Tuesday, May 29, 2012

It Is About Education - Stupid

In the last thirty years with the rise of teacher unions, we have seen the high school drop out rate sky rocket in the United States.  While nationally about 70% of kids graduate from high school, there are many school districts and some states where more than 50% of young kids never graduate from high school even though we spend more on education than any other country in the world.   These under educated Americans, who lack job skills of any kind, end up in the unemployment mix.  They are becoming part of what is termed structural unemployment because they just can't compete with their counterparts around the world that are better educated and or willing to work harder. 

President Obama and all his Socialist pals always complain about growing income inequality in the United States.  They are right in that there are Have's and Have Not's; but this has occurred because some Americans are well educated and or have marketable job skills, while others are poorly educated, or have no marketable job skills.   And, the problem will only get worse unless we fix public education and that means radical change, not just tinkering around the edges.  

First, we have to end collective bargaining for public school teachers and other government employees that is bankrupting many states and our country.   There is no reason that teachers and other government workers should be paid 40% more in total compensation and benefits than is common in the private sector.  Why should government workers earn more than the taxpayers supporting them.  That is ridiculous.  Next, we must end teacher tenure that protects the incompetent and union intervention that often makes it impossible to fire an incompetent teacher.   This is not about teacher rights; but rather student's and parent's rights to a quality education.   Teachers that can't teach should not be in the classroom doing damage to children.  

Children in under performing, or failing schools, should have the option of School Choice to allow them to escape those schools; just the same way the rich and our elected officials, including the Obama's, send their kids to private schools.  It is downright criminal that poor and lower middle class children are stuck in these failing schools just to provide an income to public school teachers and union dues to teacher unions.  Again, this is about making sure that every child gets a good education, not providing a good pension for an incompetent teacher.  Great teachers should receive merit pay, at the discretion of management, based on student performance.  The notion that poor, or mediocre teachers, that do not teach, make the same money as great teachers is absurd. 

Most important, we must revolutionize the whole idea of education related to job training.   Not all kids are destined to go to university.   For those that are not book learners, we should create a more practical, hands on education in vocational studies.   If a kid is not university bound, then that kid should be taught a marketable job skill using work/apprentice programs during high school.    The notion of a high school diploma should be broadened so that it is not just a question of standard classes taken and passed; but rather a grading of practical accomplishments.  

It makes no sense to teach a kid Shakespeare, or the symbolism of a rose, when based on aptitude that kid needs to learn to be a computer technician, plumber, or electrician and this is coming from a former public school teacher who taught inner city kids Shakespeare, which upon reflection, was a complete waste of time, when they could not even read at grade level.  

We desperately need Educational Reform in the United States because in many instances, our public schools fail to educate children, instead using valuable school time to indoctrinate kids in Socialist ideology, or politically correct thinking.  Reform will never happen as long as Socialists, owned by teacher unions, remain in office, which is one more reason we must sweep them all out of office in 2012 and 2014.  One of the first things Socialist President Obama did, once elected to office, was end the School Voucher Program in Washington DC, which allowed poor Black kids to escape horrible public schools.  Obama did it as a pay back to teacher unions even though poor Black parents were opposed to his decision. 

Obviously, Obama did not care about his PEEP's, traditional poor Black voters in this case because teacher unions contribute big dollars to Obama's campaign and these poor Black parents had little to give.   Whose bread you eat whose song you sing.   And, Obama sings like a canary in support of teacher unions.  As a result, for the sake of millions of kids stuck in failing schools, we must make Obama a one term President.   Educational Reform will not happen as long as Socialists and their teacher union supporters remain in power, feeding at the trough.  So, they all have to go and the sooner the better.  Our nation depends on it.

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