Eduction???

Hi

This blog is aimed a a workable reformation of the education system in the United States. My conservative friends will say the federal government has no business in education, and to a certain extent I agree with them. Where I disagree is the funding of education. This, like the military and highway systems goes to the national security and well being and I believe it is an item for federal intervention. The federal intervention should be limited to a very small role. It would require a complete overhaul of the Department of Education.

As a starting point, let us look at who educates. Basically, there are three classes of people, the educator, the administrator and the service worker. A closer look into the function of each of these classes would be helpful at this time.

The educator, teachers and aides, are the people who actually stand in front of a class and teach. They prepare lesson plans, homework assignments and testing. They are the core of education. We must develop a policy which completely supports them. This can be done by getting parents involved. All studies, polls and even common sense has shown that parental involvement is essential to education. Where parents get involved, education prospers. Give the parents a voucher system, it will get them involved because it would give parents a true choice of schools, do you think that any one would willingly send their child to a failing school? I don't. The parent would control where the child goes,not some bureaucrat. I referred to studies and polls, well these same studies also discovered that the majority of people, regardless of race, ethnicity and gender prefer a voucher system. So who opposes it, the teachers unions and the union bosses, and through them the politicians. Why aren't the people being served? Just as an aside, a fair tax system would go a long way in alleviating this situation.

The administrators are the people who direct the teachers, they are a " necessary evil ". You cannot have an education system where teachers run around willy-nilly. We need the administrators, but here is the problem. We have an over abundance of administrators, and unfortunately too many of them dwell in the federal department of education. Here is where the conservative movement can make a difference. I always ask my liberal friends, " How many teachers does the education department employ? ' I almost always get the answer, " I don't know. " We all know, the answer is zero. Every body there is in the administrative category. Begs for a simple solution, get rid of the administrators and spend that money on teachers and real education. The money spent in Washington would be limited to just enough to dole out the federal funds with a VERY BRIEF OVER SIGHT. I emphasize, a very brief over sight. The money could be spent much more efficiently by the local schools then by the bureaucracy in D.C. After all, maybe Peoria needs a new building where as Memphis needs a teacher raise to attract new teachers, the local school boards know best. The parents would have more say in local bond issues than any type of influence over the D.C. bureaucracy. Empower the people.

The third category is the service worker, the janitor, the street crossing guard and the people who do the ordering of supplies. Once again we see that this category is best controlled by the local people, not D.C. Because spending would be more open to local scrutiny these people would tend to be more efficient. This is what we need.

In a brief example of what a political solution caused, we only have to look at history. When Bill Clinton was president, he appointed the governor of one of the Carolinas, a man by the name of Reilly, as head of the department of education. When George Bush ran for office there was a big clamor raised because the confederal flag flew over the state capitol of the state from which Reilly came. The raising of the flag took place while Reilly was governor. Every body wanted to know what Bush thought about the matter, of course the fact that he was governor of Texas and had no jurisdiction in either the flying nor the removal of the flag, this had no sway. The real culprit was Reily, but the media and pundits tried to pin it on Bush. The reason, the media wanted Clinton to be " the first black president"
A good example of why big government doesn't work for the people, but rather for the few select elite ones. Only a good ground swell of conservative ideas can reverse this trend. Let's get started.

Here I add my usual plea ,pray for our brave service men and women.
GOD Bless