Part II – Education and Opportunity
What’s wrong with this picture?
The United States spends $16,080/per K-12 student – 4th highest in the world. The average expenditure/student in 81 developed countries is $11,300.
U.S. ranks 34th in math scores and 16th in science. On top of that, 70% of 8th grade students reading skills are below grade level. And the numbers represented above have been, and are, declining.
There’s something obviously very wrong with the picture.
While the specifics may not be known or felt by most people, in April of this year Pew Research reported 51% of U.S. adults say K-12 public education is going in the wrong direction. Only 16% thought it was OK.
16% of adults apparently are blessed to live in school districts where teachers teach children the basics of math, reading, writing and science – and the children are learning and succeeding. That small percentage also obviously live in areas where expectations of the students for learning and discipline are high, solid rules for behavior are enforced and the environment is conducive to the reason teachers and pupils are there.
So what’s happened and is happening to our kids’ education?
It’s common knowledge that school shutdowns during COVID negatively affected student achievement. But the measurements of K-12 student success have been going down for a long time. So COVID is not the underlying culprit.
Writing in Education Next, Chester E. Finn Jr., a former professor of education at Fordham U. and former Asst, Sec. of Education, writes about his six decades in education reform. Perhaps this sentence sums up his experience and perspective best: “Besides being enormous, sluggish, decentralized, loosely coupled, and leaderless, this enterprise [America’s education system]—like most—is populated by millions of adults who don’t like to change their ways.”
I suppose that could be said about any number of organizations, but in the private sector the entity that is not achieving success isn’t around very long.
American success was (and is) built on education. 100+ years ago that K-12 education came from many a one-room schoolhouse – with kids of all ages and ‘grade levels in the same room. I’m not suggesting we return to that, just learn from it.
Let’s go back to the Finn quote. It starts with the words ‘enormous’ and ‘sluggish.’
Our school districts are too big. Under the guise of saving overhead, 50-60 years ago school districts were consolidated. The theory was that the money saved would have no effect on student performance.
What we have now in many areas and cities are behemoth school district operations. For example, Chicago public schools had over 325 thousand students at the beginning of this school year. It has 634 schools – 477 elementary and 157 high schools. It has over 37,000 employees and a central office of over 2,000 workers. It has a budget this year of $9.9 billion. It considers 72% of students economically disadvantaged and 27% who are learning English.
I just picked Chicago out of thin air to iterate the ‘enormous’ depiction. But sticking with the example, how far from the top are the parents of a kid in 4th grade at one of the 477 grade schools in Chicago? Do they think they think they can be heard with complaints or suggestions? Some parents who did try it in recent years were labeled domestic ‘terrorists’ and placed under investigation by the FBI. But I digress.
The point is, Chicago Schools, like most school districts, are off the average parents’ communication chart.
Couple a district’s size with teachers’ unions like the NEA and The American Federation of Teachers – both politically active nationally and locally – with 3 million and 1.7 million members, respectively, and we have these organizational giants running that school down the street. For example. the NEA collects nearly $400 million in annual dues and supports political candidates at national, state and local levels – when it feels a candidate is good for them.
These unions also protect teachers who do not succeed in the classroom. And when teachers are dealing with a large segment of the class who cannot speak English, it holds the rest back while attempting to communicate/teach.
The fact is, we’ve created a public education system that is failing for a variety of reasons. The numbers of school dropouts are increasing while at the same time graduation rates are increasing, indicating many students are being shuffled through and out.
One of our local community college’s largest classes is one on remedial reading for students who can’t qualify for college or community college – or many apprenticeships in the trades. I’m sure that situation is not unique.
Fixing this downward educational achievement spiral must start with the states.
That fix needs to involve competition and choice. Parents must be able to have at least one option to choose from other than the current public school.
Think of it this way. If parents had the $16, 080 we spend on the average K-12 student’s annual education to spend themselves, where would they send their child? Be assured, most would change from their public school.
The system we’re supporting now too often does not think in terms of value to the student or parent, only of sustainment of the expensive status quo.
If we want those kids living in poverty to have an opportunity to change their fate, we must do something to dramatically change the system that is failing to provide them with that opportunity.
Opportunity is built on education.
***************
Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd/education-expenditures-by-country
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/the-u-s-is-losing-its-competitive-advantage-3306225
https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2022/pdf/2023010NP8.pdf
https://www.cps.edu/about/stats-facts/
SPIDER Bytes
This week’s trivia question is: What is the largest island in the world? The answer to last week’s question re: the number of legs on a cockroach. Six. As I was advised by a biology major friend, all insects have 6 legs. I did not know six legs are part of the definition of an adult insect. I thought things like bedbugs, crane flies, ticks, mites, house centipedes, and millipedes were ‘insects.’ Technically they are not. BTW, cockroaches are found everywhere, worldwide. They’ve been around for 200 million years and would likely survive a world nuclear war.
This year’s UN climate summit in Azerbaijan ended last week with a ‘deal’ whereby developed countries would pay undeveloped ones $300 million/year for the environmental damage caused by burning fossil fuels. Rich countries said it was the best they could do. Poorer countries called it “abysmal,” falling far below the $1.3 trillion they say is needed to cope with a crisis they have not caused. I suppose the climate is as good an excuse as any for more ‘free’ money. What are the ‘reparation’ countries going to do with the money? I saw nothing in the ‘deal’ that puts any restrictions on its use or whose pocket(s) it goes into.
In 1992 NASA put up a satellite to measure rising sea levels. If you believe sea levels worldwide can be measured precisely from space, NASA reports sea levels have risen 3.98 inches in the thirty-plus years since launching the orbiter. It’s pure speculation for anyone to describe historical sea levels before 1992, so nobody knows if 4 inches in sea levels, one way or the other, has been part of earth’s evolution and change – and represents a “crisis” requiring humanity to give up their gas stoves and propane outdoor grills.
BTW, Porsche has joined the bandwagon of auto manufacturers making a U-turn on EVs. Like others, Porsche is finding a shrinking of what was a very small market for all-electric vehicles to begin with and is acknowledging gasoline/diesel fuel will be around for a good while yet.
A plutocracy is a system of rule by the wealthy, directly or indirectly. It can happen under democracy, socialism/communism, or monarchy. Indirectly, plutocracy can take the form of regulatory frameworks and programs designed to benefit the wealthy. I mention this word ‘plutocracy’ because it seems many members of Congress start ‘poor’ but leave the job rich. Have you noticed that? I think that’s what’s meant by the term “the swamp.”
The administration announced last week that it was distributing $3B in grants, via the EPA, to electrify some of the activity at 27 seaports. It will deploy battery-electric cargo handling equipment, solar arrays, and charging infrastructure. Notice it’s government grants, not the market, that’s driving the purchase of electric port equipment. If you were running a port, you’d be tempted to accept the money even though you have no other incentive. Any wonder President Biden’s favorability rating fell to 36% last week?
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign spent $1.5 billion in 15 weeks, ending with $20 million in debt, MiamiHerald.com reports. Recent fund-raising emails from the campaign claim that funds will support recounts.
The Trump administration will likely roll back last week’s barring all coal leasing in Montana and Wyoming – which represents over 40% of US coal production. Coal is still the energy used for generating electricity in many places and to provide the heat needed to smelt iron into steel.
