This is a great essay on the destruction of American education. I highly recommend that all parents read this. The link to the full article is below.

Destruction of American Education

by

The Concerned Businessman's Association of America

In recent years there seems to be a consensus that the American System of Education is in decline. At issue are decreases in academic achievements, as well as poorly maintained schools and facilities and limited resources and materials which make the job of education difficult. Overcrowded classrooms, school buildings in disrepair, inadequate supplies and equipment, and a shortage of text books all make for ineffective education.

Educators most commonly find the lack of available funding to be the greatest hindrance to providing a proper education. Parents who are able opt to pay their own children's private education as opposed to supporting tax increases for "failing" educational systems. This compounds the problem for schools in the public education system which allocates financial resources based on school enrollment.

Considering the consequences of a poorly or uneducated generation of young people ten or twenty years down the road, reform is imperative and perhaps late in coming. "Education Reform" is now the current topic and dominated President Clinton's State of the Union address this year. But such a reform movement has been active in this country, initiated at a federal level, for almost a decade. Education reform, one might assume, should address and improve instruction in academic learning and emphasize the basics of education as well as provide materials and resources to do so. This is not the case.

The emphasis of the current federal education reform program is away from improving academic scores and achievement and its priorities are "attitudinal" and social issues. While test scores are plummeting (the US is 47th place in the world in literacy!) the focus of "education" has moved to "the right attitudes and values".

First dubbed "America 2000" and now called "Goals 2000", The Educate America Act was originally initiated in 1989 at a Governor's conference headed by then Governor Bill Clinton, and was officially adopted at a federal level in 1994. This restructuring had been slowed for a time due to lack of funding. With reinterpretations of laws relating to certain federal funds the restructuring is now moving full speed ahead. School districts, much in need of funding, are being given federal dollars to carry out these goals. As a result, the public education system is being completely undermined and restructured into public health care. Medical and Mental Health funding is being provided to schools by reinterpreting qualifications for Medicaid benefits.

Destruction of American Education


Concerned Businessman's Association of America