Los Angeles = Dunceville


According to a news report in the Daily News, 53% of workers ages 16 and older are deemed "functionally illiterate." This has happened despite the hundreds of millions of dollars poured into LA public schools to improve literacy.

However you spin it, there is no evading the all too palpable fact that this disaster is the responsibility of the educational establishment and the teachers unions, both of which have steadfastly opposed meaningful reforms. What they want is more money. We don't spend enough money. Buildings are falling apart; the school lunch program has been hosed, so students without food; teachers aren't paid enough; etc. etc. What we have here is simply a case of bald-faced extortion. No amount of money will ever improve literacy rates in LA. The problem is not money, but how the money is used, or rather misused. The educational establishment has been foisting on the public what amounts to pedagogical snake oil. Instead of teaching the fundamentals, they go for these trendy theories devised by social utopians who want to use the educational system to transform human nature. Hence the scandal of the whole-language hokum; the disgrace of teaching Spanish, instead English, to latino immigrants; and the irresponsible refusal to bring discipline back in the classes.

How about this as a reform: fire all the administrators, slash the budget, and bring back, not the three R's, but the four R's: reading, writing, arithmetic, and the rattan! You'll see a drastic improvement in literacy in no time.

Posted: Thu - September 9, 2004 at 05:47 PM          

©