Past experience with federal education programs predicts that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act will also fail parents whose children are doing poorly in school. The federal government has spent over $120 billion on Title 1 programs for low-income students since 1965. Yet the literacy rates for these children today are appalling, and the achievement gap between low-income children and their peers has not closed.
If the U.S. Department of Education wants to give real choice to parents, they should not be tinkering with a failed government-controlled school system that, by its very nature, strangles free choice and competition.
Americans have been blessed with a system that gives them almost unlimited choices in their daily lives for almost four hundred years-it's called the free market. If parents could pay for their kids' education in a totally unregulated, fiercely competitive education free market, free from government controls, parents would have all the school choice in the world. This education free market would also give their kids a superb, low-cost education.
Yet too often, government officials with their bureaucratic mentality, distrust the free market, the same free market that brings them their cars, clothes, computers, electricity, and fresh food. The No Child Left Behind Act adds yet another layer of federal regulations to the already strangling layers of local and state government regulations on education.
If the federal government truly wants to give parents more school choice, they should be working to remove local and state controls over education, not adding to those controls with the No Child Left Behind law and other regulations. That is like trying to cure a person dying of arsenic poisoning by giving him more arsenic.
Naturally, government education officials can't understand the fact that government control of education is not the solution, it is the problem.
Over the past fifty years, federal, state, and city governments have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to "fix" the public schools. They have failed, time and again. For example, in July, 2005, the Congress-mandated National Assessment of Education Progress showed that high-school students' dismal reading skills have not improved since 1999.
High-school drop-out rates in inner-city, low-income minority areas range from 30 percent to over 50 percent. High-school dropouts are far more likely to end up in prison during their lifetimes. A U.S. Bureau of Justice report estimates that approximately 47 percent of drug offenders and 75 percent of state prison inmates are high-school dropouts. Dropouts are also about three times more likely than high-school graduates to end up on welfare.
These are not just appalling statistics. These numbers represent millions of bright, eager chidren whose lives can be ruined by public schools that fail them.
Trying to repair the public-school system is futile, precisely because it is a compulsory, government-controlled monopoly. Trying to fix this system with vouchers, charter schools, or the No Child Left Behind Law is like trying to cure cancer with a band-aid.
Parents should not pin their hopes on any government-sponsored school-choice alternative. Vouchers, charter schools, and the No Child Left Behind Act are simply too little, too late. Also, powerful, entrenched special-interest groups in the public-school establishment fight school choice because they benefit from parents' and children's subservience to the system.
Parents should not expect the public schools in their neighborhoods to improve. If you want to give your children a decent education and a chance at life, you must take their future into your own hands, now. It is useless to hope that the public-school system has the will or ability to reform itself. It is a waste of your time, and your children's precious time, to deal with, plead with, or complain to public-school authorities or employees who benefit by the system.
Instead, do as the citizen-slaves of communist East Berlin did when they fled to freedom in West Berlin-vote with your feet. Consider writing-off the public-school system. Consider taking your children out of these schools, permanently. You and your children remain victims of the public-school system only by your own consent. The power to withdraw your consent is a power that public-school authorities can't stop. Withdraw your consent and refuse to be a victim any longer.
There are many other education resources that parents can use right now to give their kids a quality, low-cost education. These resources include the new Internet private schools, Internet tutors, low-cost, learn-to-read and learn-math books in libraries and bookstores, computer learning software, and home-schooling. I discuss all these great new education options in my book, "Public Schools, Public Menace."
Joel Turtel is the author of "Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children."
Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com,
Email: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com,
Phone: 718-447-7348.
Article Copyrighted ? 2005 by Joel Turtel.
NOTE: You may post this Article on another website only if you set up a hyperlink to Joel Turtel's email address and website URL, http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com
1. The Law of the BeastAs parents we need to... Read More
So, the thing is? I am feeling a little guilty.I... Read More
You may remember The Red Couch Project, a book by... Read More
Detox To Conceive.. If you're having trouble conceiving... Read More
Hey Parents! I hate to tell you, but there is... Read More
Just two days ago, another 15-year old child was added... Read More
There may really be a real monster under your kid???s... Read More
Over a number of years there have been issues raised... Read More
Working with adults (as well as children and teens) for... Read More
1. Tell me something you like about yourself? Help your... Read More
Yesterday my husband Wade took the day off (that's one... Read More
Little Suzy has really been having a hard time getting... Read More
We adopted our first child when he was three months... Read More
Valentine day has always been a special day in my... Read More
As thinking, acting human beings we have the ability to... Read More
Age 1: Invite only family members and close friends only... Read More
One of the most difficult parts of being a father... Read More
As a parent your biggest responsibility is to prepare your... Read More
Let's be honest! When it comes to parenting, men expect... Read More
Because most teens have not had the experience of getting... Read More
Even if your teenagers do not use drugs, you still... Read More
Every summer our daughter goes to summer camp. She looks... Read More
Vouchers, which give tax money to parents to pay for... Read More
Puberty can be a difficult time for children. Not quite... Read More
"All that I am or ever hope to be, I... Read More
bathroom cleaning service Mundelein ..Having been a parent educator and a PBS consultant for... Read More
Children explore the world around them and learn through pretend... Read More
This is one of the most common questions asked of... Read More
Research published by University of Rochester neuroscientists C. Shawn Green... Read More
For parents, keeping our kids safe is a constant top... Read More
This can be a very complicated issue, so I don't... Read More
Back in college, I wrote for a five-day-a-week, award-winning campus... Read More
The biggest trick some child predators' are using these days... Read More
Whether we realize it or not we teach our children... Read More
The Internet, is magnificent in its resources for families. Educational... Read More
Your child's first year of school should be a fun... Read More
What would it be like to have a clone? What... Read More
My daughters and I went to the beach several weeks... Read More
Reading is the most efficient and economical way to help... Read More
At age seven months in the womb, humans begin language... Read More
Even if your teenagers do not use drugs, you still... Read More
I really like all natural remedy for Attention Deficit Disorder... Read More
Karen, a single never-married thirty-year old attorney has a four-year... Read More
One of parents' most important duties is to protect their... Read More
Fall marks the beginning of many new things both for... Read More
Vacations are fun ! Weekends with the family are nice.... Read More
You're trying to catch up on some sleep on a... Read More
Whether children attend public or private schools, they benefit when... Read More
It's that time of year when mom and dad look... Read More
Former students would probably attest to the fact that few... Read More
Parenting |