Arne Duncan and the Dept. of Education are Failing Our Kids

FoxNews.com published an article titled “America is Losing Science Brainpower Advantage”.  Where the author, Devin Powell, discussed a report that outlined the condition of our children’s ability to compete in the global markerplace.

The United States’ ability to compete globally in science and technology is on a “perilous path,” said a new report delivered Sept. 23 on Capitol Hill to a bipartisan group of policymakers, industry leaders, and academics.

American students continue to perform poorly in math and science compared to their counterparts abroad, the report claims. Though the United States is still a leader in innovation and produces a disproportionate share of the world’s wealth, other countries such as China are investing heavily in research and education and, according to the new report, threatening America’s competitiveness.

While many say that more government spending is needed to help our students become competitive, nothing could be further from the truth.  Government spending on education has outpaced the growth of the country, but the quality of education that the government is providing is slipping.

• In 1980, federal, state and local government spent $152 Billion dollars on education which was about 5.5% of GDP
• In 2010 usgovernmentspending.com is estimating that the government will spend $1.03 Trillion federal dollars on education or about 7.2% of GDP
• Current projections have 2015 spending at $1.4 Trillion

*Source: https://usgovernmentspending.com

Spending has been rising since there has been spending on education.  Has education improved?  No.  Why would we continue to spend more?  Because we have been given no choice.

In a striking example of why government-paid employees should not be allowed to collectively bargain, teacher’s unions are bilking tax payers for money that should be going to actual education.  Most union labor agreements require that teachers get annual raises regardless of their performance – so-called “step raises”.  Did you get a raise this year simply because no one fired you?  Where is the incentive for teachers to become better teachers?  Other than the ludicrous step raises, a teacher’s best way to improve their salary is to become an administrator.  Wonderful, our kids will certainly become much better scientists and engineers as the education bureaucracy gets more top-heavy.

Teacher’s unions are negotiating with elected officials who will need the teacher’s unions to support them in the next election.  The elected officials will either give the unions what they want or face losing their positions to a new candidate that the union now sees as friendly.  It’s a scam and it’s your money.  Unionization of public employees is a conflict-of-interest.  Union support of elected officials is a conflict-of-interest.  Both practices must be abolished immediately.

Enter the “Disclose Act”, because it makes clear who is supporting whom, correct?  Not if the gigantic, tyrannical collection of supporters are .. you guessed it – Unions.  Unions are specifically given a pass in the disclose act.  They can continue strong-arming our elected officials into gifting them ridiculous salaries and benefits at our cost and a cost to our children’s education without any disclosure.

Homeschooling has grown 36% between 2003 and 2007, according to this article on Right Truth.  Parents have figured out the sham.   Americans are increasingly finding public education an oxymoron and are taking the matter into their own hands.   Private or Independent schools are certainly an attractive option, but considering the recession and Obama’s failure to support a voucher program, they can be a very expensive one.  Instead, parents are forced to pay the school taxes AND pay tuition at an independent institution – as if that weren’t the Department of Education’s plan all along.

So public education costs too much, the teacher’s unions have too much power, and our kids are now getting the worst education ever.  What is the department of education focused on?  Private education.  Arne Duncan’s troop of misfits is trying to shut down private education while the public sector is failing to perform its task.  Of course, we have to “follow the money”.  Private teachers are typically .. non-union.  Private education is not regulated in the same manner as public.  How long until they make private education unaffordable through over-regulation or make homeschooling illegal?

Even Obama admits that public schools are failing to properly educate our children.

In an appearance Monday morning on NBC’s “Today” show, Obama was asked by a woman in a television audience whether a public school in his home city could measure up to the standards of his children’s private school.

“I’ll be blunt with you: The answer is no right now,” the president replied. The D.C. public schools, he said “are struggling.”

At some point, someone has to be willing to re-do the public education system from the ground-up.  Unions need to be taken out of our kids’ classrooms.  Just like the economy, things in education are not getting better.  Obama has been summarily dismissing his economic and political staff.  Now, since Arne Duncan is pushing the status quo, President Obama, it’s time for him to go too.