nationalize education

Pro says there are four problems addressed by nationalization, but the only problems he addresses are union dominance and national standards. 1. Union Dominance Making schools uniform may them all be bad or all mediocre. The problem with unions would be made worse. The problem derives from politicians being bought off by the unions. the unions make large donations to politicians, who respond by providing lavish benefits at public expense. This mechanism works magnificently on a national basis. The most frequent visitor to the White House is Service Employees Union President Andrew Stern http://blogs.wsj.com..., who visited 22 times in seven months. vice President Biden frequently acknowledges the Administration debt to unions, saying ""There is an old joke, but it's real where I come from. You go home with the ones who brung you to the dance, ... You guys and women have been the backbone of my support as a United States senator and my whole career." Congress is responsible for the schools in Washington, D.C. "Washington, D.C., is governed by a mayor and a 13-member city council. However, the United States Congress has supervising authority over the city and may overturn local laws." http://en.wikipedia.org.... Congressional supervision has not thwarted union power nor improved the schools. Referring to an academically successful voucher program, "The amount of money spent on each scholarship child was $7,500 as compared to $17,000 for students in Washington, D.C. public schools. It was a savings of almost $10,000 per pupil. This program has not been refunded. ...The National Education Association (NEA) does not like experimenting to create a more effective and efficient educational system. They believe that the NEA has an inherent right to control the financing and administration of the funds for government schools for the union's self-interest." http://www2.hernandotoday.com... 2. National Standards Establishing national standards does not require nationalization of the schools. We have a uniform national test for college admissions, the Scholastic Aptitude Test prepared and administered by the Educational Testing Service, a private corporation. http://www.ets.org... They also make tests for grad school admissions and English as a foreign language as well. ETS could readily prepare and administer tests of primary school achievement. There are also privately developed tests that measure academic performance internationally. http://www.nottingham.ac.uk... There are limitations to using stand alone tests to assess individuals, but they work well for measuring overall academic performance. The reason we do not have uniform measures of academic performance in the United States is that neither unions nor politicians want them. Tests show deficiencies, and those responsible for deficiencies do not want them highlighted. Nationalizing schools would not change that. what we would see are arguments that it is not fair to just compare A with B. All sorts of "adjustments" would be mandated to make sure that comparisons are "fair." It would also make them useless. The only reason we do not have uniform rigorous testing is that we don't want it, and the resolution doesn't change that. 3. Advantages of Local Control Local school boards best equipped to address local problems. In my hometown, they are deciding whether to close the grade school and bus students to a distant school. Keeping the school open costs more, but parents don't want students time on buses nor away from the community. Abolishing the school would lower taxes, but housing values would drop significantly. A nationalized school system could not be expected to resolve the problem appropriately. Alaska has many remote communities that have needs for state-supervised home schooling and remote telecasting. Hawaii has concerns with restoring the Hawaiian language, and with educating about many Hawaiian traditions. Other communities have Spanish or Vietnamese bilingual education. Some cities have urban cores, other places rural farming. Some schools have problems with gangs, others do not. Uniform education may work well in Ireland or Hong Kong, but the US is diverse and requires local variations. Local schools are responsible for most of the innovation in education. http://www.nottingham.ac.uk... Sometimes they make mistakes, but they also score successes. The success of vouchers is demonstrated. We get data on different educational approaches. National bureaucracies do not tolerate experimentation. They strive for uniformity, not excellence. When innovation is killed, there is nothing to compare to what the bureaucracy imposes. Most importantly, the quality of education depends upon the involvement of parents. "The news is good for schools where parent involvement is high, and the benefits for children are encouraging. When parents are involved in children's schools and education, children have higher grades and standardized test scores, improved behavior at home and school, and better social skills and adaptation to school." http://childparenting.about.com... Nothing could discourage parental involvement more than nationalization of schools. It moves the whole of education to the hands of a non responsive bureaucracy. there is no reason to be inved, because decisions will be made by bureaucrats in accordance with a policy manual. Pro has the burden of proving his case. He only offers unsupported assertions. The resolution is negated. ========= Pro's case is copied from http://www.americanprogress.org... I don't mind his copying the case, because the arguments stand for refutation regardless of their source. However, Pro should have acknowledged the source, and I claim that not doing so is a conduct violation. It would have helped if he had also copied the blank line after each paragraph.