Jonah Goldberg on Education

Jonah Goldberg hits the nail right on the head.

I have always agreed with the proposition that the government should provide funding for the schools, but not the schools themselves.

Listen, most of the money that goes to public schools gets spent on worthless administrators and do nothing teachers. What needs to be done is provide a certain amount of money for each student and let private entities run the schools. The government should also allow them to have the right to hire and fire teachers at will.

Education is a commodity like everything else. Teaching is not a higher calling it is just another job among many. We need to demystify the public schools and its employees in order to have realistic reform. It is time to decide between what is good for the education establishment and what is good for the kids. They are not the same things.

Real education reform probably will not happen because in many places the school districts have become nothing more than job providers. Where I grew up the schools were the biggest employers in the town. It was a common thing for people to leave after graduation, go to one of the big cities, and if they failed, end up back at home working at one of the schools.