Is public education LOST?

Is public education LOST?
U.S. Public education LOST?

Laid Down By Down Low

Rather than President Obama addressing school students across the nation, he might have accomplished more by focusing his attention on the educational poorness of schools in the nation's capital. The American Legislative Exchange Council recently released their 15th edition of "Report Card on American Education: A State-by-State Analysis." Academic achievement is impressive nowhere in the USA but in Washington, D.C., by any measure, it resembles criminal malfeasance. The numbers tell the sad story.

Just 14 percent of Washington's fourth-graders score at or above proficiency in the reading and math portions of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. Washington's national rank of 51 makes Washington's fourth-graders the nation's absolute worst. Eighth-graders trail even further behind the hapless mis-taught fourth-graders with only 12 percent scoring at or above proficiency in reading and 8 percent in math and again the worst performance in the entire USA. Not surprisingly, Washington student performance on college admissions tests have an average composite SAT score of 925 and ACT score of 19.1, compared to the national average respectively of 1017 and 21.1. In relation to national ranking, Washington's SAT and ACT rankings are as dismal as their fourth-and eighth-grade student rankings dead last at rank of 51.(5)

Shamelessly, the Washington,DC political and education establishment might arrempt to explain away these pitiful outcomes by arguing that because most students are black, the schools are underfunded and overcrowded. This is a bold-faced LIE. For the 2006-07 school year, expenditures per pupil averaged $13,848 compared to a national average of $9,389 which is roughly $4000 above most. Washington's per pupil expenditures was the third highest in the nation behind New Jersey with $14,998 and New York with $14,747. Washington's teacher-student ratio is 13.9 compared with the national average of 15.3 students per teacher, ranking 18th in the nation. Washington spends abundantly but what about teacher pay? Washington's teachers are the highest paid in the nation, having an average annual salary of $61,195 compared with the nation's average $46,593. Washington's students have a graduation rate of 61 percent compared to the national average of 70 percent. That, alone, suggests the that fraudulent high school diplomas are being passed out and "Johnny Can't Read" what is printed on his own diploma, in many cases.

Washington, D.C. has an Opportunity Scholarship Program, which allows qualified low-income families to claim a voucher up to $7,500 per student toward a private education wheresoever they choose. Obama's Democratic Congress, acting on the behalf of the teachers' unions, has terminated the Opportunity Scholarship Program forcing some 1,700 students currently enrolled "wheresoever" to return to D.C. public schools and the same lackluster education as the others.

The hard-nosed opponents of school choice are blatant hypocrites, because they desire, order up and are affluent enough to afford school choice for themselves but for others not so lucky are under-privileged and thus forced into probable under-achievement in public school. President and Mrs. Barack Obama enrolled Sasha and Whats-her-name in Washington's most prestigious Sidwell Friends School, gleefully handing over $28,000 annually for each. While Obama was the erstwhile senator from Illinois, the he and his beard enrolled the girls in the University of Chicago's Laboratory School which is a private school in Chicago at nearly $20,000 for per girl. We say per girl instead of per daughter because like Obama himself, their paternity is unproven. A Heritage Foundation survey discovered that 37 percent of the House of Representatives members and 45 percent of senators in the 110th Congress placed their children to private schools. Public school teachers often enroll their own children in nonpublic schools much more prevalently than the general population, sometimes four and five times more often than not.

Over 25 percent of public school teachers in Washington,DC and Baltimore send their children to private schools, a study reports.

Nationwide, public school teachers are almost twice as likely as other parents to choose private schools for their own offspring, the study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found. Greater than 1 in 5 public school teachers stated that their children attend private schools.(1)

Philadelphia,PA has 44 percent of the teachers who put their children in private schools; in Cincinnati, 41 percent; Chicago, 39 percent; Rochester, N.Y., 38 percent. The same trends showed up in the San Francisco-Oakland area, where 34 percent of public school teachers chose private schools for their children; 33 percent in New York City and New Jersey suburbs; and 29 percent in Milwaukee and New Orleans.(2)(3)

In Cincinnati,Ohio, roughly 41 percent of public school teachers send their children to nonpublic schools. In Los Angeles 24 percent send their children to nonpublic schools. The behavior of public school teachers suggests that they are well aware of inferior instruction and pay through "the nose" to avoid it for their own offspring. This is much akin to a restaurant treat offer but your date finds out that neither the chef nor the waiters eat there. That fact alone suggests the restaurant help have some inside information that you might find significant.

So one can readily ascertain that when politicians in power seek to overlook the inadequacy of the Washington, D.C. school system is disdainfully despicable. For a black president to do this might be seen as remorseless and deceitful betrayal.

(1)http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/sep/22/20040922-122847-5968r/

(2)http://www.heartland.org/policybot/resul…

(3)http://takeyourkidsoutofpublicschool.com…

(4)http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110221190508AAP37dU

(5)http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/culture/education/5644-obama-s-betrayal-of-education.html