Many parents might think it a bit farfetched to compare our public schools to schools in socialist or communist countries. However, if we look closer, we will see striking similarities between the two systems.
In the former socialist-communist Soviet Union, for example, the government owned all property and all the schools. In America, public schools are also government property, controlled by local government officials. In Soviet Russia, the government forced all parents to send their children to government-controlled schools. In America, compulsory-attendance laws in all fifty states force parents to send their children to public schools.
The Soviet rulers taxed all their subjects to pay for their schools. Here, all taxpayers pay compulsory school taxes to support public schools, whether or not the homeowner has children or thinks the schools are incompetent. In the Soviet Union, all teachers were government employees, and these officials controlled and managed the schools. In America, teachers, principals, administrators, and school janitors are also government employees, paid, trained, and pensioned through government taxes.
In the Soviet Union, most government employees could not be fired they had a "right" to their jobs. Public-school employees in America also believe they have an alleged right to their jobs, enforced through tenure laws. As we will see later, in America, it's almost impossible to fire tenured teachers. In communist Russia, competence and working hard didn't matter very much - the government paid most workers regardless of their performance on the job.
In America, public-school teachers' salaries depend on length of service competence is irrelevant. In communist Russia, the elite ruling class had estates in the countryside while peasants starved. Here, public-school authorities get fat salaries, pensions, and benefits while our children starve for a real education.
In communist Russia, government control of food supplies created eighty years of chronic famine. In America, one hundred and fifty years of public schools has created an educational famine. Millions of public-school children can barely read while the system wastes twelve years of our children's lives.
Still think the comparison to communist schools is too farfetched? Albert Shanker, former President of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teacher's union, once said: "It's time to admit that public education operates like a planned economy, a bureaucratic system in which everyone's role is spelled out in advance and there are few incentives for innovation and productivity. It's no surprise that our school system doesn't improve. It more resembles the communist economy than our own market economy."
Finally, schools in some communist countries like China seem to give a better, more disciplined education in the basics of reading, writing, and math than our public schools. International math and reading test-score comparisons often find American kids lagging far behind children from China.
But what values do Chinese communist schools teach their children? Here is another apt comparison between communist schools and our public schools. In both cases, either a central or local government controls the curriculum and the values it chooses to teach its students. The Chinese government can and does indoctrinate all school children with its communist ideology and loyalty to the communist leaders.
Similarly, in our public schools, left-leaning school authorities control the curriculum and the values they teach our children. In many public schools, values-clarification programs and distorted American history courses in many public schools now indoctrinate our children with anti-parent, anti-religion, and anti-American values. In both communist schools and our government-controlled public schools, parents cannot (with a few exceptions) stop school authorities from teaching harmful or immoral values to their children.
Question --- Do socialist, compulsory, government-controlled public schools belong in America, the land of the free?
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
The US Dollar has been falling continuously in last year.... Read More
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a report... Read More
Japan lit its candles of pure, "noble sadness" on the... Read More
Well here is a great new product, we first saw... Read More
The FBI recently before Congress stated that Eco-Terrorism was on... Read More
In the fields of juvenile justice policy and programming, there... Read More
As I read the papers and watch the news day... Read More
All the indicators show an improving economy and, finally, the... Read More
Prosecutors with political ambitions are known to modify the truth... Read More
At the start of the US involvement in WWII Joseph... Read More
The filibuster has been a tool available to U.S. Senators... Read More
Our government is set up like a modern day franchise.... Read More
In typical bureaucratese, the pensive EBRD analyst ventures with the... Read More
The idea is to have all the important items with... Read More
As more and more cities and states set up websites... Read More
Continued thoughts while driving down the road in a huge... Read More
I'VE ALWAYS ARGUED THAT ECONOMIC ILLITERACY IS VERY COSTLY.This is... Read More
With the recent threats from Bin Laden and Al Queda... Read More
I've decided to go public with my intentions: I will... Read More
When you see hooded Klansmen walking up Pennsylvania Avenue to... Read More
Many of the problems that the members of the European... Read More
Which companies are most affected by fuel? Who really bears... Read More
With elections on the horizon and Blair looking tired and... Read More
All to often law makers and regulators create rules and... Read More
In his bid for the presidency, John Kerry pronounced a... Read More
last minute cleaning help Highland Park ..Many times our government regulatory over embellish problems in the... Read More
"It is the duty of every citizen according to his... Read More
OH MAN!Here we go again. I guess now the "proof... Read More
The other day I was sucker punched, hoodwinked, bamboozled, had... Read More
Expected new applications for Mexican trucks to enter the US... Read More
The US Homeland Security is worried about Hydrofoil or Skimmer... Read More
Freedom is in the eyes of the beholder. In Communist... Read More
We are told by out leadership that we risk loss... Read More
Currently when we transport troops we use large cargo planes... Read More
We all know Elliot Spitzer is going to run for... Read More
Many in the World Media are quick to judge the... Read More
We are currently seeing a build up in China of... Read More
You know we have sent many, many army tanks with... Read More
Wealth Distribution is often discussed at length in periodicals such... Read More
Rule of Thumb for exporting technology. The American People need... Read More
The cause of America is in a great measure the... Read More
The more I study the dynamics of WWII the more... Read More
There are no stupid questions, only stupid people. Ask an... Read More
Political strategists, branding gurus and image consultants could learn a... Read More
Ok, here is what happened: On March 31, 2005, Pat... Read More
The expertise and advancement of the evolution of man and... Read More
Is the only way to fight Fundamentalist Extremists becoming one... Read More
The prosecutors in the Martha Stewart Case used testimony from... Read More
Recently in Professional Builder a cover article discussed how the... Read More
Without the flow of fuel our very mobile society comes... Read More
Political |