Another Government Failure, By Roger Behra

SHORT COMMUNICATION 229

Another Government Failure

By

Roger Behra

The government in America down through the decades has been guilty of colossal decisions that have turned out very bad, and those decisions have seriously harmed the American culture. The top of the list of government failures it has turned out is the gross meddling of the government in the daily activities and operation of America’s public school, and the meddling has caused great dilemmas and problems for public schools, teachers.

The once upon a time very good public school systems in America are now very close to being a large basket case. And to make matters worse, Washington’s daily meddling is without constitutional authority to do so, along with the fact that the meddling makes matters worse and at a tremendous cost in dollars to the American taxpayer. It’s all on record. The government’s report card grade is definitely a solid failure.

The government’s failure grade on it’s report card is basically in reading, writing, and mathematics. It all shows up on the records of the school’s final student products- 12th graders. The federal test results show the great stagnation that has been going on in these subject areas consistently for the last four or more decades.

In 1970 Washington spent $32 billion dollars on elementary and secondary education. In 2009 Washington spent $83 billion dollars on the same. All these billions have been spent on public school education, and the end result is the failure grade on the government’s report card. In 1970 it cost $435 dollars to educate one student. In 2006 it cost $ 1,015 dollars to do the same. And the great negative results at the tremendous cost to the American taxpayer are absolutely astounding. When a high school graduate has to take remedial courses in spelling, grammar, writing, and mathematics before starting a collage career, that gives a very clear picture.

Not only has Washington just spent money. For the money spent Washington has increasingly meddled in the affairs of the school day by demanding more standards testing, and accountability. The No Child Left Behind Act, which has been a failure, is the epitome of modern government meddling. The Act has become law, and it has not improved test scores on bit.

Why has government meddling in America’s public schools been such a failure? In part it’s because the government does not take educational success seriously enough, and the demands are not very realistic. And when they spend taxpayer money, it is to gain favor with teacher unions, administrators, and other special interests. If the government doesn´t get real very soon and realize their motives and demands are greatly flowered, the failure grade on their report card will be there forever.

R. B.
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