Educational Monopoly

Andrew J. Coulson has written an article entitled, "Time to End The Monopoly in Education." His article is written from an economic perspective. He writes, "Far from being an engine of wealth creation, the education system is bleeding the economy to death. The U.S. spends 2.3 times as much per pupil in real, inflation-adjusted dollars as it spent in 1970, but the return on this ballooning investment has been less than nothing."

If you research public education, you will find no correlation between increased spending and increased achievement. As a matter of fact, Coulson states that student achievement at the end of high school has been flat for nearly 40 years. He writes, "Student achievement at the end of high school has been flat for nearly 40 years, according to a recent study by the Education Department, while the graduation rate fell over the same period, according to a report by James Heckman, a Nobel laureate economist." How can that be in a country such as ours?

Coulson is not done; there is more as he writes, "If the efficiency of U.S. public schooling had merely remained at its 1970 level, the country would enjoy the equivalent of an annual $300 billion tax cut. The productivity collapse in education is more than staggering; it's unparalleled. Can you name any other service or product that has gotten worse and less affordable over the past two generations? The reason you can't is that no other field is organized as a state-run monopoly."

Now, I would like to refer back to my history lessons from middle school on monopolies. I was taught that monopolies were bad for our country and bad for our people. Monopolies gave one company an unfair advantage, drove up prices and drove other companies out of business which produced unemployed workers. But, here is the most important lesson I learned in Monroe School in Monroe, Massachusetts about monopolies... monopolies eliminate competition and without competition, mediocrity will soon replace excellence. Could that be on of the problems public-sector education faces? I believe this idea could be worth exploring. To read the rest of this fine article, click HERE. Blessings!

A Unexpected Blessing

Since my arrival in Alabama, I have been on a mission. My mission was to provide my children with the experience of snow. I was determined to drive as far as necessary until I found snow. Who knew I wouldn't even need a vehicle; I could walk right out my front door and find plenty of the white stuff. This year we were blessed to wake up to a white Christmas; my first white Christmas in over twenty years. I thought that was as good as it gets, but I was wrong again. This week we received another unexpected blessing... more snow.

This is not just any snow but real snow. No light dusting here. No, this snow is real, honest-to-goodness authentic snow... all eight inches of it, and all of it is still on the ground. This morning the whole family frolicked in and out of the snow. We found a hill and, with many others, slide down it for hours. We threw snowballs, built snowmen and walked around in amazement, enjoying this extra special blessing. I was reminded of my own childhood once again.

Having grown up in the western part of Massachusetts, I spent every winter sliding, skiing and playing in the cold New England winter. After going twenty years without any snow, I had forgotten how much fun it could be and how much fun I had as a child in it. As a child, I slid down Monroe Hill Road and went on river walks with my friends. I used to jump off my second story porch with no fear. I would ski in John Passardi's field and go snowmobiling on that same field. I remember after each big storm Kenny would come around with the bucket loader and clean our driveways out... leaving a nice big pile of snow with which to build forts and tunnels. I remember the sight of big snow flakes falling in a night time sky against the street light out my kitchen window. I remember counting the number of times the plow went up and down the road at night to determine if we had school in the morning. If the number was greater than six there would be no school in the morning. I was right more than I was wrong on that one. As I watched my kids slide this morning, all those memories and more came flying back into to my mind.

When your childhood is full of vivid memories like mine I think it is safe to say it was a pretty good one, and mine was. It now serves as motivation for me to give my children their own memories now with the hope that each will be worthy of their recall later. Memories that will be full of color and vivid like mine still are. Memories of eight inches of snow and children and adults sliding in snow that seems more white than I remember. Snow that was not just a dusting but deep, thick, bright white Alabama snow, eight inches deep. As I went outside for a second time, I thought about today and determined that it was a day chuck full those ingredients that produce good solid memories. Hope your day was just as blessed!