Spending:
Competition Is Needed

The New York Times

The Coming Activist Age

David Brooks

July 18, 2008

Full article David Brooks NYT

Excerpts:

We’re entering an era of epic legislation. There are at least five large problems that will compel the federal government to act in gigantic ways over the next few years.Skip to next paragraph

First, there is the erosion of the social contract. Private sector firms are less likely to provide health benefits, producing a desperate need for health care reform. Second, there is the energy shortage. Rising Asian demand strains worldwide supply, threatening industry and consumers, and producing calls for a bold energy initiative. Third, there is the stagnation in human capital. During the 20th century, Americans were better educated than the citizens of any other power. Since 1970, that lead has been forfeited, producing inequality and wage stagnation. To compete, the U.S. will require a series of human capital initiatives.

Fourth, there’s financial market reform. In an intricately connected world, even Republican administrations cannot allow big institutions to fail. If government is going to guarantee against failure, then it is inevitably going to get more involved in regulating how businesses are run. Fifth, there’s infrastructure reform. The U.S. transportation system is in shambles and will require major new projects

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Per pupil public school spending, in the U.S. has more than doubled in the last thirty years. Achievement has remained flat.

Many studies have shown that kids in private schools outperform kids in public schools.

The National School Boards Association makes claims that when you “control for” a long list of variables, too many to mention here, public schools do better.

Interesting that the NSBA would make such a claim, when for 3 decades we have been watching dropout rates rise, just as we hear employers continuously comment of youngsters coming to them without basic skills.

We also know that Reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have changed relatively little over that same period, despite the enormous increases in costs to taxpayers, at the federal, state, and local levels.

Last year, for example, some 68 percent of 4th graders still could not read at a proficient level.

In a recent article by John Stossel, he cited a study by the Organization Of Economic Development OECD, which noted that ." The United States spends $83,910 per student from ages 6 to 15.

The Slovak Republic, which outperforms the United States in this study, spends $17,612 per student, a ratio of about 5 to 1, to get less.

That same study noted that 20 countries that spend less than the United States, achieved higher scores.

Public School officials are spinning all over the place trying to defend the sorry state of public school education.

Though the public knows what is going on, the monopoly thrives.

Competition has proven itself to be the answer, but its opponents are waging a fierce battle to protect their own interests.

Spending To Public school Monopoly