Educating Village Idiots?

Watching John Stossel's "Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids" on 20/20 tonight was deeply empowering. And angering. And a strange sigh of relief for me - finally other voices are echoing what my heart and mind have believed for so long.

Finally, there was a loud (sorry, John), publicly present voice in concert with my own bold sentiments about the inexcusably awful quality of our public school system, the shocking dumbing down of American students, and the solution we can engage in RIGHT NOW. Finally, I don't feel like the weirdo-Mom who wants to homeschool my children. Who gets almost physically sick at the thought of turning over ANY of my children's education to a state government-run public school system which is content to educate her to not know, by her sophomore year in high school, such staples of basic education as: the primary causal factor leading to the Civil War, where the Kentucky Derby is held, or what the Bill of Rights is. Not what it says, just what IT IS. Our 16-year olds do not know what the BILL OF RIGHTS IS?

That explains a bit about some of the current Alito hearing nonsense, but I digress...

We need to wise up and realize that we are failing our children. We are categorically dumber as a nation than we were when I graduated high school, and our high school class was categorically dumber than our parents generation. Are we content to be bringing up new generations of Village Idiots? Are we content to be Village Idiots ourselves?

We MUST begin attaching the money we spend on education to the CHILDREN. To be spent in ANY legitimate, accredited educational environment chosen by the parents of that child, not by randomly assigned geographical or social boundaries. We have become so entangled in rather inconsequential items that shade the education problem, like the separation of church and state (pardon the loud wretching sound), teachers' unions, and ridiculous indiscriminate teacher tenure, that we have lost focus on the fact that WE ARE NOT EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN. It is not working. Everything needs to be up for scrutiny and sandblasted.

Countries like Belgium allow complete and total educational choice for all students. The result? Schools COMPETE for the dollars that accompany each student. They aim to attract and keep those dollars and to be schools parents CHOOSE to send their children to, rather than are forced to by a ridiculous system of complicated geographical boundaries which trap students in socio-economic cages. Public, private, Muslim, Catholic, Montessori - all accredited schools are eligible in the countries whose children are best educated (i.e.: whose education system is actually working and whom we should be taking heavy cues from). There is no pervasive nonsense about certain accredited educational institutions being ineligible for government funding because they include prayer, Bible studies, Koran studies, or Hebrew classes. All children are eligible - the funding goes to the STUDENT, not the school, to be spent on educating that student at the institution of his choice.

The simplicity is brilliant.

And you know what? Belgium (and South Korea, Latvia, the Czech Republic, etc.) are kicking America's tail. They are, in John Stossel's words, "Cleaning our clocks." They are raising generations of children that are already more educated and intelligent than their American counterparts. It is standard for Belgian students to be fluent in at least 3 languages by high school graduation. Our students in most urban public schools, can barely speak proper English, much less write it. The systems of education are far superior in the nations which allow unrestricted CHOICE in education than in America, which is run by a government monopoly and controlled by teachers unions. Because they have complete FREEDOM OF CHOICE in the education of our children, their children are learning. There is no monopoly of government-funded schools, which exist by mandate, not performance and not by meeting the demand of parents and students.

What is wrong with us?

WHAT
IS
WRONG
WITH
US?

The answer is so simple. Make our schools competitive by making our schools COMPETE for survival. Compete for the money each student brings to the table. Compete for the students. Give parents 100% choice and freedom over the education of our children. Assign the government budgetary allotment for each individual student to be given to the school which is CHOSEN by the student.

Why is this such an impossible concept to apply? We keep throwing money at this problem and creating, you guessed it, more "plans", "programs", "infrastructure", and "administrative policies". Bureaucracy, pure and simple. And all of it futile. Teach the children, people. And if you can't, untie our hands as parents so that we are ALLOWED to send our children to schools where they will be educated to the already soberingly higher standards most of the civilized world takes for granted.

We are either blind, selfish, stupid, or apathetic... or this problem would change immediately. Right now. It is a crisis. And we are ignoring it.

It does not take a village to raise a child. It takes caring PARENTS. And it does not take more money to educate our children. It takes outstanding TEACHERS. And unhindered FREEDOM for all parents to be able to choose to send our children to schools worthy of being charged with the vital task of teaching the next generation of America.