School vouchers and the NEA/AFT/AFSCME cartel
malcolmkirkpatrick
>
MK. In response to "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"...,
"Sardonic Wit" wrote:...
>
"Wow, that's pretty harsh. I've always hated that quote, because
some of my teachers meant a lot more to me than the political freakos
who seem to love tearing them down."
"Have you considered that researchers might know something about
education? In other words, is 'success' of homeschool only a
measurement of 'more people doin' it'? Cause it seems like there are a
lot of screwed up home-schoolers out there."
>
MK. I am very unimpresesed with education researchers, mostly. These
are the people who gave us Whole Language, Whole Math, and numerous
other lunatic fads. Typically, they are rather ordinary people who now
earn $80,000/year for 6 hours per week of face time with Education
majors over a 32 week year, and otherwise conduct poorly designed
"studies" which no one reads. Read Diane Ravitch __Left Back: A Century
of Failed School Reform__.
>
MK. As to homeschoolers being "screwed up", the reverse is true.
Typically they are better adjusted than conventionally schooled
children. In Hawaii, juvenile arrests for assault, drug possession, and
drug promotion fall in summer, when school's not in session. Juvenile
hospitalizations for human-induced trauma fall in summer.
http://www.daycaresdontcare.org/
http://www.educationevolving.org/pdf/Adolescence.pdf
>
"Reading books is one thing. Dealing with other people takes exposure
and experience.
>
From: Hyman and Penroe, Journal of School Psychology.
"Several studies of maltreatment by teachers suggest that school
children report traumatic symptoms that are similar whether the
traumatic event was physical or verbal abuse (Hyman, et.al.,1988;
Krugman & Krugman, 1984; Lambert, 1990). Extrapolation from these
studies suggests that psychological maltreatment of school children,
especially those who are poor, is fairly widespread in the United
States...."
"As with corporal punishment, the frequency of emotional
maltreatment in schools is too often a function of the socioeconomic
status (SES) of the student population (Hyman, 1990)."
>
"Furthermore, according to a report for UNESCO, cited in Esteve (2000),
the increasing level of pupil-teacher and pupil-pupil violence in
classrooms is directly connected with compulsory schooling. The report
argues that institutional violence against pupils who are obliged to
attend daily at an educational centre until 16 or 18 years of age
increases the frustration of these students to a level where they
externalise it." --Clive Harber, "Schooling as Violence",p. 9,
__Educatioinal Review__V. 54, #1.
>
"...It is almost certainly more damaging for children to be in school
than to out of it. Children whose days are spent herding animals rather
than sitting in a clasroom at least develop skills of problem solving
and independence while the supposedly luckier ones in school are
stunted in their mental, physical, and emotional development by being
rendered pasive, and by having to spend hours each day in a crowded
classroom under the control of an adult who punishes them for any
normal level of activity such as moving or speaking. (DfID, 2000, pp
12, 13)" Quoted in Clive Harber, "Schooling as Violence",p. 10,
__Educatioinal Review__V. 54, #1.
>
"Violence at school is a prevalent problem. According to a national
survey of school proncipals (National Center for Educational
Statistics, 1998), over 200,000 serious fights or physical attacks
occurred in public schools during the 1996-1997 school year. Serious
violent crimes occurred in approximately 12% of middle schools and 13%
of high schools. Student surveys (Kann et al, 1995) indicate even
higher rates of aggressive behavior. Approximately 16.2% of high school
students nationwide reported involvement in a physical fight at school
during a 30-day period, and 11.8% reported carrying a weapon on school
property (Kann et al, 1995)."
"Research on victims of violence at school suggests that repeated
victimization has detrimental effects on a child's emotional and social
development (Batsche & Knoff, 1995; Hoover, Oliver, & Thomson, 1993;
Olweus, 1993). Victims exhibit higher levels of anxiety and depression,
and lower self-esteem than non-victims (eg., Besag, 1989; Gilmartin,
1987; Greenbaum, 1987; Olweus, 1993). [Karen Brockenbrough, Dewey G.
Cornell, Ann B. Loper, "Aggressive Attitudes Among Victims of Violence
at School", __Education and the Treatment of Children__, V. 25, #3,
Aug., 2002]
>
"Results showed that the over-representation of Black males that has
been cited consistently in the literature begins at the elementary
school level and continues through high school. Black females also were
suspended at a much higher rate than White or Hispanic females at all
three school levels." [Linda M. Raffaele Mendez, Howard M. Knoff;
__Education and the Treatment of Children__, V. 26, #1, Feb. 2003.
>
"Criminal violence emerges from social experience, most commonly brutal
social experience visited upon vulnerable children, who suffer for our
neglect of their welfare and return in vengeful wrath to plague us. If
violence is a choice they make, and there- fore their personal
responsibility, as Athens demonstrates it is, our failure to protect
them from having to confront such a choice is a choice we make, just as
a disease epidemic would be implicitly our choice if we failed to
provide vaccines and antibiotics. Such a choice-to tolerate the
brutalization of children as we continue to do-is equally violent and
equally evil, and we reap what we sow. ..." Richard Rhodes, __Why they
Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist__.
>
[Roland Meighan, "Home-based Education Effectiveness Research and
Some of its Implications",Educational Review, Vol. 47, No.3, 1995.]
"The issue of social skills. One edition of Home School Researcher,
Volume 8, Number 3, contains two research reports on the issue of
social skills. The first finding of the study by Larry Shyers (1992)
was that home-schooled students received significantly lower problem
behavior scores than schooled children. His next finding was that
home-schooled children are socially well adjusted, but schooled
children are not so well adjusted. Shyers concludes that we are asking
the wrong question when we ask about the social adjustment of
home-schooled children. The real question is why is the social;
adjustment of schooled children of such poor quality?"
>
"The second study, by Thomas Smedley (1992), used different test
instruments but comes to the same conclusion, that home-educated
children are more mature and better socialized than those attending
school." ...p. 277
>
"And if your beef really is with how taxes are doled out, why not just
remove tax money from the equation entirely? I was reading your traffic
light proposal earlier, and it seemed like you prefer to let the free
market decide, so why not with education?"
>
MK. I believe that society as a whole would be better off if the State
got out of the education business completely. This means: repeal of
compulsory attendance laws, repeal of tax support of school, repeal of
government school enabling legislation, repeal of mandated curricula,
repeal of minimum wage laws, and repeal of child-labor laws. Caution
suggests that policy-makers avoid such radical leaps into the dark, so
a gradual, incemental path makes more sense.
>
http://www.worldbank.org/research/journals/wbro/obsfeb97/educate.htm
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/pdfs/economics%20of%20compulsion.pdf
>
"Also, a few posts above you talk about education as being a right. Is
recognizing it as a right the same thing as having the government pay
for it? If you believe in free markets, shouldn't you believe that
parents should foot the bill for their own kids' education, just like
you think they should pay for the right of way at a stop light?
>
MK. The education business is not a natural monopoly. There are no
economies of scale at the delivery end of the education business as it
currently operates. Natural monopoly and economies of scale are two
usual arguments for State operation of an industry. To the extent that
education is a "public good", the "public goods" argument implies tax
subsidy and regulation, at most, not State operation of schools. One
argument for school vouchers is that they would spur inovation in
schools, and give taxpayers more value for the money. I suggest
another: that the public may come to see that this level of funding is
unnecessary, as it is generated by assiduous lobbying by the
self-interested NEA/AFT/AFSCME cartel. Benjamin Franklin attended
school for two years. Abraham Lincoln for one. Hiram Maxim apprenticed
at age 13, as did Joseph Henry.
>
Take care. Homeschool if you can.
>
http://www.rru.com/~meo/hs.minski.html (One page. Marvin Minsky comment
on school. Please read this.)
http://www.schoolchoices.org (Massive site. Useful links).
http://www.hslda.org (Very useful links, for prospective homeschoolers)
http://www.libertyindia.org/pdfs/tooley_education.pdf
http://www.poorandstupid.com/chronicle.asp (textbooks, 17, Dec, 2004)
>
Recommended reading...
>
The Independent Review Volume 8 Number 3
Winter 2004 Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable
By Randall G. Holcombe
>
Eduardo Zambrano
Formal Models of Authority: Introduction and Political Economy
Applications
Rationality and Society, May 1999; 11: 115 - 138.
More Sense
about the "NEA/AFT/AFSCME cartel", so that newcomers to this thread
understand better how things work in the education system.
Also, this raises a very good question. Who should decide what kind of
things are applicable for educational vouchers? Only schools? Only
courses that are somehow accredited? Or, could families also spend
(some of the) vouchers on computers or so?
Any ideas, anyone?
Deborah
malcolmkirkpatrick
NEA/AFT/AFSCME cartel. When people who oppose school vouchers assert
that school vouchers will "destroy the public schools", they mean that
school vouchers will end the NEA/AFT/AFSCME cartel's exclusive position
in receipt of the taxpayers' K-12 education subsidy. The "public school
system" is an institution (a legal regime as much as a collection of
physical buidings) which consists of: 1) compulsory attendance laws, 2)
tax subsidies to school employees, 3) a policy which, in most States,
restricts a parent's options for the use of the taxpayers' K-12 subsidy
to schools operated by State (government, generally) employees, 4) in
many States, mandatory collective bargaining for government employees,
5) child labor laws, 6) minimum wage laws, and 7) occupationational
licensure laws.
The tax subsidized K-12 system in the US consumes a budget of over
$400 billion/per year. In Hawaii, the DOE budget is over $1.5
billion/year. The University of Hawaii system consumes about $.5
billion/year. In Hawaii, the faculty of the University of Hawaii system
pay dues to the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA), an
NEA subsidiary. Janitorial staff of the University of Hawaii and of the
Hawaii DOE pay dues to the United Public Workers (UPW), an AFSCME
subsidiary. Administrative personnel of both the University of Hawaii
and the Hawaii DOE pay dues to the Hawaii Government Employees
Association (HGEA), another AFSCME subsidiary.
The NEA and AFT have discussed unification. In Minnesota, they share
dues and representation duties. The NEA and AFSCME coordinate political
lobbying. See Myron Lieberman, __The Teacher Unions__. An enormous
revenue stream is at issue for union leadership. This revenue stream is
far more than dues, as members direct the flow of much of the total
$400 billion K-12 budget. Construction contractors, textbook
publishers, and service providers subsist on favors granted through
rigged auctions of contracts. Unions, even "public sector" unions are
--private-- 501-c(5) corporations. Their assets are the property of
their members and their legal obligations are to dues paying members
and agency-fee payers. Sometimes unions, like other human
organizations, get captured by insiders, who bend the institution to
their purposes. Consider the corruption convictions of the head of the
DC teachers' union, the Miami-Dade teachers' union, and the head of the
Hawaii UPW. You may recall that the people who illegally taped Newt
Gingrich's political strategy conference call were NEA activists.
>
More later.
Sam Carana
Good to discuss the education system in this way, as this reveals the true extent of its grip over society.
I'll follow Malcom's points, to see if I can add some comments.
> 1) compulsory school attendance laws,
This should be completely revised. Vouchers go some way to remedy the situation, but we should see more respect for the prior rights of parents to decide what kind of education their children get. Not only should homeschooling be better accommodated, but the whole concept of education should be re-evaluated. Government has proven to be the wrong instrument to make that assessment. Parental rights and the free market should prevail.
> 2) tax subsidies to school employees,
I agree, occupational protection and privilege is wasteful and will in the end backlash, hurting even those who initially believed to benefit from it! I also agree with the point brought up by Deborah that school vouchers don't accommodate homeschooling very well. There's still is a long way to go. We should work towards removing the icy grip of government from education altogether. Tax deducations for money spent by a family on the education of their children is something that should also be comtemplated as a step in the right direction. More generally, who should not look at the education system in isolation, but seek reform as a package that covers all sectors of society.
> 3) a policy which, in most States, restricts a parent's options for the use of the taxpayers' K-12 subsidy to schools operated by State (government, generally) employees,
This is where vouchers come in. School vouchers allow parents to choose where they previously had no choice. Some strong argument in favor of vouchers are that they better reflect our rights and that they add market efficiencies to a currently wasteful and bureaucratically-run system. There are many more arguments in favor of vouchers, but as said above, eventually we need to work towards removing the icy grip of government from education altogether.
> 4) in many States, mandatory collective bargaining for government employees,
The educational bureaucracy and trade unions have a strong grip over who is allowed to teach, in many respects they even deny private schools independence in deciding who they want to employ at what wages. School vouchers could improve this situation, as parents can vote with their feet for schools with the best teachers. However, if the unions that dominate the public school system could extent their grip over private schools, then most of the gains could be lost.
So, what should be done to break the trade unions' grip over the system? We should consider applying anti-trust and anti-racketeering laws to educational institutions, to professional association and to trade unions. As you say, Malcolm, huge amounts of money go into the construction and maintenance of school buildings, computer systems, libraries, etc. Who selects the book publishers, school uniform suppliers, etc? The current system is prone to corruption, cronyism and nepotism, while commercial criteria are way down the list when decisions are made. Trade practice laws should by imposed over all commercial decisions.
> 5) child labor laws,
Indeed, why shouldn't children be allowed to work, especially if there were obvious educational benefits. Why couldn't learning and work be combined, as has always been the case with apprentices?
The apprencticeship model is much under-rated, through deliberate efforts by school teachers to denigrate work that requires manual skills. School imposes a new class system on society, through indoctrination of students that it was inferior to go into a honest trade and develop manual skills, while the university is glorified as something that was superior. The education system seeks to keep students captive as long as possible inside the walls of its institutes. Some "students" are still "studying" when they are 30-years-old, i.e. far beyond the age where one normally finds a job and starts a family. This disgraceful system is extremely wasteful for society at large, it's like a parasite feeding on the honest work of the manual occupations it despises, while glorifying money schemes, power plots, elitism and bureaucracy.
> 6) minimum wage laws,
The same thing applies here. The education system seeks to constantly expand the age-range of people it captures through mandatory regulations. Because of minimum wages, students cannot be employed. The system has deliberately made them unemployable, by teaching them no practical skills, while indoctrinating them with an attitude that is hostile to the realities of the commercial world. Minimum wages just add to this situation, making that students remain captive within the education system, as they have nowhere else to go.
> 7) occupational licensing laws,
malcolmkirkpatrick
> Good to discuss the education system in this way, as this reveals the true
> extent of its grip over society.
>
> > 1) compulsory school attendance laws,
>
> This should be completely revised. Vouchers go some way to remedy the
> situation, but we should see more respect for the prior rights of parents to
> decide what kind of education their children get. Not only should
> homeschooling be better accommodated, but the whole concept of education
> should be re-evaluated. Government has proven to be the wrong instrument to
> make that assessment. Parental rights and the free market should prevail.
>
Sam takes, above, will win politically--I hope to see it in my
lifetime--but currently most voters will not endorse a proposal this
radical, and so neither will most elected politicians. Don't ask them
to commit suicide. For now, I encourage parents to homeschool. I have
asked legislators to subsidize homeschooling through a mechanism I call
"parent performance contracting" (PPC), in which your legislature would
mandate that school districts --must-- hire parents on personal service
contracts to provide for their children's education, if the parents
apply for the contract. Count the children as enrolled, make the value
of the contract equal to some fraction, say 3/4, of the district's
regular-ed per pupil budget, and make payment contingent on performance
at-or-above age-level expectations on commercially available
standardized tests of reading vocabulary, reading comprehension (any
language) and math. Parents could then homeschool, hire tutors, pool
resources and hire the neighbor's daughter with a BA in Zoology to take
six kids full-time, or supplement the contract amount and send their
children to independent schools. PPC offers maximum flexibility, fiscal
and performance accountability, and a minimal threat of State intrusion
into the operation of independent schools. PPC has some practical
political advantages over school vouchers: 1) Schools currently hire
personal service contractors, so no major reconfiguration of district
policy is required, 2) Since districts already employ personal service
contractors, PPC is not vulnerable to the rhetorical attack that the
policy "takes money form public schools", 3) While PPC allows parents
to determine the means (including parochial school), PPC is indifferent
to the means, so is not vulnerable to rhetorical or legal attack on
Church/State separation grounds.
>
MK. Discussion deleted (agreement and amplification)...
>
Take care. Homeschool if you can.
>
on school. Please read this.)
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/
http://www.nrtw.org/d/big_labor_special_privileges.htm
>
A book review by John Ray...
http://jonjayray.netfirms.com/berg.html
>