"Stupid in America"
I watched 20/20 tonight after hearing about tonight's program on the excellent econ-related blog Cafe Hayek. The program criticized the failure of many of the United States' public schools to provide a good education to many students. Even some significantly poorer nations do better on tests than Americans. People are people; American 4th-graders are above average globally, but they drop way down in the rankings in high school. The schools must have something to do with this problem.
Of course the teachers and administrators say they need more money to solve the problems. Based on the interviews on the show, it is clear that they would take as much money as possible. But any reasonable person knows that doubling the amount of money spent per student does not guarantee any improvement in education.
People need to realize that public schools are a monopoly, at least to people who can't afford to move or send their kids to private school. That's right, a monopoly that disproportionately hurts students from poor families. Teachers' unions are another major stumbling block; they protect incompetent and criminal teachers while preventing excellent teachers from advancing.
Solution proposed: more competition! An excellent way to do that: vouchers! Vouchers force schools to compete for the students' money, meaning they have to do well or they lose money and students. Opponents of vouchers include the teacher's unions, because competition between schools means the lousy teachers will get fired. They bring the most irrational arguments against vouchers. "Competition will hurt our schools," they cry. Baloney.
What do you think? I would love to discuss this some more.
Of course the teachers and administrators say they need more money to solve the problems. Based on the interviews on the show, it is clear that they would take as much money as possible. But any reasonable person knows that doubling the amount of money spent per student does not guarantee any improvement in education.
People need to realize that public schools are a monopoly, at least to people who can't afford to move or send their kids to private school. That's right, a monopoly that disproportionately hurts students from poor families. Teachers' unions are another major stumbling block; they protect incompetent and criminal teachers while preventing excellent teachers from advancing.
Solution proposed: more competition! An excellent way to do that: vouchers! Vouchers force schools to compete for the students' money, meaning they have to do well or they lose money and students. Opponents of vouchers include the teacher's unions, because competition between schools means the lousy teachers will get fired. They bring the most irrational arguments against vouchers. "Competition will hurt our schools," they cry. Baloney.
What do you think? I would love to discuss this some more.