John Stossel and ABC Attacked For Report On Public Schools.

John Stossel is a great American. His "Stupid in America" report on ABC's 20/20 last Friday night was truly amazing. Not only did he clearly show just how bad America's government schools really are, but he cited the principal reason that I have been writing about for over 2 years now: Government schools are a government monopoly controlled by unions. There is no competition.

Now Stossel and ABC are getting a good bit of hate mail. No surprise there. The National Education Association (NEA) is warning its members that John Stossel has "a documented history of blatant antagonism toward public [government] schools." Well, I don’t know if Stossel has a documented history of blatant antagonism toward government ran public schools or not, but I sure do. Stossel has written a response to the hate mail, and to the NEA. Here's your link. It's a good read ... especially for those of you who think public schools need more money to solve their problems.

Giving more money is not the solution to the public school system. We have been giving more money to public schools for years and the situation has continued to get worse not better. If you divide the U.S. Department of Education's figure for total spending on K-12 education by the department's count of K-12 students, it works out to about $10,000 per student. America spends more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on the international tests. But the bureaucrats still blame school failure on lack of funds, and demand more money.

Giving more money to the public school system to improve is like giving more money to the drunken homeless man on the street to improve. The homeless man just spends more money on booze just like the public school system wastes more money on things that doesn’t improve education.

Now I have not been trying to antagonize anyone with my views on government ran schools. That is not my goal. I share my views on the poor quality of government ran education because I believe them to be true and want the situation to change.

Right now there is no group in the United States that presents a greater danger to the future of our country than the NEA and other teacher's unions. Not far behind would be the parents in this country who just don't realize, or just do not care what a hideous and horrible job these government schools are doing.

The only thing that will improve public education is competition. Let parents choose what schools they want their child to go too. The system works in countries that out scores us. It works for parochial and private schools that spend about half the money per student and have much higher test scores than public schools. Why does it work??? Because the school system becomes a business and there is a competition for students. The more students you can attract to your school the more money you receive. The students and parents become share holders and the school system has to provide them with a satisfactory product or loose them to a competing school that is doing a better job.