School Choice

School choice. I'm not sure what to think about it. I do believe that a) in theory, letting the market prove to public schools how dismal they are by letting other schools compete for funding is a good thing, that it will create positive change in all schools, and b) that the above theory has been proven in the school districts it has been tried that I have read about. For an excellent book on this subject, I highly recommend Breaking Free by Sol Stern. Once a fierce advocate of public schools, this New Yorker watched his kids go through the system every step of the way, and was horrified to learn about the disappointing situation the public school system is, how corrupt and deceptive the teachers' unions are, and how difficult it is to change anything.

I just read an article in the New York Times about a study comparing charter schools to public schools that did not have good results for the former. Now, my first inclination is to roll my eyes and say, "Well, after all it is the Times, that beacon of journalistic integrity....." but I must at least consider that there might be genuine evidence against non-public schools. However, let me give you some, shall we say, "interesting" statistics about the New York public school system (taken from a November, 2004 article by Sol Stern in the New York Daily News), and a few about my high school:

NYC education budget: $15.3 billion (yes, BILLION)
Cash per-pupil the state spends: nearly $15,000
Cost per-pupil at my private Christian school: $3,800
Included in my tuition: a week-long class trip to somewhere in the country (Washington D.C., Chicago, California, NYC)

Most of the teachers at my school did not have a teaching degree, but had real experience in what they taught. For example, my Spanish teacher had virtually no teaching qualifications, but grew up as a missionary kid in Guatemala and taught the language to us better than any textbook or most high school teachers around. Remember the phrase, "Yeah, I took [insert language here] for two years in high school--don't remember a thing....."? Well, that doesn't happen much at my high school.

You know what? Even if charter schools do just the same or barely better than public schools, I support them still, because at least they're free from the bureaucratic teachers' unions that place their political interests above the students'. At least at charter schools teachers can be hired or fired on a merit basis rather than seniority, and don't have an entrenched that system that turns a blind eye to incompetence. Our children's' education should not be a government monopoly. In direct opposition to the liberal view of education: throwing more money at the problem does nothing. In fact, "that and a nickel will get you a hot cup of jack squat!"

UPDATE: NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg supports an increase in the city's education budget, to the tune of $21 billion. Wow.....