
Why does it seem that the more we spend on education, the less our efforts seem to produce? Our children enter their years of schooling with great anticipation, but sadly by the time they often exit college, their critical thinking skills have been shattered, maybe even replaced with ethereal visions, all the while having had their hopes, and beliefs of exceptionalism shattered. It was due to a “. . . beleaguered president . . . “ that needed support of “. . . a large and powerful special interest group . . .” that led to this “. . . federal involvement in public education . . .” (reason.com; Anthony Fisher; February 7, 2017.) Ever since President Carter instituted the Department of Education (officially abbreviated ED, and informally as DoEd,) (Wikipedia) in 1979, the funds thrown into this blackhole have produced ever increasing failures within our educational processes and unfortunately reflected in many students unable to achieve basic standards. There has been a constant push to offer “participation trophies”, all the while suppressing those who seek to achieve, all in favor of a false belief that all need to be equal, rather than all simply need equal opportunities. It is a fact of life that some perform better than others, and some perform less than others. That has no bearing upon a student’s worth, only upon the potential levels of achievement that can be attained. In the eyes or our Creator, we are all valuable, but we all have individual potential based upon genetics, economics, social upbringing, experiences, and motivation. A couple years ago, we quoted statistics concerning our Nation’s educational processes, and how some things have grown while other things have not. We would like to review some of that now since there seems to be many with their panties in a wad over the D.O.E. becoming D.O.A.
Following, is a portion of our blog created September 27, 2021, titled, “JUST SAY NO”.
Consider for a moment the bureaucracy being created within our national education system. From 1975 to 2008, the number of faculty increased 10%, while the administration increased 221%. For schools between 1950 to 2009, students increased 96%, while teachers increased 252% and administration increased 702%. (Tucker Carlson Tonight, September 24, 2021, Sumantra Maitra, Senior Contributor to The Federalist and a National Fellow at the Center For National Interest.)
What we have here is proof that throwing money at anything is no guarantee of improvement or success. We remember years ago in Arizona where a brand-new school was built, and even a principle was assigned. The only problem was that those in charge failed to realize that a new school also needed new teachers and other supporting infrastructures, and none had been planned for. So, for a year, an old school facility had to run classes in two shifts, with alternating cafeteria schedules, to cover twice the number of students the building was designed to accommodate. They could afford to build a school, but students were left in sewing classes with only a needle and thread, no sewing machines. Forget a music department, as too often money is needed for new administrative facilities. More is being spent on brick and mortar, and less on brains and brawn. It is time to shift course and try something different, like maybe what we used to do before it was felt that teacher unions had a better idea for education, one that grossly favored administration over the student. If we desire to retain our Nation’s FREEDOM and LIBERTY, then we need to realize that sometimes the old ways are superior to new ones. After all, our Nation’s Constitution and Bill of Rights seem to be doing pretty well, even after nearly 250 years.