Competition scares teachers and unions
By Ari Kaufman (10/30/06)
In a 2006 op-ed, Alan Bonsteel, the president of California Parents for Educational Choice, compared the opposition of vouchers to segregation. He wrote: "In 1963, it was George Wallace of Alabama who stood in the schoolhouse door to block racial integration. Today, it is educrats and teachers union bosses . . . who block the escape of disadvantaged minorities to a better life."
As we have seen, one solution to this impasse is public charter schools, but another is school vouchers. This is because a choice in schooling will lead to healthy competition among children, schools and teachers, and competition leads directly to efficiency.
Much of the continued resistance to changes in education, from the re-evaluation of tenure to merit pay and school choice initiatives, centers on teachers' fear of competition. That has long been the scariest word in education. This is unfortunate because without competition excellence is impossible. Just ask yourself how much more diligently you'd begin to work if the fellow in the next cubicle were granted a large pay raise based upon stellar performance of which you were equally capable.
Students know this too. Think about SAT scores and the college admissions process. Like athletes and working adults, when students seek out competition, they in turn raise their performance, especially when rewards are in sight. Can the same be said of school districts, teachers and the unions that protect (and brainwash) them?
Educational vouchers would be the most efficient way to instill competitiveness in our dismal public education system. Not surprisingly then, past instances have shown the majority of low-income parents want the choice to send their kids to "better," more rigid schools. All one has to do is look to Indianapolis charter schools. However, public schools and their vast support networks remain steadfast, attempting to obfuscate the logic from society, refusing to let these people believe that their children are better off in such environments.
School districts and teachers are fond of arguing that more and more money is imperative for successful students. And of course, money can be used well; that's not the point. The proof is in the fact that "no money" can be used even better.
As ABC's John Stossel explained in his primetime show "Stupid in America," a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development'' found that no fewer than 20 countries that spend less money that the United States have higher academic levels. The report contained a line that all school officials should be forced to memorize: "Spending alone is not sufficient to achieve high levels of outcomes."
After teaching and substituting in numerous urban schools in Los Angeles, we do not have any hesitation in expressing much-needed support for public school reform by way of charter schools and school vouchers, often deemed "school choice." The teachers' unions -- both nationally and locally -- along with the bulk of classroom teachers, shudder to admit to this necessary change.
However, much as with many reforms recently initiated (and unfortunately shot down), if schoolteachers truly want the best for those with the highest need, they too would come to grips with modern-day realities.
Current public education, with the aid of a conglomeration of tendentious forces, has robbed children of the quality instruction that even we received a little more than a decade ago. With essentially no books on educational reform in stores and ballot measures from well-meaning politicians being defeated each year, the unions and other specious organizations are winning in their battle to retain subpar teachers and useless policies at the expense of dedicated educators and, more important, eager young minds.
By Ari Kaufman and Aaron Hanscom
Former teachers Ari Kaufman and Aaron Hanscom are writers living in Indianapolis and Los Angeles, respectively. They are also co-authors of an upcoming book on educational reform.
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