Teachers Attack The Wrong People

If youʼve been following the news lately “Teachers” across the country are out in the street demonstrating against further cuts in education. Weʼre hearing complaints that we arenʼt “fully” funding Education, whatever that means.

We used to have Elementary schools and High Schools until they came up with the idea of a middle school. What did that accomplish? New schools were built, at significant cost increases. More teachers were hired adding even more costs. And the quality of our childrenʼs education deteriorated.

Then we were told that the problem was that class sizes were too large and teachers couldnʼt provide each student with the personal attention needed to improve their overall education. The results, more teachers were hired, at substantial costs and the quality of our childrenʼs education got worse. Remember when a teacher controlled, fully educated and demanded the respect of classes of 35 to 40 children who actually learned something.

Compare that with the recent Department of Justice Announcement that 145,100 Public-School teachers were attacked by students and 276,700 were threatened with injury during 2010. In my day that would be unheard of. When we took discipline out of the classroom we created a real Blackboard Jungle.

In spite of these funding increases, the clamor for even more money to “fully fund” our childrenʼs education continued. Federal, State and Local Governments poured billions of dollars into elementary and high schools.

The amount spent per pupil on education in the country has increased over 30% while student achievement has not improved and some claim even deteriorated.

Where did the money go? Consider the Education Bureaucracy. We have a Federal Dept . of Education, State Deptʼs of Education, County Deptʼs of Education and in some cases even City Deptʼs of Education all staffed with Union members.

Remember when the education of our children was a LOCAL matter run by Local school Boards? Now we have a bloated bureaucracy, increased red tape, paperwork and administrative costs and a multitude of unfunded mandates. Currently, there are over 4,000 employees at the federal Department of Education making an average annual salary of over $100.000. Consider the salaries of those employed at the State, County, City and Local Deptʼs of education and you can see where all the money went! It sure didnʼt get to the class room.

We never had a Federal Depʼt of Education until the 1960ʼs and donʼt need one now.

If I were a teacher Iʼd be outraged too, but my outrage would be directed at the Unions and Bureaucrats that work hand in hand to siphon dollars from the classroom..