High College Remedial Education Rate":

• Using Broward College in South Florida as an example, Ms. Armario reports that two thirds of entering students there require at least one remedial class in math, English or reading.
• Nationwide, abut 33% of freshman students had taken at least one remedial course, according to the Department of Education, and at two year colleges that percentage is over 40%.
• In a 2007 AST National Curriculum Survey of College Professors, 65% of the respondents said that their states poorly prepare students for college level coursework.
• A 2008 study by the nonprofit Strong American Schools found that nearly four out of five remedial students in college had a high school GPA of 3.0 or higher.

From another Department Of Education source, I found an estimate that said the United States spends about $529 billion a year on public education at the elementary and secondary levels or over $9,000 per student. And what do we get for this annual half a TRILLION expenditure, according to Ms. Armario? Not much. We are essentially paying for the same service twice when students in colleges have to take course work and be educated on topics that they theoretocally should have learned in high school. Not only did they not learn the material but they were rewarded for not learning since many of them got out of high school with a GPA over 3.0.

Many times we have referred to a commission that Ronald Reagan presided over that presented its finding on public education in 1982 in the landmark study, "A Nation At Risk." Twenty eight years and many TRILLIONS of dollars later we are no closer to solving the problem of failing public schools in this country than we were when we were determined to be at risk as a nation in 1982. Imagine how much of a risk we are at now.

Bush tried with the No Child Left Behind Legislation but I think most people would conclude that this multi-billion effort was also a failure. The Obama adminstration's education effort announced a few months ago was not much different and is also probably doomed to failure. This article did mention that "the Obama adminstration is pushing states to adopt tougher standards, and governors and education leaders across the country are working together to propose a uniform set of common standards."

Nowhere, either in this article or elsewhere, have I seen proof that tougher standards and a uniform set of standards are the root causes of the failing public schools. Much like the health care reform legislation, the political class is running off proposing solutions to problems that they do not understand. If you do not understand the root cause of the problem, the chance that your solutions will be successful are very, very small. Who is to say that faulty teacher training is not the problem vs. tougher standards. Who is to stay that parental involvement is not the problem vs. a set of common standards? Who is to say that tenure abuse is not the problem vs. tougher standards and a uniform set of standards?

Those politicians in charge are mostly lawyers, they should not be the ones identifying and solving root causes to problems. That is why Step 27 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" is so important. It would establish a panel of smart Americans to analyzae the problem, identify the root causes, and propose solutions based on their findings and expertise. We cannot rely on politicians and lawyers to solve the problem. They were provided a solution in 1982 and still could not even execute the plan after all of the work had been done.

Twenty eight years from now we do not want to be sitting around and talking about how bad public schools are in the country. However, if we allow the political class to manage this problem like we have in the past, that is exactly what will happen.


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