Monday, May 24, 2010

What He Said

Denninger:

The only measure for education that I can justify passing is one that outlaws all union representation for educators and supplies every parent with a voucher for the per-pupil state and federal spending for said child that can be cashed at an educational institution of the parent's choosing or, if they should so choose, pocketed if they homeschool and their child passes the standardized testing that the school system determines as "appropriate."

(Incidentally, that "must pass to get the voucher" requirement should apply to the formal schools too. If the kid can't pass the tests the school can't cash the voucher. Put some economic teeth into the success or failure of the educational process and I bet we get more instruction and fewer Wiis.)

2 comments:

IlĂ­on said...

"Separation of church and state" worked out well; we should work on "separation of school and state" next.

Stephen J. said...

Wait -- you have to pass your tests to cash the voucher that will pay for you to get into the school which will teach you how to pass the tests in the first place?

Not to mention that even if you flip this around so you have to pass one year to get the funding for the next year, what about kids who fail a year for reasons genuinely not in their control? (Family tragedy, educator conflict, poor judgement by officials, etc.) If one failure ruins your ability to ever get *any* farther, you are not going to improve overall national education in practice.