Education Matters US

I read the following statement over at The Tempered Radical:

As a society that claims to be interested in leaving no child behind, significant efforts should be directed at closing the socioeconomic gaps that exist between the rich and the poor in our country. Until we drive meaningful changes in high-needs communities—providing universal health care, child care, and preschool for every child—we’ll never be able to guarantee success for the millions of children who enter our schools at risk for academic failure.

First, is Mr. Ferriter correct in assuming that “universal health care, child care, and preschool for every child” will allow our current public school system to guarantee success for those at risk children? The answer is an emphatic no. These steps will only ensure there are more children dependent on the government to provide for their every need. These children will never be taught self reliance or ambition if everything is provided by the government.

Are there people who truly do need help financially and socially? Of course there are, but a solution that takes care of everyone is not the answer. The system should be like a safety net, not a fluffy down mattress. This system should allow the local community, private companies and charities to lead the way. This can easily be done by removing some of the mandates and barriers to private investments, healthcare transportability and requirements, tax incentives for private insurance coverage and many other methods. The government bureaucracy only slows down efforts and gets in the way of progress. Read the story about how rebuilding New Orleans depends on who pays the bills in the USA Today. [Excerpt below]

Two years after the devastating floods that followed Hurricane Katrina, the rebuilding of New Orleans, and much of the Gulf Coast, has largely taken two paths: communities that have rebuilt themselves using private funds, insurance money and sheer will — and publicly funded efforts that have moved much more slowly.

Federal, state and local governments have struggled to speed up the release of funds and restore infrastructure. None of the 115 “critical priority projects” identified by city officials has been completed: For example, New Orleans’ police superintendent still works out of a trailer, as do most of the city’s firefighters. And analysts at the city’s crime lab don’t have a laboratory to match DNA samples.

You may be asking yourself, how do we close the socioeconomic gap? There will always be an earnings gap no matter what we do. The question is whether the poor and at risk are given the opportunity to join the middle and upper class. We allow this opportunity by educating the children. Education is the road that allows each child the opportunity to invent, explore, and earn their way to the American Dream.

So now what; can the poor and at risk really learn at the same as suburban rich kids? Of course they can; they just need to be given the opportunity. This has been proven with the KIPP schools, school choice in Milwaukee (here and here) and many other areas.

On the South Side of Chicago, there is a Jesuit school that provides the poor and at risk the opportunity to be educated and attend college:

The power of faith – coupled with a down to earth approach to the business world – has been harnessed by Jesuit priests in the US to send thousands of the poorest black and Hispanic children from deprived inner city areas to university.

The Jesuits have set up a network of schools which take students from neighbourhoods beset by gangs, drugs and crime, and give them an intensive high school education costing $10,000 (£5,300) a year.

This school has to turn children away. What would happen if this school, KIPP schools and others like it were given the opportunity to flourish and provide this same schooling across the country? Can you imagine the impact on the poor neighborhoods? It would bring both an educational and economic revival to these communities. The education that the children would receive would empower them, giving them the opportunity to become whatever they want. Maybe, one of them will even grow up to run for President one day.

By now, I know you are asking yourself, how can we allow these schools to grow? The answer is simple. We end the government run monopoly status of our current public school system. We empower the parents to choose the school they want their child to attend. The money then flows to that school for their child. There would be no more compelled designation that a child must attend a failing school just because of their address. Simply put, we fund the child and stop funding the bureaucracy.

You may wonder why this has not already happened? It’s simple. The education bureaucracy will spend any amount of money to prevent it. They will threaten the students with cuts and doomsday scenarios if a measure like this passes. The only way this is going to happen, is for you parents, teachers, ministers, community activists to stand up to the bureaucracy by electing candidates who will stand up for the children instead of the unions and education establishment. Money is not the answer, empowering parents is.