What HAS happened to our public schools?

More people must speak up about the problems within our public schools, (aka government schools aka taxpayer funded socialist indoctrination centers) until they do nothing will be resolved. More and more I see people speaking up and Croydon residents for the first time in a long time have stood up against the public school spending race. However, under the current federal administration it is like using a finger to plug a hole in the Hoover Dam.

The following piece appeared on the Delmarva Media Group website.

Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.



What has happened to our public schools?

By Shaun Fink • March 23, 2009

The new administration has apparently figured out what is wrong with our educational system. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the lack of clear goals and objectives in today's public schools, because we are told that every student is unique and ought to be able to move at their own pace regardless of results. We are not to look at the impact of the lessening of school discipline, because we do not want to hurt or diminish our young children's self-esteem.


Likewise, do not blame the dumbing-down of what now passes for math, where 2 + 2 only equals 4 if it does not offend anyone; or the new history, where all of our forefathers were hateful men who cared only for their own self-interests.

You see, we the people have been in error about the problems facing our educational system. But do not worry; President Obama has explained it to us. We have been doing all the right things, just not enough of them. The solution, says the president and all the teacher's unions, is to lengthen the school day, week and year. If what you are doing does not work, do more of it.

According to the president, continuing to teach a social agenda instead of the four R's is a good thing. We are also to believe that focusing on a child's sense of worth instead of his achievements is the proper course of action in a world so mean and intolerant. What do parents know about raising their children; it takes a village, right?

Unfortunately, longer school days and attending year round will serve only to widen the chasms that already exist in the modern American family. At a time when we ought to be fostering a stronger home life, the decision has been made to attempt to separate children from their parents even more.

This will not work. The real solution is to change the method and content of our public education system. The better way is to model schools after those that are actually producing proven results. What we should be doing is looking to private, Christian, parochial and home-schooling systems to see what works.

The achievement gap between students attending public and nonpublic schools is large -- and growing every year. We have the know-how to teach our children, just not the political will to do so.

Of course, instead of looking to our own successful nonpublic schools as a model of how to properly educate, our president cites South Korea as the pinnacle of educational prominence.

South Korea? Are we now following the rest of the world? What happened to other countries looking to us? I remember when the United States stood as the shining example of achievement. If we were to place our trust in the hands of teachers -- not teachers' unions -- it would not be long before this nation once again stood tall as the world leader in educational excellence.

It is time to stop following and start to lead again.

Shaun Fink lives in Millsboro.

Quote of the Day “The best of my education has come from the public library... my tuition fee is a bus fare and once in a while, five cents for an overdue book. You don't need to know very much to start with, if you know the way to the public library.” Leslie Conger