Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > January > 14
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Is America really stupid?
One of Get on the Bus’ regular commenters, Red Fox Mary, alerted me to last night’s 20/20 report by John Stossel provocatively called “Stupid in America.” In the piece, Stossel uses examples of a malaise he says is caused by the “government monopoly” that runs schools in this country and calls for more school choice, especially vouchers, as the antidote.
Stossel is sort of a “shock jock” in the news magazine world and this piece is quite one sided, quoting some of the most well known advocates for choice. But the piece is thought-provoking and many of his arguments are both true and fair.
But I think he falls into a common trap — thinking that there is one “magic bullet” solution to the complex problems of public education in America.
For instance, Stossel says more money won’t work but choice will. Let’s think about that.
In arguing against money he says schools have plenty they just waste it. For sure, public schools can be wasteful with money. And as he says, I have also seen “choice” option schools, in my case charter schools, that were much more effectively run financially than typical public schools. But on the other side, some of the worst financial disasters in public school that I have ever seen were charter schools that went belly up.
Here’s another money question. Why do lawmakers love to make kids repeat grades when they fail? Research has shown it is as damaging to hold a kid back than it is to pass them on when they fail a grade. The best way to handle this probably is to advance the kid to the next grade but surround them with tutoring and support to bring them up to speed as they move through the next year. But to do that would be incredibly expensive, so instead of laws that require the tutoring and support, we get laws that require kids to repeat grades. Because it ‘s punitive and it’s affordable.
And on the issue of choice. Stossel’s logic certainly makes sense and it seems completely rational to expect that school operators who depend on enrollment for their very existence would be more attuned to parent needs and be constantly working to make their schools better and more marketable. But it doesn’t always work so smoothly in practice. Choice options, voucher and charter schools, on the whole have performed no better than their public school counterparts so far and in some place (Ohio for instance) they perform worse.
The problems that Stossel points to all are very real. But the solutions just aren’t going to be as simple as giving everyone a voucher. Perhaps that is part of the solution. Perhaps more money is part of the solution, too, if America really wants the best public schools in the world.
The question is what are the big first steps we need to take to improve? What is the first thing you would want to change about public schools in America?
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