Education Reform

Here are my ideas on education reform:

1) Abolish the Dept. of Education. This department was created by Jimmy Carter to appease the Teachers Union. Control should go back to the states and local government.

2) School vouchers for schools and home schooling. Let lower income families have a choice to where to send their kids for school. After all Bill Clinton and Jessie Jackson sent their kids to private schools, why not everyone else? The Teachers Union will lobby against this saying it will hurt public schools. I say the issue is not about what schools will survive or not, the issue is about if kids are learning the necessary knowledge for life or not. That is what the focus should be on.

3) Eliminate the three month vacation. Summer Vacation and holidays can still be left intact. The three month vacation was started when America was in the agricultural age and farmers needed the kids to help them on the farm. Since most farmers use machinery now for most labor the three month vacation is not needed anymore. Also, other civilized nations don't have three month vacations. I know this idea sounds radical to students and teachers. But a business does not give all it's employees three months off. If it did it would not survive in the market place very long. Even a month off for all it's employees would hurt the business. Only Congress can get away with taking a month off. The country can do fine without them that long. Here is one other thing to consider: Eliminating the three month vacation adjusts students if and when they work in the private sector. They would be already accustomed to not having three months off. The Teachers Union would find a reason to lobby against this idea too.

4) I think sixth graders should be taught the basics of supply and demand. Nothing too complex just the basic principles. The US is a capitalistic economy. Students should understand what makes the country run. Just like students are taught about the Constitution they should be taught basics of capitalism. Of course, socialistic teachers are going to object to this idea. Actually, it would not even hurt if adults learned something about economics.