While every state and every school district is different, I think my own state of Pennsylvania may be representative of the status quo, at least among the northern states. We spend upwards of $20k per year on every student, K-12, which is more than three times what was spent in 1960, even adjusted for inflation.
"Test scores" (however that is defined) have not improved; in fact, they have deteriorated by some measures. More kids go from 12th grade in public schools to college, but colleges have gone from a training ground for the elite to a dumping ground for anyone who wants to delay adulthood for a couple years and can scrounge up the money to do it. (Our astronomical student debt proves that point).
The culture has not helped educational outcomes. In fact, it fosters an attitude that is not conducive to hard work, studying, seeking out knowledge, or assuming responsibility for one's own success or the lack of it. In our schools, failure is excused and mediocrity is hailed as outstanding. Whole classes of students graduate with GPA's of 3-point-something, which means without any doubt that the grading system is phony - implemented to make the students feel good and the teachers feel like they have accomplished something.
Schools have gone from places where kids were taught "the Three R's" to institutions that provide sex education, political indoctrination, substance abuse counseling, breakfast and lunch, babysitting services, and extracurricular activities that are so extensive that they take the primary focus totally away from education for many of the "students."
Teacher compensation has gone from subsistence level (in the 60's) to be better than 90% of other degreed "professionals" in the Real World, when you consider salary, benefits, vacation, and early retirement. It has gone from a "vocation" involving sacrifice for the betterment of society, to a "dream job" that attracts thousands more applications every year than the system can even process (in the better school districts).
And yet, Democrat politicians continue to hammer at the theme that public education is not adequately funded, and that's why the "results" are do disappointing. Here in Pennsylvania, our Governor has staked his entire Governorship on a demand that the Republican legislature hit our natural gas industry with a heavy new tax, and give that money to the education establishment. We have gone 4 months without a state budget as a result of his drawing this line in the sand.
Having worked for 8 years in the public sector and since 1975 in the private sector, I have seen two diametrically opposed approaches to a perceived shortage of funding. In the private sector, Management eliminates headcount, cuts expenses, and demands that everyone remaining "do more with less." Six months later, we wonder what the gone people did for a living, because we've gotten along without them. In the Public Sector, the only conceivable reaction to a perceived shortage of funding (which is the state of existence basically ALL THE TIME), is a demand for more funding.
Is public education underfunded, or is it just a giant hole in the budget that absorbs everything thrown into it, and keeps demanding more? It should be obvious what I think.
"Test scores" (however that is defined) have not improved; in fact, they have deteriorated by some measures. More kids go from 12th grade in public schools to college, but colleges have gone from a training ground for the elite to a dumping ground for anyone who wants to delay adulthood for a couple years and can scrounge up the money to do it. (Our astronomical student debt proves that point).
The culture has not helped educational outcomes. In fact, it fosters an attitude that is not conducive to hard work, studying, seeking out knowledge, or assuming responsibility for one's own success or the lack of it. In our schools, failure is excused and mediocrity is hailed as outstanding. Whole classes of students graduate with GPA's of 3-point-something, which means without any doubt that the grading system is phony - implemented to make the students feel good and the teachers feel like they have accomplished something.
Schools have gone from places where kids were taught "the Three R's" to institutions that provide sex education, political indoctrination, substance abuse counseling, breakfast and lunch, babysitting services, and extracurricular activities that are so extensive that they take the primary focus totally away from education for many of the "students."
Teacher compensation has gone from subsistence level (in the 60's) to be better than 90% of other degreed "professionals" in the Real World, when you consider salary, benefits, vacation, and early retirement. It has gone from a "vocation" involving sacrifice for the betterment of society, to a "dream job" that attracts thousands more applications every year than the system can even process (in the better school districts).
And yet, Democrat politicians continue to hammer at the theme that public education is not adequately funded, and that's why the "results" are do disappointing. Here in Pennsylvania, our Governor has staked his entire Governorship on a demand that the Republican legislature hit our natural gas industry with a heavy new tax, and give that money to the education establishment. We have gone 4 months without a state budget as a result of his drawing this line in the sand.
Having worked for 8 years in the public sector and since 1975 in the private sector, I have seen two diametrically opposed approaches to a perceived shortage of funding. In the private sector, Management eliminates headcount, cuts expenses, and demands that everyone remaining "do more with less." Six months later, we wonder what the gone people did for a living, because we've gotten along without them. In the Public Sector, the only conceivable reaction to a perceived shortage of funding (which is the state of existence basically ALL THE TIME), is a demand for more funding.
Is public education underfunded, or is it just a giant hole in the budget that absorbs everything thrown into it, and keeps demanding more? It should be obvious what I think.
