|
Potomac Crossings
--By George Mason
George Mason, 1725-92, was known as
the Sage of Gunston Hall. His Virginia declaration of rights, written in 1776, was the model for the first section
of the Declaration of Independence. A friend of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, Mason was an original drafter
of the Constitution and the first ten amendments to the Bill of Rights. He refused, however, to sign the final
version of the Constitution because he thought it did too little for individuals and, without the Bill of Rights,
gave too much power to the government.These columns honor his memory.
The Online Education Alternative
The debate over education will be a paramount political issue in the fall. The South Florida Business Journal reports
that there are 112,000 K-12 schools employing 3.1 million teachers to educate 53 million students at a cost of
$400 billion per year. Yet status quo public education is considered to be a flop more often than not.
The general reputation of most urban and some suburban public education goes like this. Schools are not safe. Teachers
are not qualified. Administrators are totalitarian towards both student and parent. (While students are undisciplined
at the same time.) Most school curricula are boring, out of touch and behind the times. Teaching to pass standard
tests is even worse. An unacceptable percentage of students fail achievement tests. Some teachers can't even pass
the same test their students take. Just one example, achievement test results in the Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD) indicated that more than 60% should be required to repeat their grade level. Many other school
districts have found that figure to be above 30 percent. The test performance creates pressure to either eliminate
or "dumb-down" standardized achievement tests because they identify for all to see a financial as well
as an educational catastrophe.
The system is broken because it was never designed to serve today's information age. "No one should be amazed
that an education system developed over 100 years ago does not - indeed cannot - work today," concluded Dr.
Abraham Fischler, a retired university president. The blunt fact is that many of the products of today's education
system are not qualified to find and retain a job in today's marketplace. There is no job today and no better job
tomorrow.
Do American's believe that their state secondary education monopoly is doing an efficient and effective job? In
places where the public schools are successful, a number of common traits exist. The parents are both wealthy and
well educated. The teachers face a rigorous hiring procedure and strict classroom supervision in return for excellent
compensation financed by high local taxes. The students have strong annual tests to pass. Poor readers get individual
attention as early as kindergarten.
When these characteristics are not present, the path to success is away from public school monopolies and towards
choice - independent charter schools, vouchers and private education scholarship alternatives for parents trapped
in poor schools. Even supplemental education and training sponsored by business and designed to create a qualified
employment pool is being tried. In some places, businesses select high school interns to put in training programs
with job available when the program is completed.
Vouchers
Parental freedom of choice threatens rank-and-file public school teacher's salaries and jobs, the unions say.
At the recent National Education Association (NEA) convention, a five-year dues increase was approved. It is to
be specifically targeted to oppose education reform initiatives considered to be "anti-pubic education."
NEA spokesperson Barbara Parker told WorldNetDaily that "vouchers is the first thing that comes to mind."
Extensive state regulation of private school alternatives is second.
This fall, California will undergo a universal voucher ballot initiative campaign that would allow all parents
$4,000 per year of tax money to send a child to a private school without restriction. California parents seem to
be attracted to the idea of securing a better education for their children without having to pay the double penalty
of public school taxes and private school tuition. The Washington Post reports that current polls about voucher
initiatives show an even split, each side with about 40 percent. A lot of suburban citizens seem to have their
usual divided attitude, disliking public education in general but supportive of their own local school in particular.
Seven out of ten Californians do not have children in school and these voters may look to the economic impact of
universal vouchers. Recent studies of long-term voucher programs have shown that an equal or better education can
be provided for less money. The Heartland Institute of Chicago recently published a study on the financial impact
of vouchers over ten years in Milwaukee. Public schools there are spending $9,500 per pupil annually. The 82 voucher
schools receive just $4,984 per pupil. Some 39 schools spend less than $5,000 per pupil and refunded money to the
state. The implication of the study would be that much of the additional public school cost is devoted to administrative
expense, not rank-and-file teacher salaries. While results vary, research has shown a 35-95 percent cost premium
that comes from operating schools as a monopoly, whether public or private. Competition produces more efficient
allocation of resources.
Many private schools in poorer areas can operate for $3-4,000 per pupil. The reasons, according to the study were
(1) the public schools had no incentive to lower costs while the voucher schools had a policy of providing affordable
education for poor, fee-paying students. (2) autonomous voucher schools avoid huge administrative charges and red
tape. According to the Wisconsin Audit Bureau, parents rated voucher schools higher in educational standards, teacher
quality and safe environments. Last fall, all of the anti-voucher school board candidates supported by the Milwaukee
teacher's union were defeated. That included three incumbents.
Home Schooling
At one end of the school choice spectrum is home schooling. The parent commitment is huge, of course, and expensive,
since school taxes are levied and paid anyway. More than three-quarters of teaching wives do not work outside the
home and so the family is dependent on the father's income alone. In some cases, where both parents must produce
income, they work in shifts or tele-commute so that one or the other can be home as needed.
A step in from the commitment to home schooling is the just developing idea of families using software and Internet
services to supplement coursework offered in the public school. This practice becomes more prevalent in advanced
grades. In both home schooling and supplemental education, parents are worried that as their children get older
they cannot, by themselves, provide adequate instruction across a full curriculum.
Today's 1.7 million home schoolers have gradually overcome the hostility of the establishment. Less than 100,000
a few years ago, home schoolers have largely fought through being charged with truancy by hostile school boards
and having their qualifications challenged by college admissions personnel. They have proven that they perform.
In part, because they have developed the cyber support systems needed.
Home schooling has even progressed to the point where a new college - Patrick Henry College of Purcellville, Virginia
- will have its first freshman class this fall. Made up largely of graduating home schoolers, the student body
averages over 1200 on its SATs. Many colleges are now seeking what they previously scorned - dedicated and disciplined
home schoolers, educated above their grade level.
The driving force behind the educational choice crusade is the belief that it is the parent's responsibility to
their children to produce knowledgeable and competent adults with core values that serve them, their families and
their nation. It is too important a responsibility to be turned over to the state. In many cases, public schools
have moved from "compulsory attendance" to "compulsory education." Losing the argument that
home schoolers aren't well educated, the elite's have sometimes barred homeschoolers (whose parent's pay school
taxes) from after school activities and then bemoan the home schoolers lack of "socialization." What
home schoolers seem to be missing in practice are PC indoctrination, politicization and the experience of being
ostracized. If a religious school is suspect for teaching allegiance to a religion, shouldn't a government school
be suspect for teaching allegiance to government? Some parent's think so.
Online resources are frequently ignored in public schools because they threaten the established flow of information
from teacher to student. Despite the hype of "wired" public schools, there is a shortage of training
for teachers and computers stand idle or are used for mundane word-processing chores by faculty fearful of looking
ignorant and obsolete to their students.
Writing for the Claremont Institute, Ben Boychuk said that after $125 billion of federal aid and 35 years of trying,
the poor and disadvantaged are still lagging behind. The conclusion for many is that government-run education monopolies
fail the children because their primary and almost exclusive concern is protecting jobs, not educating children.
Supplemental e-Education
When philanthropist Ted Forstmann set up his Children's Scholarship Fund offering 40,000 private scholarships
for "at risk" kids, 1.25 million families applied.
Not everyone has access to the Ted Forstmann's of the world. Vouchers may not work everywhere because they may
bring with them unacceptable regulation even when they are available. Stalled by red tape and political lobbying,
charter schools often are not going to be operational in a practical timeframe. Home schooling may be impossible
for financial reasons if both parents have to work. In all these cases, however, supplemental software and e-schooling
is affordable and at hand. Instead of waiting for a political solution, many parents are opting for an immediate
answer.
Technology suggests a possible new answer- Cyberschools. A full fourth-grade curriculum, including art and music,
costs less than $70 a month. As children get older, advanced courses are available, as are mentors and tutors.
Cyberschools have chat rooms, pen pals, journals and yearbooks. Some even schedule field trips.
The movement towards personal choice has boosted the growth of the e-education marketplace. It is expected to top
$46 billion within five years. More than 120 start up dot.com education services have products and services in
the marketplace. They cover four areas:
- Supplementary secondary education, including home schooling
Post secondary in both college and vocational education
Functional skills training
Continuing education certification and licensing
Parents can regain control of their children's education right now. There are some 86,500 online sites just for
full or partial home schooling, another 12,500 for educational software. To check out this new supplemental option,
start your search with these:
- SmarterKids.com
ChildU.Com
LaurelSprings.Com
cmacademy.org
phc.hsida.org
Tutor.com
Members.aol.com/homehwy
Members.Carolina.net/hsc
Geocities.com/Athens
Edu-soft.org
Compuwestinc.com
#####
|
