Thank God for John Stossel...

Ok, so sometimes the guy drives me nuts, but I am glad that I recorded the 20/20 the other night when he talked about the education system in the US. It really opened my eyes to see how my tax dollars are being spent, how hard it really is to get rid of poor teachers, and how many nations have superior test scores that are superior to ours.

Before I get too far into how this opened my eyes, let me preface this by saying that I also believe that much of a kids education is the responsibility of the parents. I think that it's vital for the parents to stay very involved. Additionally, I have always been thought, and still believe, that a teacher is one of the most important jobs there is and should require appropriate salaries.

However, after seeing this episode of 20/20, I am starting to feel like our education system is broken. Did you realize that we are paying poor teachers not to teach? By poor teachers, I am referring to a lot of teachers that includes a teacher that admitted that he sent sexual laced emails to a person that he knew to be one of his students. Yeah, that teacher, even though he admitted that he sent the messages, is still employed!? He's not reaching, but he is still getting a salary, from tax payers money!

Am I the only one that finds that grossly outrageous? There are rooms full of teachers that have been deemed unsuitable to be a teacher, but are still employed because of the many, many, many hoops that the school district needs to jump through to fire a teacher. Since they can't teach, they just sit around in a room all day long, playing cards, watching TV, etc.

HELLO?!?!?! Is anyone awake in Washington?!

The US is ranked 25th in the world with regard to 2003 standard international test results. 25th?! Do you think that No Child Left Behind has made that number better? Not according to the teachers on the show, and not according to many teachers in my area...which, granted, is Indiana, but still.

If I remember correctly, the national average spent on education per kid per year is in the $10,000 range. Some private schools that ranked better than nearby public schools spend $3000 per kid per year, and their teachers are paid more. Clearly there's a disconnect somewhere. Perhaps it is that public school systems are forced to keep poor performing teachers for long periods of time while spending thousands of dollars trying to get rid of them.

One thing that helps other nations is that kids aren't forced to going to school in their district that is closest in proximity to their home. The money spent on a child's education in other nations is specifically linked to them, regardless of where they go to school. So let's say that the nation's government specifies that there are enough funds to spend $5000 per student. That $5000 is specifically tied to that kid regardless of where they go to school. So schools are competiting to have each kid choose their school, because they want that $5000. When there is competition, there are options; when there are options, the consumer has power.

In our education system, there is no competition...at least throughout most of the US...kids go to the school that is closest to their residence regardless of how good or bad the school is. With no competition, the consumer has no power. In nearly all other facets of our life, we demand options(thus giving us the power), in education, we are satisified with little options(thus giving us no power).

I think that a voucher system that some scattered school systems use is close to what is described above, but I don't think that many school districts are allowed to use them. Just imagine, if you live in a town that has three or more elementary schools, what you could do if your kid had $10,000 that was for them specifically to use. Would you send them to the closest school, or the school that may be across town but has the best teachers and the most options?

Folks, if you have kids or you want kids, I strongly urge you to get involved early, and if you don't like what you see, demand better from your congressmen and congresswomen, representatives and your state. We can change it if we really want to, but we have to demand the change ourselves...make our representatives accountable.