TEST SCORES, JOGGERFEE, SNAKES © 1998 Joe Murray Once again, there are headlines in the news about the poor job that America is doing in educating its children, compared to other developed nations. Today, the results of math and science test scores for high school seniors was released and showed that students in the United States received below average scores on the test, near the bottom of all nations participating in the study. This was true of both average American students and top students who took advanced courses. While I believe there are some legitimate concerns, we have heard the same complaints for at least the entire 20th century and much of the 19th. We talk of how important education is, but at the same time, few of us actually take it very seriously. A good illustration of this is in one of my favorite childhood books called The Buffalo Wallow by Charles Tenney Jackson. It is the story of two boys (growing up in central Nebraska during pioneer days) who attended a one-room school. Their description of geography class sums up our typical jovial attitude about the importance of school.
And, of all learning, joggerfee was best. It came in a wide, thin book that a boy could erect on his desk and Teacher couldn’t see what he was doing. Behind the joggerfee, a boy could play with his snake -- the little garter snake he’d find by the rainwater pools in the prairie. Open your joggerfee to a map, and your snake would start crawling all over the United States until you steered it back.
Somehow, despite our carefree attitude toward school, we have had more great inventors, scientists, business people, and doctors than most other countries combined. Our peace and prosperity is the envy of the world. We don’t limit success to those that are born to the right family or have the right letters behind the name. Instead, we cherish innovation, freedom and hard work. Therefore, even a goof-off in school can seek to find and develop their true talents and succeed doing something, because it is what they love rather than what they are required to do. College dropout Bill Gates, the richest man in America, is a name that comes to mind. Our schools need reforms, and we would be better off if more people took them seriously. However, I don’t think we are in a crisis except in certain specific areas, particularly in the inner cities. We have been in the crisis mode toward education since the Soviet Union beat us into space with Sputnik. This led to the Federal Government getting involved with education for the first time. Before any educational changes could have had any effect, the United States routed the Soviet Union in the race for space. Despite this, the Federal government has continued to poor billions of dollars into education and created more and more mandates for schools to follow. At the same time, test scores have continued to decline and, within a decade, God was banned from the schoolhouse. Clearly, all our attempts to solve the latest educational crisis of the day have not helped; and, in many cases, have reduced the quality of education. There is no reason, based on all the floods of money, research and reforms over the last 40 years, that the nation is going to fall apart if we don’t turn into a nation of serious, studious and high-achieving students. There is no denying that we can do better. If we really want to make major improvements in education, we need to start by having schools that are run by the same principles and standards as the rest of the country. We are a country that flourishes in a free market. We stress competition, excellence, creativeness and freedom. Our public schools are just the opposite. They are primarily monopolistic and state-run. They seek to level the playing field by having academic standards based on the average or, in some cases, the worst students rather than rewarding and challenging everyone to do their best. Curriculum is similar throughout the country and stifles the creative and brightest students. A recent survey found that almost 3/4 of high school students feel that they could handle more difficult and challenging studies and would like to have the challenge. There is also no effective way for most parents and society as a whole to effect public schools (because the schools don’t have sufficient competition) and insulate themselves from outside control. If you have enough money, you can choose to send your children to a private school where achievement is much higher and the beliefs, goals and pedagogy of the school better reflect those of the country. However, because of all the "solutions" to each "crisis," our taxes are so high that most of us can’t afford to pay taxes and send our children to a better private school. We would better reflect our notions of equality and freedom, if we stopped the double taxation. Parents and children should at least be able to not pay taxes on educational expenses for which they receive no benefits. This means that they should at least be able to deduct the cost or get a tax credit when they choose to send their child to a private school. It would be even better to get the entire amount that the state pays out in the form of a voucher given to parents to spend at the school they choose is best for their children. Not only would this end the unfair burden of double taxation, but it would also force the public schools to respond to market pressures, which would cause them to perform better and be more cost-effective. It is unlikely that we would suddenly have perfect students. The odds are that we would still have more boys like Chick who would rather play with a snake behind his geography book than learn where Rhode Island is and who wouldn’t get the best scores on tests. We would still have our share of critics saying we are on the verge of an intellectual dark age. However, more students might grow up to invent the next technological wonder or a cure for the common cold, if schools would better reflect the strengths of our country -- strengths that allow people to achieve greatness through freedom and creativity rather than following the opposite approach.
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