Education should be Privatized

To organize this as best possible, I will first establish the advantages of the privatization of education and then move on to the query's raised on the proposition. Failure of public schools, and why they are a disgrace As the educational climate around the world continues to improve, the United States' continues to decline. Public school proficiency rates are disastrous, with numbers as low as 29% in science, 34% in math, and 33% in reading. (1) The Huffington Post reports that the US scores 500 out of 1000 on education, a failing grade, if you will. Dropout rates approach 20% today, a statistic far worse in poor areas (2). Standardized testing is equally horrible, as our international rank continues to plummet. (3) The reason for the train-wreck that is American education is the fact that it is funded by the Government. The ridiculous overspending in public schools, approximately 12,500 dollar a student a year (4), is due to the lack of personal loss and personal gain. The Government is spending others' money, and so has no incentive to spend said money prudently. A private school, on the other hand, has money to gain as well as to lose, and so will distribute their funds far more fruitfully. Government also lacks any competition in the education market, and has no reason to support previous standards. If there is no money to lose, then why bother? This lack of competition is the driving force behind America's pitiful schools, and serves as a problem easily solved by private industry. Another factor in the decline of education is the fact that public schools do not accommodate the specific needs of their students. If one does not understand a topic or teaching, they are simply left in the dust; little personalization of core curriculum or student-teacher relationship result in poor students. The Superiority of Private Schools From an educational standpoint, privates schools are far better than state-funded institutions. SAT scores average over 50 points higher on all topics, and ACT scores are similarly mismatched. (5) Graduation rates are 16% higher, and private school attendees are 26% more likely to attain a college degree. (6) Costs for private schools, even with the competition factor mostly destroyed, average 8000 a student, a third of the public cost of Government schools. Teachers also receive much more reasonable payouts. (7) With the superiority of private schools established, what are the good reasons for privatizing education? 1. Competition. With schools competing for customers, the price of private school would drop dramatically, while the actual service would improve greatly. At the moment, public schools have the monopoly on middle and lower class pupils, and so private schools have no reasons to pander to that group with lower prices. Eliminate the competition-vacuum, and the state of education, as well as cost, will drop. 2. Personalization. Currently, public schools average much larger classes than private (8), and so achieve less personal dialogue between teachers and students. Their curriculum also allows for much less flexibility on a student's specific problems and needs. Private school does do this, and would continue much further with competitors. 3. Better teachers. Up to 30% of science teachers in public school do not have a scientific degree. (9) The pay is less for public school teachers (10), and the GPA requirements are pitiful. (11) Additionally, the fact that the Government does not lose money with the failure of students, bad teachers are much more rarely fired. In a private institution, teacher pay is superior, a better GPA is always required, and teachers not doing their job will get fired, as they are losing money for their bosses. The Lower Classes A serious concern is raised with this country, but results in a very simple solution. While the Government should not pay for students from poor homes directly, as then schools could charge any amount, the Government should provide these people with money to go to a school of their choice, similar to other forms of welfare. While this is not a perfect solution, cutting some competition, ultimately the kids will get a better education for less money of their and of the Governments. Similar restrictions to welfare should be placed on this system, and the money given to families absolutely must be spent solely on education. Neutrality Another issue raised by the defenders of public education is that of bias. The concern is that private schools may not give fair, objective teaching. While this complaint cant be legitimate, public school is in no way superior on this point. Religious and political indoctrination in public institutions is an international plague (12), and the liberal bias of these schools is well-known. Laws could also be implanted to prevent this sort of abuse and indoctrination. I will begin with this. Best of luck to my opponent. (1)(4) . http://animalresearch.wisc.edu... (2)(5)(6). http://sitemaker.umich.edu... (3) . http://askville.amazon.com... (7) . http://www1.salary.com... (8)(10) . http://nces.ed.gov... (9) . http://www.usnews.com... (11) . http://education-portal.com... (12) . http://endoftheamericandream.com...