by Prodigal Son » Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:12 pm
Well Buzz,
I would have to say I agree with most of what you're saying about the US education system. Degrees are signaling devices, and it's no coincidence that the high-priced schools get their students placed in the high-class jobs. Insofar that the average Harvard/Yale/UC Berkley grad is more likely to be of higher quality than your average U of I grad then it makes sense for the big companies to only hire from those schools. Connections between alumni and their instutions also serve as another route to ensure employee quality.
As for US HSs....I agree the current system is ridiculous. I think abolishing the current system is politically infeasible, but it could be reformed in a number of ways:
1. Abolish the HS degree and have every applicant take a federally mandated set of graduation exams (much like, say, the GRE). Those that pass graduate and get a HS diploma, those that don't get a "certificate of program completion". This would ensure a diploma, for those that got one, meant something. (we already effectively have this sytem in place now, just with a bad test -- ACT/SAT) Moreover, allow any individual to take these exams whenever they want wherever they want (thereby destroying the public monopoly on education)
2. Abolish the funding of schools with local property taxes. Use a "sin tax," a tax on a widely used commodity (gasoline), or lottery funds to provide funds for education that travel with the student. Allow that money to be used in whatever type of school desired, so long as certain federally-mandated requirements are met (reading, writing, math).
3. Break up large public school monopolies, such as those found in large urban areas and allow them to compete for student dollars. Allow those that fail to do so.
Competition and privitization would actually benefit the good teachers out there, since the best teachers would command the highest salary in this new market. The teachers' unions protect lazy, inefficienty teachers. It would also mean you wouldn't have to mandate increasing teacher education -- teachers with better degrees would command higher salaries.
People complain that the "poor" are left behind b/c they can't afford the better schools. In the US, this is already happening, and you could easily fix the problem by simply subsidizing poor students' tuition.