Values, not money answer for schools
Recently some eye-opening hard data became available that should dramatically change the debate on education. The school district that has the third-highest spending level per pupil in the United States of America is an absolute failure. Spending more than $13,000 per student per year, only 12 percent of its students are reading proficient and only 8 percent are math proficient. That school district is in Washington, D.C. and only 60 percent of its students graduate despite the enormous money being thrown at the kids.
Obviously money alone is not the answer. Especially when you consider that Japan spends a fraction of what we do per student and yet achieves tremendous results with some of the highest reading and math test scores in the world and a phenomenal graduation rate. What is the difference? Well in Japan student discipline is tough and demanding, there are high testing standards, intense competition, copious amounts of homework, and hard work is a cultural norm. That used to be the case here in the United States for centuries but those values have lost favor to a softer, friendlier, less-demanding school environment. Today there is less focus on achieving greatness and more emphasis on "self esteem" and "feeling good." Many schools are eliminating valedictorian and other achievement awards because it makes those students that don't win loose "self esteem." Unfortunately the world is a hard place and these pampered kids will experience culture shock when they have to survive in the real world. The real world rewards excellence and achievement, not feeling good.
Maybe the problem starts with teacher tenure which is counter to the way that the rest of the world works. Other than the Supreme Court, what other job is essentially guaranteed for life? Is your job guaranteed for life? In New York City, it takes an average of $250,000 of taxpayer money spent in legal and administrative costs to fire each incompetent teacher. With that unrealistic "entitlement" value foundation, how can we expect teachers to teach our kids the realistic and tough values that they will need to succeed in life? Obviously there are a lot of really great teachers out there. But we have a core problem and tenure is part of it. Hard work, discipline, competition, responsibility and fortitude are some of the values that our kids are not seeing in the schools today. Unfortunately they are not seeing those values on TV, in the movies, on the Internet or in video games either. Parents, while you may be teaching those values at home, we and our core values are outnumbered and we better find a solution for the sake of our kids and their future.
Randy Rossi
Grayslake