Close down the Lord of the Flies child warehouses

Note this excerpt from a DoersTV.com press release:

Bullying Crisis Horrifies Parents, Ignites Homeschool Revolution — Research Reveals

FORT WASHINGTON, Md., June 25, 2012 — While working on a new reality TV series, called Homeschool Television, to appear on DoersTV.com in the fall of 2012, research revealed that the current bullying crisis in public and private schools is a direct link to horrified parents joining the Homeschool Revolution.

According to recent statistics from the US Department of Education 48.9 % of parents who decide to homeschool do it to give their children a better education and 38.4% was for religious reasons.

However, with the recent increase in bullying, especially in the public school systems, parents that were interviewed for Homeschool Television view bullying as a major safety crisis for their children physically and emotionally.

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Since I’m well into middle age I repeat myself…but there are some things need repeating. For a few years I worked for a non profit that focused on school reform issues. That was enough to frustrate me completely since I never read, heard, or saw anyone ask the most important question about learning.

It seems obvious to me that the first thing that needs to be asked when determining how to improve the public schools—or any school—is “can a child learn in this environment?”

The question isn’t “what to teach” or “how do kids learn” or “which teaching methods work best.” It’s—”is this place conducive to learning?”

But alas, the pro-school reformers get lost in the issues of spending levels, class size, curriculum, merit pay for teachers, and almost a hundred other matters. The public school BLOB is happy to join in this conversation (and argue every point to infinity as a delaying tactic) because the more time that passes, the closer the current members of the BLOB are to collecting their theft-based ridiculously high so-called “pension.”

If a kid can’t learn inside the school because it’s chaotic, violent, or filled with any number of distractions from learning, all those other tweaks are a waste of everyone’s time. Especially the kids’.

It should be obvious that things like homeschooling, very small neighborhood schools, and opportunities such as virtual learning are so much better for most children. The purpose, after all, is not to provide jobs for adults who actually liked school so much they never wanted to leave (think about that for a minute and you’ll discover yet another problem with the schools that’s never addressed.) The purpose is supposed to be about kids learning, and without a proper learning environment you get what we have today.

Oh, and speaking of the issue of spending, such as wasting money on Taj Mahal-like school buildings, undeservedly high salaries, and employee-for-life retirement plans (they’re not pension plans, see below *), the NCPA once again tells us that those who think spending more is the answer to improving K-12 education are not paying attention.

Better Schools, Fewer Dollars

To attain the economic growth that it desperately needs, the United States must improve its schools and train a workforce capable of competing in the global economy. To this end, superior educational outcomes are a necessity. The question facing lawmakers, then, is how to improve America’s education system when most state governments are strapped for cash, says Marcus A. Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Economists tell us that the answer is not to throw more money at schools. While a common complaint is that public schools are underfunded, research indicates that more per-pupil funding does little to improve outcomes.

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* The dictionary defines a pension plan as money set aside that is large enough to support a person in their retirement years. What the government “pension” plans are instead are Ponzi schemes whereby taxpayers are forced to pay into funds which then pay benefit levels which would be impossible without those constant infusions of cash. Click here to read more on the issue.