Liberals Cannot Fix Education

Not surprisingly, my home state of Nevada continues to rank at or near the bottom in state-by-state comparisons for student achievement in reading and math. Another non-surprise is that those whose agendas have essentially created the conditions for this outcome want to step in to “solve the problem”. One of those is WestEd, a Californian Educational agency with political connections throughout the southwest. Here is a quote from a recent paper on Nevada from Paul Koehler, Director of WestEd’s Policy Center:

---

"Nevada's poor marks largely stem from the state's population boom, particularly in Clark and Washoe Counties, and this rapid influx of new students. Teachers face additional challenges from immigrant students who struggle to learn English at the same time they must learn math and science content."

What is not mentioned in the report is the ongoing policy of Social Promotion. A student is advanced from grade to grade regardless of their performance, whether or not they can communicate with the teacher, add and subtract or even read. The liberal mindset considers the potential embarrassment of a student being held back far more devastating to society than adding yet another drag onto the economy. The WestEd report was developed in collaboration with CEPS (Center for Education Policy Studies) at UNLV, not necessarily a bastion of conservative thought. UNLV has its own budget problems and yet it cannot bring itself to disband its disastrous Diversity Office in order to save money. Just like the Nobel Committee and Obama, WestEd and CEPS laud the efforts of the Nevada Department of Education to reduce class size, offer more preschool education opportunities, build an education technology infrastructure, strengthen teacher quality, and develop a uniform student information system. They fail to mention that every one of these “efforts” went down in flames when the School Districts had to pony up resources to fund them. The import thing is that they "wanted to do it". It seems the dollars in administrative budgets cannot be used to improve the situation in the classroom. In one particular instance a high school woodshop teacher was given a full set of very nice cabinets for the storage of tools. The tools on the other hand were not provided. They were too expensive. In that same district the secretary for the District Superintendent is paid a six-figure salary. WestEd makes no mention of this. But the report did highlight the need to improve student achievement across the board and to increase high school graduation rates. Big surprise, Obama tends to decry the continued problems in the job market and then adds yet another tax onto the backs of potential employers. I am shocked, shocked, I tell you to say that the report expresses particular concern at “persistent, significant racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic achievement gaps, as well as exceptionally low per-pupil funding for school operations.” It went on to make seven recommendations to improve school performance and I would comment on them, but frankly they are so old hat and trite that it would be a waste of time. The real answer to the education situation in Nevada, just like it is in America is far more politically incorrect. I would go as far to say that it is politically incorrect enough that it could possibly lead to violence if carried out in the manner that it should be. Here it is, beginning with elementary school and moving up: End All Day Kindergarten. If a couple wants to have a child then they should be made to act as parents, not upwardly mobiles with a human pet. It should not be the taxpayers’ responsibility to pay for state run babysitting. A couple hours of introducing a preschooler into to a classroom situation is more than enough for a child of that age and it will also remove the fear of being left behind that affects many children with the all day nonsense. The liberals can wait until the kids are out of school to try indoctrinating them. Eliminate diversity training. All that idiocy does is grow the roots of division. At this age children naturally want to get along and this is the point where we should be reinforcing their similarities, not their differences. Bring back the stigma of failure. Teachers are actually taught by education (boy is that a misnomer) colleges today that failing a child and holding them back is somehow abuse. No, failure is something to be overcome and is a life lesson that helps strengthen resolve and prepare a child for what is going to happen in adult life. Wrapping little Johnny and Janie in pillows only encumbers them; it doesn’t help. We have to be willing to keep a child in the same grade until they master all the aspects of that grade. In addition, if we do this many parents who have been slacking and letting the schools raise their kids (huge mistake there) will be forced to actually take notice of what their child is doing. This also goes for the entire curriculum. Stop dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator. Education should be targeted to the best and the brightest, not to the worst and the dullest. Use only English in the classroom. This ESL garbage only makes it harder for the child who cannot speak, read or write our nation’s tongue to learn how to do so. Immersion is, has and will always be the fastest and best way to learn another language. If they cannot do so in one term, hold them back until they get it. Bring Home Economics and Shop back to Middle School. In Nevada there are standing middle schools with fully equipped shops that are not used. It is a proven fact, though the school boards and teachers unions refuse to accept it, that Career and Technical Education is the most effective way of teaching the core subjects. Math, Science, English and yes, even Social Studies can be made relevant by tying it to a given career path. Dry, monotone theory is only useful as a sleep aide, and that fact is consistent all the way into graduate school. Make sports a privilege. In college you are supposed to maintain a certain grade point average in order to participate. Many high schools claim to also hold to this policy, but far too many failing students are given a pass simply because they can run fast or dunk a basketball. We should fire every coach, teacher and administrator guilty of allowing that to happen. Every school, regardless of its surrounding neighborhood should be made an empowerment school. This is where the principal is given a certain amount of funding and it is up to that principal to spend it on his/her school. They are not forced to go through union or district channels. The only criteria are that the money is spent on what the school and classrooms need. Where the stuff comes from is up to the principal. A few schools in Nevada are doing this as an experiment. A few members on the school board are very unhappy about it, and for good reason; the schools are spending roughly a fourth of what a district-run school is for the same supplies. Allow each school to kick out the disruptions and bring back the community service work crews. What this means is that some children, regardless of what happens in their family background, insist on being a trouble maker. They are the ones who do whatever they can to make it as hard as possible for the teacher to teach. The schools should have a hard and fast zero tolerance policy where this attitude is concerned. We can have a couple alternatives as far as placement of these hooligans is concerned; one is what I call a Discipline School. In this school, run more like a boot camp, only the core subjects of Reading, Writing and Math are taught. There is no recess and every restroom break is supervised. If they somehow fail that option, they are put to work cleaning up the community until they turn 18. No exceptions. We really do have the time to baby-sit problems when we need to be spending it helping those who want to excel do so. Give the school the authority to ignore frivolous suits. If a student is really harmed in some way by the actions of a teacher or an administrator, that is one thing. But, allowing a parent to sue a school because little Janie got her feeling hurt is insanity, pure and simple. This policy would also allow the previous policy to be a working reality, and it would also…perhaps, force some of these so-called parents to become real parents. Lastly we come to the teacher. In nearly every aspect of education, having a good teacher is the most important part of the whole. Everything else can be absolute in its quality and a bad teacher will ruin the outcome just like a rotten apple will a barrel. Good teachers need to be treated as the jewels they are. The Teachers Union has done the worst job of maintaining education they possibly could, especially where the promotion of quality teaching is concerned. If you mention merit pay, a union diehard will become purple with outrage. Far too many innovative teachers leave the business because they are stifled and starved out by an entrenched, bullheaded union agenda to destroy American education. Tehy should also be paid what they are worth and that is where the next and final point comes in. Proven good teachers should be rewarded and bad teachers fired, if this takes putting private schools into direct competition with vouchers than so be it. It has been proven that a little competition always pulls both parties upwards. The education establishment will not rise willingly and neither will their liberal adherents, but the voters has the power to pull this off…if they choose to do so.