Well, we’ve made the mistake. When are we going to start learning.

Oh. Maybe you are wondering to which mistake am I referring. Well, let’s look at it objectively. In the fifties and sixties, we had some of the best schools in the world. California had the best schools in the schools country.

Odd. Since then, we have increased spending on those schools, not just two fold but ten fold. One would think the quality of the teaching would have skyrocketed. It did… in the negative direction. The teaching has gotten so bad so fast that one would think it intentional. Well, maybe it was intentional. I have often wondered and I am sure I’m not alone.

Shall we take a short walk down memory lane, please. The current Department of Education was signed into law in 1979 by Jimmy Carter (You remember, he was the president who did very little other than give away the Panama Canal. Now that took some brains.) Since that time, the quality of our education has taken a nose dive. Do you suppose that forming the Department of Education just might have been the beginning of mistakes.

Let’s look at two very important objective considerations. The current budget of the department is 68 billion dollars. (seems as if we could build a lot of schools with that.) If distributed equally, that is over a billion dollars for each state. Also it has 4900 employees. I wonder just how many of them actually knows how to teach. I wonder how many ever did teach. It makes me wonder if they really know where to most effectively spend that 68 billion dollars.

When I started this post, I did feel I should Google the department. At that point, I only had a vague idea on what I would be writing. Right there on the computer screen was a photo of a big building. (I really mean it is big.) Do they have to have a big building? Does it serve any purpose. I am sure that building must require maintenance, utilities and upkeep. It makes me wonder if those going green folks realize the waste. Actually, when you come right down to it, the US government likely generates a lot of carbon dioxide in buildings like that. You ever take a tour of DC. There is a big building for this and a big building for that. There are many of them and I suspect there are more planned. Shut that city down for a month and we could run Southaven on the savings all year and then some. My electric car would likely go around the world… forget that. I don’t think I could make that calculation.

At any rate, my best guess, that big department likely takes it’s orders from the National Education Association, a union. I don’t think that the union has the interest of our kids at heart. Like most unions, their biggest interest is the union…gaining and maintaining money and power. If the kids get educated, it is totally by accident and the local education system.

The department controls local schools in three ways. They collect statistics. The distribute money, but only to those who meet the standards of the department. It makes little difference of those standards are good or bad. Finally, they make sure that there is no segregation in the schools. Surely, all this can be done locally. Why do we need a big brother in DC to tell the local schools and teachers what to do.

Well, how is the centralized system working out for us? Well, they collect the stats. They, themselves ought to be able to tell us. I don’t have to guess. You don’t have to guess. Since their formation… by their own stats, they have failed miserably. If we are ever going to learn from our mistake, I’d say the best thing to do is do away with the Department of Education and let the homeless move into that big building. It would solve 2 problems. The schools would start improving and homeless would have somewhere to stay. Actually, a lot of homeless people could stay there.

Okay. It won’t solve everything and I know it. It will help. The big mistake is this, more money does not always equal better teaching. If you want better teaching, you need better teachers, better curriculum, and less overhead. As I said, those folks in the department hierarchy don’t teach. They are what I call, “Hangers on.” At the state level, there are thousands who work for the school system who don’t teach or for that matter directly support the teachers.

By the way, the state of California has its own education quagmire. They have 2740 employees and a budget of over 89 billion dollars. I wonder just how many of them know how to teach. Just how many of them know where the money will do the most good. My guess is they get many of their orders from the N.E.A. too.

I think the big part of the mistake is centralizing the education system. Those folks up there in those really big buildings have no idea of what is going on in the classrooms. I think most experienced good teachers will agree with me. On the other hand, the mediocre teachers will prefer the protection provided by the union.