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Background[]

The United States has been in a educational crisis for more than 20 years.[]

Traditionally, the United States has attracted highly educated people from all over the world, as well as those who were seeking quality educational opportunities. People came from Western Europe after the world. More recently people came from Eastern Europe and Asia. The US has stayed at the front of the class by using the K-12 Educational systems. Most of the other countries just followed the US model. Since the living standards in the US has been relatively higher than most of the world, many of these bright foreigners have chosen to stay and work in this wonderful country.

The world has caught us.[]

In many cases the living standards in other nations have caught up as well. The college and university educational levels are catching up. Students in other countries have more chances at home than in the US. We in the US are attracting less and less of the brightest and the best.

Many Asians, South Africans and other have come to the US and ended up staying. But now the educational opportunities in places such as China and Hong Kong are much better than ten or twenty years ago. People who live abroad do not have to leave their homeland to get the education that others received in the US just a decade ago, esepecilly in the younger grades.

The disparate Mathematical education between the US and many other Asian countries (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, HK, Singapore and India) is real. Some educational professors in the US have commented that they have doubts whether children can really comprehend higher level Math. The US professors wonder if there are some long term side effects if one introduces complex concept at an early age. Well, people from other countries are doing it. Brains don't get damaged with more thought. It is silly to think that the US kids less capable, but they are getting less and less of an opportunity.

Seventh grade kids need to be learning algebra, calculus and robotics.[]

Unless educators and politicians as well as citizens pull their heads out of the sand, the system will never be fixed in the US.

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Insights[]

  • Some reason that schools cost twice as much as they have to. It is hard to argue otherwise, given the poor performances at many schools and with many students.
  • School curriculums are being dictated by an unelected board in Harrisburg.
  • The Republicans (with G.W. Bush) have increased the Deptartment of Education's annual budget by $11 billion.
  • We're entering a new economy, but half our children will never get there. They are condemned to ignorance by schools that the older parties and special interest, as well as the unions created and control.
  • The GOP platform used to included a provision for ending the Federal Department of Education. Now that mention is gone.

Talking[]

Unlike the older parties, Libertarians care enough about poor children to want them to have the same options to choose their schools that Al Gore and Al Sharpton's children have. Arlen Specter sends his kids to private schools. All kids deserve the same opportunity.

The education system is a monopoly. They require you to go to their schools.

Libertarians believe that you have a right to live YOUR life YOUR way. Listen to the different approach that the Libertarians take instead of the status quo.

Libertarians believe that you have the choice as to how you want to be educated. Whether you go to a government school, an apprentice program, or to a private school. Libertarians believe that the choice belongs with you. Others believe that the entire choice belongs with the government.

Libertarians want to give poor children who are not being taught by the government-controlled public schools a shot at the American Dream.

In Pennsylvania, schools have become a broken monopoly. More than 90% of the students attend the same school system -- the government school system. A monopoly, even in education, generates a high cost, low quality, poor choice outcome.

Libertarians want to see more competition introduced into the Pennsylvania school systems. Parents should be free to choose any government school for their children. The funding that would have gone to the local school would instead follow the child to the school of his or her choice. That would introduce competition without spending any extra money.

With more competition, good schools would grow, and get more funding. Plus, poor-performing schools would get the message: either clean up your act, get better, compete, or close.

Our children are too important a resource to be left to government education coupled with a monopoly.

Libertarians distrust Government decisions when it comes to predicting our children's future. I would rather leave decisions to the free market.

Links[]

Media[]

  • We're No. 1 in teacher strikes - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - July 10, 2006 -- Here's a public education statistic you won't hear Gov. Rendell embellish in his re-election propaganda: Pennsylvania ranks first nationwide in teacher strikes.
    • Most students attending school in Allegheny County are right on track, according to a report from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The academic achievement report said 37 of the 43 districts in the county are on track as far as proficiency in reading and math, but what about the other six districts?

Thousands of students and schools are struggling, including those who attend the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

Pittsburgh Public Schools are not making what the Department of Education calls "adequate yearly progress," or AYP.

The district has been classified as needing "corrective action level 2."

They rank at the bottom of the department's list.

This is the first year Pittsburgh schools have been rated at the bottom. It is the second year for Duquesne districts, which are also considered in the "corrective action" category but at level 1.

One ranking higher than Pittsburgh and Duquesne is Woodland Hills. But for all three, their status means the schools could face big changes in administration and curriculum if they don't improve.

The others that haven't met AYP standards are McKeesport with an "improvement level 2" status, Penn Hills with a "warning" and Clairton, which is marked as "making progress."

AYP rates schools based on attendance, graduation rates, math and reading proficiency and test participation.

One school proud of their ranking is Wilkinsburg. They are one of the 37 districts in Allegheny County that made high marks.

"I think these kids do make a difference," said Wilkinsburg parent Wanda Hairston. "You can learn anywhere you go in life."

The No Child Left Behind Act was designed with exactly that in mind, so the federal government expects all schools to meet acquired yearly progress standards by 2014.

Links Elsewhere[]

  • Report: Why We Still Need Public Schools:Public Education for the Common Good PDF, from January 2007 - Covers importance of public education as a necessary institution. How and why the U.S. system of public education came into being; the six core public missions that public schools have been expected to fulfill, such as unifying a diverse population, preparing people for democratic citizenship, and ensuring equal opportunities for all children; and why these missions are relevant today and why the nation must maintain them while pursuing reforms to help all schools live up to these core ideals.
  • Bush's double standard on race in schools Christian Science Monitor, Feb 2007, The White House opposes considering race in school admissions, but supports it for evaluating schools' performance. BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The Supreme Court is considering two school desegregation cases that will probably result in limits on the use of race as a criterion for admission to public elementary and high schools.
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