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
It appears we are getting a little bit of Sun... Read More
The gun control debate in America is a battle between... Read More
There's a new Michigan state register (at https://www.protectmichild.com/) in the... Read More
Incompetence is all too obvious at the trade shows of... Read More
Former Senator, Daniel Moynihan, accurately summed up the situation when... Read More
Tonight I resigned myself to the fact that this is... Read More
The offshore financial centres have been forced in recent years... Read More
When you see hooded Klansmen walking up Pennsylvania Avenue to... Read More
"Similar to Medieval Inquisitions, judges have been given the authority,... Read More
Do you find it interesting that people complain about the... Read More
In order to win the presidency in America, candidates must... Read More
The resignation from cabinet yesterday, Sunday, by the Israeli minister... Read More
The great people of the United States of America deserve... Read More
For years I have been amazed as I've listened to... Read More
Recently a friend insisted that I read a book by... Read More
Why President Bush should have his second term? The arguments... Read More
WE MUST PUT A STOP TO THE EVER-INCREASING PRICE OF... Read More
Do you ever wonder how everything gets to the super... Read More
A coffee shop conversation about a Great Country in Historic... Read More
In these times when states are suffering extreme downward pressure... Read More
It cities across America water is an issue, the flow... Read More
Here is an interesting thought; Corn to make Plastic An... Read More
Recently on C-SPAN, there were two gentlemen debating free trade... Read More
For a short time I worked as a union officer... Read More
Veterans Affairs Employees using government credit cards on personal items?... Read More
tidy up service Arlington Heights ..Heavens, what are we up against? It seems these days... Read More
In an effort to assist our political leadership it would... Read More
The steel tariff taxes a few years ago hurt industry... Read More
The other day I was sucker punched, hoodwinked, bamboozled, had... Read More
Utah introduced a bill designed to limit the use of... Read More
Blessed with Chinese GDP growth rates (7-8% annually in each... Read More
Many are condemning the latest GM Terminator seeds. Yet there... Read More
Guides for RetailersThe regulations about marketing pearls are listed in... Read More
President George W. Bush has unofficially won his re-election bid... Read More
You, the reader, should be aware of my affluence of... Read More
Many are very impressed with the NIMA (National Imagery and... Read More
I just got done reading a series of articles dating... Read More
With the world's largest oil and natural gas reserves, second... Read More
Maybe some of the people complaining ought to go to... Read More
Many MLM sales people mean well but they inadvertently commit... Read More
I'm getting a little tired of being lectured by that... Read More
Those of us hundreds of miles from ground zero sat... Read More
Recently the Los Angeles Transit workers are on Strike and... Read More
Many Americans have children, fathers, mothers, grandparents, other family members... Read More
A friend of mine, who lives in the thick of... Read More
For the business community 9-11 changed everything. In our company,... Read More
"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when... Read More
As we watch fewer Americans voting it is no wonder... Read More
MUD ? Much Unnecessary DisclosureThe Federal Trade Commission recently asserted... Read More
If someone wanted to farm future clones they would need... Read More
Political |