Left Behind

[Editor's Note: We've been talking much about the 2008 election, so it's time to take a break and have a good ol' policy piece. Today, it's education. Check back in tomorrow for a first ever guest post on the VoterVault as Baxter CG will be asking some tough questions about race in America. End Editor's Note]

American schools are the single most socialized part of American society. It is free for everyone, taxes pay for it, it is run by the state, and on the whole its quality is poor. That is socialism to a tee.

There are very good schools out there, but sadly, those are the exception rather than the rule. Journalists, politicians, celebrities, businesspeople, and athletes have called the low quality of our schools "a crisis". Bill Gates is on a mission to change our schools. Tiger Woods has opened several "Tiger Woods' Institutes" in California. Oprah has done several specials to draw attention to the problem. Everyone who really wants to make our schools effective in producing people who can be successful in the new global economy knows that radical change is needed.

Everyone, sadly, except those with the power to make the changes.

A few days ago a report on education was published by the National Council on Education and the Economy. I've the executive summary PDF, and if their plan could be implemented it would likely take America's schools back to the top among the modernized world. Without question, their call for change is a radical one. For my part, I'll say that I largely agree with them, so I'll just lay out for you what they recommend and you can make your own analysis. Here goes:

Their premises are these:

• Our current schools were build for an age of industrialization, not an age of globalization.
• Without making radical changes in our educational system America will continue to fall further behind as global competition kicks our butts.
• There is plenty of money in the system, but it is largely wasted.
• To use their words, "The problem is not with our educators. It is with the system in which they work." Therefore, a radical restructuring is needed.

As the global economy keeps changing, more and more work--even highly skilled/educated/creative work--will go to those who will work for the least (e.g. India and China). If, however, our education system changes, here's how American industries could look:If we don't change, expect that you could exchange the places of "In The United States" and "In less developed countries".

Here are some of their recommendations:

• Create a set of Board exams that would determine your post-high school course. Get a high enough score, you can go to community or technical college as early as 11^th grade. Get a higher score and you can stay in high school and study for a second set of boards. No one is allowed to just "slide by". No social promotion allowed. If you fail your boards you keep studying and try again. Here's the general vision:It sounds pretty tough, but they did call this report Tough Choices or Tough Times.
• Recruit teachers from the top third of high school students going to college. To do this change teacher compensation from one that is "backloaded" with most money being spent on the oldest--and retired--teachers, and "make retirement benefits comparable to those of the better firms in the private sector". This would raise the salary of a starting teacher dramatically.
• Teachers would be employed by the state, not by local districts. There would be a state salary schedule, with increased pay for highly effective teachers, teachers in tough urban or very rural areas, teachers in fields where there are shortages (science and math).
• Teachers would have to have a bachelor's degree in the subject area he/she wishes to teach, and would have to pass a rigorous teacher performance exam.
• Schools would be operated by independent contractors and run by teachers. School boards and central office jobs would be geared toward assessing the effectiveness of the contractor, and determine if the company should be retained.
• State funding would go to each student, whose family could choose which contract school to send students to. Here's the awesome introduction of capitalism: "The competitive, data-based market, combined with the performance contracts themselves, would create schools that were constantly seeking to improve their performance.
• Students in highly disadvantaged areas will receive more money for school than other students.
• Set up adult and continuing education aimed at getting adults to pass state boards. Once a person is past school age they will not be shut out of the educations system.
• Create individual competitiveness accounts, similar to personal health savings accounts, that could be used only for adult job training later in life. The government's contribution would be $500 for every person at birth and would grow tax-free.

Pretty awesome if you ask me. The disappointing thing is that none of this will ever happen. The NEA is a force within both the Democratic party and the state legislatures in most states. They value the status quo. They think money, and money alone, is the magic bullet that will fix America's schools. They grade politicians with an "F" who don't buy into their status-quo-protecting ideal.

But may we see that there are indeed tough choices that must be made, and if they are not, we are in real trouble. May the Left lose their grip on the schools and free them to do what's best for students, not what's best for teachers.