Want Better Education? Show Courage for Reforms!
By Claver T. Kamau-Imani
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The students of the America rank 14th in reading 17th in science and 25th in math out of 34 developed countries of the world. Why so low? It could be that the dismal performance of African-American students are dragging down the national score. The performance of black students nationally is appalling. The numbers on black males is something akin to criminal.
And because of the poor performance of black students especially males they are nearly automatically sentenced to a life of crime and incarceration.
Here are some hyper-conservative ideas to reverse the normality of failure of black primary and secondary school students.
Bring Back the Paddle!
A great deterrent to black students achieving standard education and socialization goals is there utter lack of discipline and their lack of respect for elders and those that have authority within their lives.
One can conclude that the liberal-socialist politically correct" agenda (also known as Progressivism) that has taken control of the education culture of America is the instigator of this void of discipline and disrespect.
One way of putting discipline in the life of a student and respect for those with authority in days gone by was to put a paddle on their rear ends. As for me and many of you reading this composition this was how we were raised shaped molded and directed. We learned quickly to behave in class. There was no time out". The paddle came quickly sternly and would be repeated as many times as needed for a student to grasp the concept of discipline good behavior and respect.
African-American parents should reject the pop-culture liberal agenda that somehow using the paddle is child abuse or teaches a child violence. Our children are spoiled because liberal secularist advocate sparring the rod.
Shut down the U.S. Department of Education!
There is no place within the United States Constitution that permits the government to federalize the education of this country. Pro-centralized big-
government forces have for decades attempted to take over the role of educating our nations children primarily to indoctrinate them into their political ideology. They have been successful.
However the performance of our children in the classroom continues to spiral downward. You can track this downward trend to the establishment of the
U.S. Department of Education during the Carter administration.
If we want to reverse the failing trend of our children in education eliminate the entity that launched the plunge the U.S. Department of Education. Remove the federal government from the anti-Constitutional act of centralizing education and place education back into the hands of the states and municipalities as the Founders intended.
Conservatives have touted the shutting down of the department but have failed miserably at actually doing it. Instead Neo-Conservatives have actually expanded its power and scope. Thus the failure of our children in the classroom grows at a rapid pace.
Promote Expansion Privatization of Schooling
It cannot be argued that the most effective institutions of primary and secondary education in todays climate are private charter and parochial schools. Members of the black community should be strong advocates of shifting reliance on public government-run schools to more emphasis on non-government and charter schools.
Opportunity is rampant for teachers that are frustrated with the government-dominated education culture to break free by being education entrepreneurs. Such risk-takers will be more financially successful if they launch their own private schools.
Let these schools be run with the efficiency of a small business focusing on classroom results and financial shrewdness and apply pressure to public schools to produce results. This increased competition (which unions dont favor) will compel the pro-government forces to re-evaluate their methods of teaching and administration and elevate their in-classroom performance.
Defy the Power of the Education Unions
Education unions have last the spirit of whats best for the children" and adopted the attitude of whats best for the union". As a result reforms that would benefit the children are opposed and unions thwart the challenge of open competition. To open up the education of our children to the benefits of institutional competition is perceived by the unions as a scheme to lessen the
unions influence upon society and weaken the unions political power.
Union-negotiated contracts inherently protect the stature and tenure of teachers and makes it near impossible to dismiss ineffective teachers and
administrators.
Educators that truly care about the classroom performance of our children versus the self-centered motivation of the unions should defy the anti-reform powers of the education unions. Such teachers should demand the elevation of competition in the education culture which benefits students teachers and administrators.
Remove Sex Education & Liberal-socialist Indoctrination from Curricula
Some subjects are best left to the purview of parents and the spiritual community. The information universe is replete with anecdotes of troubling curricula that tweak the sensibilities of Christ-centered citizens.
Many of us have heard the horror stories of education boards approving a curriculum that aggressively attempts to normalize homosexual relations and/or introduce the intricacies of copulation to children that barely know the English alphabet.
Parents should fight for the primary focus of the local curriculum of their school districts to be on classic and traditional subjects that branch out from the roots of literacy mathematics and history. Veering from such an educational foundation has resulted in irreverent ill-educated and over-sexed generations.
Resist the Temptation to Throw Money at the Problem
Currently in Texas 50 cents of every tax dollar is directed toward education. For such an allocation inner-city youth (especially males) suffer a greater
than 50 dropout rate.
The liberal-socialist argument continues to be that more money needs to be thrown at the problem. Really? If 90 cents of every tax dollar were allocated for education would not the result be a 90 dropout rate?
The failures of the education system in not the result of a lack of funding. Its the result of the decay of educational ethics and fundamentals. There has been a disturbing discarding of such ethics and fundamentals that in decades past was essential for students of color achieving at a better rate.
Citizens of color should resist the temptation of yielding to the specious argument of more money will solve the problem". Instead the community should insist on internal reforms and a return to the values that worked in the past.
The community en masse should reject the destructive ideologies and philosophies of a culture lost in the haze of a liberal-socialist agenda (also known as Progressivism) and political correctness.
