Are you watching Stossel (Thursday at 8 & 11pm ET, Friday at 10pmET)?
The government-school establishment has said the same thing for decades: Education is too important to leave to the competitive market. If we really want to help our kids, we must focus more resources on the government schools.
But despite this mantra, the focus is on something other than the kids. When The Washington Post asked George Parker, head of the Washington, D.C., teachers union, about the voucher program there, he said: “Parents are voting with their feet. … As kids continue leaving the system, we will lose teachers. Our very survival depends on having kids in D.C. schools so we’ll have teachers to represent.”
How revealing is that?
Since 1980, government spending on education, adjusted for inflation, has nearly doubled. But test scores have been flat for decades.
Today we spend a stunning $11,000 a year per student — more than $200,000 per classroom. It’s not working. So when will we permit competition and choice, which works great with everything else?
There are only two scenarios that’ll make that happen:
1: When there are more students in private schools/home school that in public schools
2: When unions and bureaucrats have no stake in the process.
Sadly, neither of things will ever happen.
So, to answer John’s question: Never.