Unintended Consequences - Forced Mandatory Compulsory Schooling

Discussion
1

Dear All;

Perhaps you may have seen the TV reports or
heard the news of the attack on a middle school
teacher and a vice principal by a gang of El
Cerrito middle school students. As the saying
goes arrests have been made.

Then more news came out that the school
had not been reporting criminal activities
( whatever those are ) to the local PD.
Then more news that the middle school had
not been taking disciplinary action either in
a move to lower the rate of suspended students.

Suspended students like truant students result
in cuts of the money paid to school districts
based on attendance figures.

Oh yes I forgot schools are about the money paid
to the school districts and if by some chance a
child gets schooling ( not an education ) well all the
more to the better.

This is why 50% of the students going to a 4
year college need remedial math and english
and 75% of the students going to 2 year community
colleges need remedial english and math.

Compulsory forced mandatory schooling gets
students who could care less totally disrupting
the students who at least try and create problems
for the teachers who try to teach. These are the
same students who flunk out or eventually get
expelled for cause.

Government schools try to force everyone into
a one size fits all teaching of courses dictated by
politicians.

The need for police officers to patrol schools is
another problem. The Los Angeles Unified
School District has 327 officers patrolling schools.
In San Francisco, 22 officers patrol schools,
with 20 more to be added. The San Diego
Unified School District has 38 officers
patrolling schools, while the Sacramento
City Council just assigned 10 officers to
the Sacramento School District.

The only thing missing here are the guard towers
searchlights and machine guns. Many schools have
metal detectors at the front doors.

The schools are managed by bureaucratic red-tape-ridden
administrative "educrats." There’s an urgent need
to dismantle California’s top-down authoritarian,
socialistic, central-planning school system, which is
irreparably harming our children’s schooling even
in our government schools.

Get the State out of the government schoiol business.

Ron Getty - SF Libertarian
Hostis res Publica
Morte ai Tiranni
Dum Spiro, Pugno

2

The Academic Mafia has run public education--at all levels from preschool to postgraduate school---into the ground because of lack of oversight or accountability. It's the same problem I've mentioned with the police and justice system: teachers, like cops, are somehow held by the public as above suspicion in spite of all the evidence of their incompetence, corruption, and outright maliciousness.

These mafiosos routinely come to their respective government tills with their hands out demanding more money 'for education'. Not one politician dares ask where any of the money goes or why the results of what we're spending are so dismal. No one asks for accountability of any kind; grade inflation, abuses, swelling ranks of 'special needs', prescription-drug abuse, dysfunctional class rooms, irrelevant subject matter---none of these are even mentioned but the money flows freely.

It's time for a full-scale investigation of ALL publicly-funded educational institutions. I think what would come out of such investigations would drive even the sheep-like American people to look for private alternatives.

3

Dear Eric;

While I can agree with what you say the fundamental problems with government schools goes vastly beyond just the money in and of and by itself.

Government schools with their compulsory mandatory attendance requirements in a prison like atmosphere are in essence a result of massive sociological issues carried out over decades to create a class of basically slightly literate obedient corporate and industrial drones.

Government schools are designed and have been designed to dumb down not only the students but through credentialization do the same to government teachers.

Governmment schools are there to allow the State to control students and create a class of students who are not to be family oriented thoughtful independent creative or entrpreneurial. Those qualities are an anethema to politicians and corporate leaders.

In other words through classroom teaching the government schols are designed to crush any thoughts of questioning authority as represented by the State. The State instituted child labor laws to "protect children" instituted child welfare laws to protect the child instituted school lunches to feed the child and have classes on sex and morality and a hosyt of non- three R's for a purpose of creating a dependence on the State for a do all be all caretaker and protector.

Of course the upper class elite look for these things to happen because they rule the roost and need obedient followers.

How badly government schools have failed is best highlighted by the following. Read carefully to see what has happenend to us.

During WWII all soldiers inducted were given an intelligence exam based at the fourth grade level for literacy to be certain the soldier could read road signs and manuals and orders. 18 million were testd and 96% passed. During the Korean War barely seven years after WWII ended 600,000 failed the literacy exam for a passing ratio of 81%.
During The Vietnam War in the late 60's to early 70's the passing rate dropped to 73%.

Thus in one decade the illteracy rate quadrupled.

At the beginnning of 1940 the white literacy rate was 96% and the balck literacy rate was 80%. In 2000 the literacy rate for whites had dropped to 83% and 56% for blacks.
This despite the billions thrown at government schools form the 1940's to 2000.

A prime example of how bad things are in comparison Jamaica which is a very poor nation and is virtually 100% black has a literacy rate of 98%.

What went drastically wrong was the dropping of teaching phonetics in the 1940's and the alphabet to whole word teaching and from that point on the literacy rate has dropped.

An investigation of the spending would be a worthless exercise as this is not the problem. The problem is needing to have a major sociological revolt against government schools and compulsory education at the hands of the government.

What is needed is to literally shut down all state department of educations and the federal dept education and the local school boards and all credentiual programs and once again go back to teacher ruled class rooms with the local parents personally interviewing the teachers having a massive movement to home schooling and high tech on-line video schooling and local small by design schools where parents and teachers select courses for Johnny and Susie based on their capacity to learn with courses reflecting the cultural and religious family life.

Oh yeah and going back to once again teaching phonetics and the alphabet and math drills for adding and subtracting and multiplying. And creating people who question authority and respect family and are independent and entreprenuerial.

Ron Getty - SF Libertarian
Hostis res Publica
Morte ai Tiranni
Dum Spiro, Pugno

4

Ron,

  I'm not going to disagree with most of that, but the problem here is that the public schools have so dumbed-down the American public over the last 2 generations that some kind of transitional system would probably need to be implemented rather than immediate shut-downs of the government agencies. A massive investigation and public exposure of the current system would go a long way to starting down that road.

5

I would like to put in my two cents on this, and side a little bit with Eric. The situation in the public schools is heartbreaking. However, assuming that if we could only get government out of the mix all would be well, is failing to address the general dumbing down that has occurred in the last 20 or so years that contributes to the sorry situation: For a good number of kids the government is their only parent. For a good number of parents, standing up for their kids is not event in their radar screen. Therefore, it would seem to me that if we Libertarians want to help remedy this tragedy, we need to make contact with kids and parents, work with them in offering solutions, make government irrelevant instead of essential in their lives. In other words, first comes the helping, and then the government will go away on its own.

Marcy

6

Dear Marcy and Eric;

Marcy you said we need to connect with parents and children working with them to offer solutions then the government will go away. How about these as solutions which should create some healthy discussion as educrats and politicians are dismissed as irrelevant to the futuer of children and their scholling and education.

First, shut down California’s noncompetitive government schools. To create capital for free-market competitive schools, repeal the tax laws taking $50 billion for government schools. Then allow free-market schools to be opened without the mandated administrative bureaucracy and "education by politician" syllabuses. Then scrap the phony teachers credentials certification which has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to teach. Then scrap tenure which protects incompetency. Have better background checks of teachers so sexual predators are weeded out.

Second, update education in California by creating virtual schools, where the education is taught online by experienced tutors. Have Web-based live video and audio feedback educational programs.

Third, open local neighborhood small-by-design schools where parents and teachers can consult on the educational material and the teaching standards. Go back to once again having teacher run schools not schools run by remote disinterested bureacratic educrats.

Fourth, emphasize home schooling by parents, as parents are the best teachers for learning about religion, sexuality, and morality. Disengaged teachers teaching politically dictated lessons on family issues is an arrogant abrogation of parents’ rights by California schools.

Fifth, give tax credits for:

Opening free-market schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods;

People or companies pooling their money to provide an education for students of poor families;

Industrial and business groups pooling their money to help learning disabled, gifted, and minority students receive help from properly trained professionals; and

The income earned by free-market school teachers as an attraction to teaching.

Free-market competition in education will offer a wide ranging choice of low-cost, high-quality teaching in a variety of disciplines with affordable to free tuition based on needs.

California’s children and their education is our most precious resource. Children must be protected from the corrosive impact of California’s government schools’ top-down socialistic, politically-dictated education. Democratic free-market schools based on liberty, free-thinking, and independence are the wave for California’s continued and future growth.

Ron Getty - SF Libertarian
Hostis res Publica
Morte ai Tiranni
Dum Spiro, Pugno

7

Dear Ron,

I agree with you 100% that what you describe is a most desirable outcome. My only concern is "how?" How do we shut down the current schools, except by showing parents and kids there are better alternatives? How do we encourage home schooling when a good number of parents have little or no grasp of subjects? How do we expect parents who do not wish to be involved in their kids upbringing to do so (and I can assure you those parents are not rare). As Eric mentions, it was a long steady process that produced the current sorry state; and it would be a long steady process to bring about the changes you so correctly suggest.

This is what I mean by slow process: When I ran for Community College Board, I talked about eliminating bureaucracy and concentrating on courses that would lead to good honest jobs in the community. When I attended a couple of School Board meetings to support a friend who was running for the Board, I respectfully raised my hand to be recognized and spoke about parental involvement and need to focus on the 3 R's. Starchild and others in our group every year attend the Junior States of America conference, and talk to students.

So, in summary, I believe that shutting down the schools as you describe is not doable at present or in the near future. However, working with parents and kids as I describe is doable right now.

Regards,

Marcy

8

Dear Marcy;

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ( where have I heard that before?).

To answer the how of homeschooling there are as always hundreds of courses literally available on line from K-12 and also college level degreed programsl. A full course for a year depending on the company runs from severalhundred to a thousand dollars payable monthly.

How well do these work? The winners of the National Spelling Bee contest for the last couple years have been home schoolers and of course they do take and easily pass all the GED exams and college entrance exams and SAT's etc.

To encourage home schooling an incentive would be to exempt all home scholling parents from paying the education portion of their property taxes on their primary residence. The same would apply to parents who send their children to private and parochial schools.

Encouraging businesses to open local small by design neighborhood schools and or opening teacher run classrooms could be done through repeal of the certification progam for K -12 teachers.

As an example of how well this could work there is a speecial program called Teachers for America which places college graduates as teachers in rural or poverty schools for a minimum of two years who do not have to have teachers certificates.

The program last year had 30,000 applicants and 3,000 got placed. Unfortunately the NEA and all the teachers unions are dead set against this because of the not needed teachers certificates and the claim few continue on.when actually 2/3's continue on as teachers. So therefore decertifying the teachers union would also have to be a goal.

The plight of schools crying wolf about the lack of teachers is belied by this program with 30,000 applicants to become teachers.

For parents who do not care this is somerthing no one can anything about as most likley the parent is a single parent is most likely working poor and most likely unschooled or ill schooled. It's a sad note but then their children through forced compulsory attendance are most likely the ones who are the most disruptive to the classmates and the school and the ones most likely to need to be expelled. But the ones most likely the community would want in the prisons of the school so they are not out on the streets facing a real prison if caught doing a crime or crimes.

Ron Getty - SF Libertarian
Hostis res Publica
Morte ai Tiranni
Dum Spiro, Pugno

9

Dear Ron,

The world of homeschooling you envision is doable, and would apply to a relatively small portion of school kids -- for one reason. Based on my personal experience as a dedicated, once stay-at-home mom, who out of sheer curiosity talked to other moms about how they felt about raising their kids, I can vouch for the absolute fact that the number of parent who choose not to be as involved as you envision in their children's upbringing is legion. So, homeschooling, no matter how effective, will continue to apply to a minority of kids.

The idea of schools supported by the business community, yes, absolutely (one of my candidate planks when I ran for Community College Board). The idea of teacher-run class rooms, yes, absolutely (my daughter volunteered for the Tenderloin Clinic while in law school, and her tales of dedicated folks helping the Tenderloin kids with what the schools did not will break your heart).

So, let's talk to the businesses, to the parents, to the kids. Because they, especially the parents who vote, need to be convinced first of the alternatives, before we talk of obliterating the sorry situation we have now.

Marcy

10

Ron,

  Your idea of scrapping the certification requirements would be a good start; but if we eliminated public schools tomorrow, 9 parents out of 10 would either not make arrangements for their kids' education at all or simply wouldn't have any idea what to do or where to start. Most of them are products of the dumbed-down schools themselves; and the experienced teachers available for a new system would be the same dregs who made up the old one.

  Also, organised gangs like the Religious Right would swoop into the vaccuum. What would be needed is some kind of orderly transition out of the public schools. You had a good idea too on breaking up the monopolies exercised by the districts and empowering local communities.