Washington, D.C. – All over America, as millions of children head happily off to school, many for the first time, new data has emerged showing the nation edging closer and closer to a full-blown crisis of confidence in public education.
Data released Monday by Rasmussen Reports found more than a third of Americans – 35 percent – rate the nation's public schools as “poor.” Less than one in ten of the 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed – 8 percent – were willing to give them a grade of “excellent.”
The findings are consistent, the polling firm said, with data going back as far as 2012, with those giving the quality of the public schools a “poor” rating ranging from 26 percent to 36 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage who believe the schools are functioning well, even when “excellent” is combined with “good” has never been above 30 percent., the pollster said.
Despite those dismal numbers, the survey included news that may explain why the nation's parents are not uniformly up in arms, demanding improvements in the quality of education their children are receiving. When asked about their local school, the polling firm reported that 47 percent of those surveyed rated the schools serving their communities as either excellent (18 percent) or good (29 percent). Just 19 percent of respondents said “poor.”
As is the case with so many other surveys on diverse issues from congressional job performance to local quality of life, proximity seems to make a difference. For many years, polls have consistently shown that voters have a generally dim view of Congress as an institution but generally approve of the job their representatives are doing. Likewise with issues like healthcare. Surveys exist showing many Americans to be dissatisfied with the healthcare system, thus providing the political impetus for reforms like Obamacare but, to paraphrase the former president who pushed the legislation creating it through Congress, they like their doctor and their health plan and want to keep them.
This may be why the school reform movement is largely confined to America's inner cities, where the schools are the worst, putting the students who attend them at the greatest risk of missing out on their share of the American Dream. A situation like that should have people marching in the streets, demanding changes that will give their kids a chance. Instead, as it is with the multiple murders that are part of daily life in places like Chicago, much of the community seems complacent.
This is, perhaps, because the political and school establishments are so deeply intertwined. The union bosses provide money and campaign support and endorsements to local elected officials, helping keep them in office. And in exchange, the local officials deliver higher salaries and better benefits when the time comes. The teachers and administrators may benefit but the children lose. And they will continue to do so until the voters insist on change by changing their voting habits.
Until they do, America's schoolchildren will get more of the same. In a recent appearance on one of the network Sunday shows, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona responded to questions about schools going to four-day weeks with the suggestion that unspent COVID relief funds doled out by Washington during the pandemic be used to hire more teachers.
“This is a year full of promise and opportunities for students who have, for the last two years, put up with too much,” Mr. Cardona said Sunday on CBS' “Face the Nation.” “And thanks to the American Rescue Plan, the dollars are there to make sure that we can open up our schools with sufficient educators. Our students need more, not less.”
He's right, up to a point. They did “put up with too much” during the pandemic when the politicians ignored the science and closed the schools, largely at the urging of the union bosses. What they need more of is not money to pay teachers but options regarding where they go to school. The solution is not complicated. If private, parochial and charter schools are doing a better job educating children, and there are plenty of studies showing they are, then the elected officials who control education policy and funding ought to be seeking out ways to make it possible for more children to attend them.
There are places where meaningful change is happening. In Arizona, outgoing GOP Gov. Doug Ducey led a successful push to change education policy after the pandemic ended that will put greater numbers of potentially at-risk students on the pathway to progress.
Before COVID, many Arizona families were unable to qualify for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, a program a state-run website describes as expanding educational opportunities for eligible students outside of the public school system by providing public funding that can be used for a wide variety of educational expenses.
In his most recent State of the State address, Ducey announced his intention to expand the program so more parents could participate. Now, thanks to his efforts, every Arizona family is eligible to use an ESA if they ever want to leave the public school system for any reason.
“On average, about $6,500 in tax dollars per student can be put into private school tuition, homeschooling expenses, online schooling, and other educational expenses such as transportation to other schools. Students who have a current IEP/MET/504 are eligible to receive additional funding,” a local Arizona CBS affiliate reported.
This plan to allow more families to have more choices when deciding where their children will go to school, which goes into effect at the end of September, has been well-received. “There's a lot of school choice already in Arizona. 80-85 percent of students, depending on how you're looking at it, decide to go to their neighborhood school,” Aaron Marquez, a board member for Phoenix Union High School District told Arizona's Family in July. “It's really important that you have high-quality options that benefit everybody in Arizona and really invest in our public schools in the state of Arizona.”
This is a change that's real and meaningful and addresses the concerns of the 19 percent of Americans who rated their local schools “poor.” Other states should adopt similar programs as soon as possible. The expanded use of ESAs will upset the educational apple cart for sure, but it will be to the benefit of the children out there who want to learn. We owe them the chance to do so.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
The solution is to go back and start teaching instead of indoctrinating. Weed out all groomers. Start teaching reading, writing, arithmatic, American history, civics, and government. If your a teacher, your job is to teach whatever subject it is. Nothing else. Your personal beliefs don’t matter in that classroom. If you can’t do that, then resign. You have no business teaching.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT!
The schools system has been going down since the government and unions got involved. The teachers are not teaching children, parents became lazy, school boards are only for pass the bucks and the limelight. The children are last. I bet hardly any parents goes to meet the teachers. The build in baby sitters so the parents can go to work, screw around, ignore their children the list goes on. Been happening since the 70s. Unions only care about money and benefits. Do you listen to the head of the teacher’s union. A liar, thief and just down right unamerican. Hates children and America. But parents keep voting the same unamerican unmoral trash back on the school boards. Uninform and just don’t care. How many parents out there hate their own kids? A lot. Haven’t seen the kid all day but goes and pick them up and yells at them the didn’t get in the car fast enough because the parents have something else to do. Go a head tell me I’m wrong.
Personally, I definitely do not believe in school choice. Why not improve the poorly run schools and bring them up to standards. A good example is when my kids were young we lived in California where they were considered top students. We took a long trip east and enrolled them in school. They were immediately set back a grade. We returned to California and lo and behold they were set back up a grade. That even goes when people move from one city to another. Our education system is broken and should be immediately repaired. By that I mean TEACH the kids. Don’t brainwash or indoctrinate them Let the parents teach them about the birds and bees, politics and religion. I’m an old man now but remember when I was in school years ago. I had ONE teacher during those days that liked and respected. An old maid named Minnie B. Ashton. She TAUGHT.
John: Your very noble goal in unachieveable unless teacher unions have a major reorientation of their goals. And we all know that won’t happen until they are forced to compete. Much in the same manner that Detroit would still be putting out substandard cars at outrageous prices if the natural competition of the market didn’t force them to make a better product for a better price.
So it is with the education bureacracy as well. Competition improves many aspects of society.
Carissa, I think one of the problems is that the teachers union is exactly what it calls itself. It is a UNION. A LABOR UNION. It’s job is to help teachers get better pay, better working conditions, benefits, retirement and perhaps health care. They’ve now become politicized. The union’s job is NOT to tell people how to raise their kids. I don’t know the answer but I do know that if my children were still in school they would most definitely be going to a private school, or a parochial school. As a retired Teamster I paid dues for many years. The union represented ME. Teachers obviously pay dues. The union should be representing THEM and not telling others how to live.
John, you described the issue correctly, but not the solution. The problem is, the DOE, unions and administrators have become too powerful and are focused on the wrong thing – themselves. Their narcissism cannot be fixed. There is no need for bureaucratic centralized control. Return the control to the Parents, whose focus is on the right thing – the kids. Capitalism/competition has shown us time and time again that when consumers have a choice, products (in this case Education) get better, cheaper, and tailored to your needs. For more information, see https://DontTakeTheBaitAmerica.org/Liberal-Policies/DNC-Strategy/Education/
Ron, I agree with you 100%. As for a solution the only thing I can think of is for teachers to strike when their contract, even if they have one, expires. Of course we both know that won’t happen. In my opinion teachers no longer teach. They brainwash and indoctrinate. How can it be stopped? I wish I knew.
More ideas:
Schools compete for students
Hands On teaching
Field trips
Incentives
CUT bureacuracy alone
Privitize schools
Cut fees
Merge fees
School choice