An old Chinese proverb goes something like this: “Give me a fish and I will eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I will eat for a lifetime.” I wonder why more people have not adopted this type of thinking when looking at the ways to solve America’s problems. The problems I speak of are numerous: crime, poverty, homelessness, etc. The solution to these problems must be so obvious that everyone has missed it: education. A successfully educated child in America is far more likely to succeed. This may all seem self-evident. I believe the best way to achieve better education for ALL American citizens is free-market capitalism in the form of school choice and performance-based pay for teachers.
As many people know, a student is restricted to a certain public school based on the area of that student’s residence. The student does have the theoretical option to attend a private or parochial school at his or her own expense. However, many of the most impoverished among us simply don’t have enough family income to attend such a school. The income gap widens each year not because of some evil corporate scheme, but because the students who need education the most are not getting it. They slip into drugs, violence, sex and theft. In order to provide equal opportunity to all American students in the form of education, the poorest and neediest Americans need a means to attend the elite public or private schools. Eventually, it would be nice to simply give each taxpayer his or her money back and allow them to spend it on his or her own education. However, since this is impractical at the current time, the best option is to take the amount of money used for each student and allow them to choose a better school nearby.
The studnet’s money would then go to that school, and the government would be obligated to provide transportation for that student to the school of his or her choice. There are space concerns at each school that would need to be addressed before such an idea goes forward, but it is no coincidence that areas like Washington, D.C. have the strongest movements for school choice. Washington D.C. has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. Its education is far from the finest. The people there have noticed that competition is good for everyone. It makes teachers work harder and gives them a vested interest in seeing their students succeed. That doesn’t mean teachers don’t have good intentions, but something needs to provide the motivation for legislators and teachers alike to improve their schools. Public education in America is a miserable failure, and it should upset everyone that this abomination is taking place.
Along with school choice is the idea of pay based on performance. This is a novel concept in education, but our entire economy is built on performance-based pay. Great performance in business translates into promotions, raises, extra responsibilities and other tangible benefits. Virtually the only way to achieve a significant a pay raise in education is to teach for a long time. However, experience does not necessarily translate into effective teachers. There are always going to be excellent teachers with no experience and terrible teachers with lengthy careers as long as performance is not a consideration. Performance would be based on improvements on standardized tests by students. To alleviate the issue of unequal standards by district, each local school district should provide its own pay guidelines. How would such a program be funded? One option initially is private funding. Several private donors, often anonymously, have stepped forward to offer funding for these programs. If given the chance, many more donors would likely come forward.
Finally, I want to make the point that religious schools should not be excluded from school choice plans as long as all religions are given an opportunity to provide education and can meet educational standards already in place. Letting our citizens choose to spend their money at a Catholic school or an Islamic school does not constitute an endorsement of either faith and therefore should not ever conflict with the Establishment Clause.
I hope you will consider school choice an important issue for the future of the greatest civilization to ever exist on Earth. Our future as a leading nation is in jeopardy without it.
