How Much Money For Education?

Having taught in both the public and privant school systems I have a couple of observations. Money is not always the issue. We spend a lot of time with technology, like calculators that could launch a space shuttle, and forget to learn the basics. Lets remember that after high school and in some cases college, be no longer carry around a 5 pound calculator, so we are expected to master the day to day mathmatics without it. Unfortunately our kids are dependant on them so we basically have kids that can't do math on their own. We type everything on computers with spell check so we can't spell. Our textbooks change additions every year so we keep having to reinvest in books, without any real benefit in the new versions. Government standadization has made it difficult to use testing methods other than multiple choice, so we have kids who are good at picking the answer out of a list of options, but not in creating answers themselves. Now thing of the last time you went to the doctor and said, "hey doc I have either Hep B, HepC, AIDS or the Flu, which is it?" The doctor might be excited about this because all he/she would have to do is pick one and check the Palm Pilot to see how to treat it. Unfortunately that in not how the world works. I could give examples of why multiple choice makes us dumber, but it would be a book. On the other hand in the private schools you have a little more leeway, and there are two major motivators that make the schools thrive. #1. If the teacher is not reaching the students and teaching them the topic, they can be fires. #2 If the student is not doing the work and keeping up, they can be kicked out. I hate to say it, but if you are not allowed to fail you will not drive to succeed. All of this is independant of the money put into the system. Throwing money at the system is not the answer. There have been a number of test projects where a municipality gave a private institution the cash that they planned on spending on education and told them to educate the kid. Any excess cash at the end of the day was profit for the private company. What happened? Almost without fail the students are educated better for less money. There is actually a strong argument that the government should not be involved in education at all, but that is a discussion for another day.

There has never been a correlation between money spent and quality of education in K-12 public schools. Our schools are addicted to money, and often completely lacking in quality of education.

Hello 6precious102, Excellent questions!!! Our academic standards, ranking in academic competencies internationally, literacy and drop out rates have all undertaken undesired trend patterns concurrent to our per student annual financial contributions having consistently risen. At some point, we're going to have to face facts; throwing money at a failed system is not the answer! Below are a few snippets from analysis compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the US Dept. of Education Institute of Education Sciences. This snapshot proves conclusively that throwing more money at the problem has not resulted in the desired effect. So then, why do we continue to do the same thing, hoping for a different outcome? Einstein would be flabbergasted! "The average prose and document literacy scores of U.S. adults were not measurably different in 2003 from 1992, but the average quantitative literacy score increased 8 points between these years." http://www.ask.com/bar?q=the+state+of+the+us+educational+system&page=1&qsrc=0&zoom=American+%3CKW%3EEducational+System%3C%2FKW%3E%7CUnited+%3CKW%3EStates+Educational+System%3C%2FKW%3E%7CBasis+of+Current+%3CKW%3EEducational+System%3C%2FKW%3E&ab=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2006%2F11%2F20%2FAR2006112000943.html "The average score at age 13 was higher in 2004 than in 1971, but not measurably different from the average score in 1999. Between 1999 and 2004, average reading scores at age 17 showed no measurable changes. The average score for 17-year-olds in 2004 was similar to that in 1971." http://www.ask.com/bar?q=the+state+of+the+us+educational+system&page=1&qsrc=0&zoom=American+%3CKW%3EEducational+System%3C%2FKW%3E%7CUnited+%3CKW%3EStates+Educational+System%3C%2FKW%3E%7CBasis+of+Current+%3CKW%3EEducational+System%3C%2FKW%3E&ab=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2006%2F11%2F20%2FAR2006112000943.html "In 1998, 2000, and 2004, private school graduates were more likely than public school graduates to have completed advanced courses in science and mathematics. For example, in 2004, a greater percentage of private school graduates than public school graduates completed at least one advanced course in science (85 vs. 67 percent) and a calculus-level course (25 vs. 13 percent)." http://www.ask.com/bar?q=the+state+of+the+us+educational+system&page=1&qsrc=0&zoom=American+%3CKW%3EEducational+System%3C%2FKW%3E%7CUnited+%3CKW%3EStates+Educational+System%3C%2FKW%3E%7CBasis+of+Current+%3CKW%3EEducational+System%3C%2FKW%3E&ab=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2006%2F11%2F20%2FAR2006112000943.html To specifically answer your questions: 1. How much money? As I see it, it isn't a matter of how much. Parochial schools have long thrived on far fewer resources than the public system. I don't think that the key is to cut public funding, per se. Rather, vouchers are the answer, as I see it. Vouchers will bolster competition, which will provide the desired outcome. So, instead of raising or lowering the amount of funding to public schools, just give a dollar for dollar choice to the parents. Some failing schools will cease to exist, as they probably should. Though, in the remaining public institutions, we will surely see a turn-about in the public school system in record time! Once competition re-fuels the drive for excellence then the current funding levels should provide unmatched ranking for academic proficiency across the board. Then, we might reembrace ingenuity and iniative, which are the fuel of any industrialized economy. 2. Should public funding be increased. No, please see the answer to #1. 3. Will more money produce a higher quality education? As demonstrated above, the amount of money has had ZERO impact over the decades.

I think when it comes to education, there can never be enough money. Knowledge keeps increasing and there are always upgrades available. I think money for education should be increased, definitely..

I believe that an increase in funds should increase the quality of education in the public schools. Private institutions charge a premium dollar for tuition for what they claim is better education, so I think that would also apply to the public institutions. Higher funding should allow schools to obtain higher technology to help elevate the quality of education. Also, a higher salary would help retain better teachers. You get what you pay for and a good quality education does not come free. (nor cheaply).

Throwing money at the problem is not going to fix it. We spend more money per student than a lot of countries. Yet those countries that are spending less are getting higher test scores than us. Money for education needs to be spent wisely. A lot of it isn't and that is part of the problem. Also as a society we need to make education important. That means parents getting more involved in their childrens education. A teacher can only do so much. If at home the parents are not involved than it is not going to work. Want to know what our society thinks of education? Look at our teachers. How are they reguarded? How are they paid? In some countries it is considered more important to be teacher than a doctor or lawyer. Their teachers are held in high reguard and respected. Here, most teachers I know hold down a second job and spend most of time dealing with dicipline issues than teaching. Also when they talk to the parents they get the whole "my little angel is not the problem, you are hte problem" thing. Heaven forbid they actually hold their children accountable. I am not saying all parents are that way. But unforuantely a lot are.