Opinion
Public education needs rethinking
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Also by Taylor Hughes:
- Work makes UW worth it (May 10, 2007)
- Cultivating leadership (May 9, 2007)
- Getting by without the books (May 8, 2007)
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Underprivileged students are at a disadvantage in our public school system as it stands, and the inadequacy of public schools to serve those who need education most is creeping its way up to the University of Wisconsin. Bringing the situation to light is the lively discussion of late surrounding the UW System's move this spring to a "holistic" admissions policy — which, as UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley described it, is a measure put in place to compensate for an inherently unequal society.
While applying a Band-Aid to the situation at a collegiate level might be a defensible short-term tactic, the roots of the problem are what need a first-aid kit — or, more accurately, a trip to the operating room for reconstructive surgery.
In the state of Wisconsin, public elementary and secondary schools are funded by a mixture of about one part federal funds, five parts state funds and four parts local funds, coming primarily from property taxes. The specific percentages vary from year to year and from district to district, as the actual amount of state funding — about $5 billion allotted primarily through "equalization aid" — is divvied up on a per-district basis.
The equalization aid formula takes property values into account in an effort to equalize per-student funding for education across the state and does an adequate job of distributing state funds to impoverished districts. Milwaukee Public Schools, for example, receive more state funds per student than schools in Mequon or Waunakee in order to begin compensating for lower property tax revenues.
The formula assumes, however, that the cost of educating a child is equal across the state — an assumption that is critically flawed.
While many are quick to attribute property taxes' role in funding public schools to the cause of a weak public school system in the United States, it seems the problem is more fundamental. In order to really transform public education, the government needs to do more than equally fund public schools in all areas.
Ironically, inequality in public school funding is a necessity — the overall funding flow just needs to be reversed to start leveling the playing field for poor kids, regardless of who specifically picks up the tab.
That conclusion follows naturally upon further consideration of what it takes to get a full education. For most of us at UW, it's a study of all the factors that propelled us to attend this fine institution — most of which, undoubtedly, weren't picked up in school at all.
Anecdotally, my parents could have kept me locked inside the house growing up and never showed me a single textbook, and I'd still think college was mandatory — that's just the environment that was provided for me as a child. The tools were there for the taking; I just had to maintain a pulse. And as far as I'm concerned, almost anyone I knew growing up was practically given a college degree alongside a salaried job with benefits the second he or she stepped into kindergarten.
Kids from upscale areas just need to look at their parents to see how to be successful. Living in privileged areas, kids with means are surrounded by other kids with means and other sets of parents who have been successful themselves. Beyond just having more funds, these kids are immersed in an environment of how to become and stay wealthy — or at least get by and stay above the poverty line.
The problem, of course, is that parents want the best for their own kids — and a state budget that would pour funds disproportionately into poor kids' schooling would be decidedly hard to swallow for voters. The change would require a fundamental shift in the majority mindset — an acknowledgement that those without means need more help than those who have a support network in place — and it's worth it in order to give everyone an equal footing starting out in this country.
While the redistribution of wealth is a touchy subject for anyone even remotely outside the typical liberal realm, the idea that anyone can make it in America based on personal effort and drive alone is not. This is a country of self-made millionaires, and the idea that some of them are less self-made than others seems contradictory to our enthusiasm for individual accomplishment.
A public education system that doesn't actively take steps to counteract inequalities in its student base will only perpetuate those inequalities, and it's time for us to start thinking about how to make a change.
And then we can start talking about ripping Mr. Wiley's Band-Aid off.
Taylor Hughes (thughes@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in information systems.
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Why does everyone think that grades 1-12 “educate”? More accurately, your “public school education” should be described as “indoctrination.” The state takes children away from their biological parents, becomes a surrogate guardian, and molds children into baseline Americans.
You learn how to balance a check book, say the pledge of allegiance 180 days per year, that we did not technically lose Vietnam (not a war, but a police action), and that your math and science courses only determine who has enough brains to go on to actual education in college.
While at Madison, get your real education. Leave your indoctrination in high school.
I think you need to be original…
hey, 7:46 - would you rather have parents raise their children and go back to the Puritan ideal of America? I’d like to see parents teach there children anything of value.
hey 11:19, did you read what I said? Grades 1-12 aren’t about “teaching” anything. It’s daycare for delayed adulthood peppered with patriotism and consumerism.
No, I would rather have parents pay out of pocket for actual education. I would also suggest that not everyone is able to be educated. Only teach those who are willing/able to learn and who can afford to be taught.
Obviously, by Mr. Hughes’ article, he would prefer to keep teaching blockheads year after year, while wasting millions in tax revenue.
We’re in an unwinnable war in Iraq. We continue to teach the un-teachable here at home. Then, for pity, we let the unteachable into the universities and stunt the potential growth of America’s intellectual future.
Delayed adulthood? So the children of America should just be processed into functional adults as soon as possible then? Ever think that maybe the reason why some aren’t willing to learn is because they aren’t given a reason? You’re right that a great deal of the education thrown at kids is mindless, that I certainly will agree with. However, I believe that children can gain that will to learn if the system that encourages it is improved.
As for your “teaching blockheads” comment, it rings of so much elitism and generalization that I have no argument to make other than this - give me specifics on how exactly America is turning out these dolts in droves, because I simply don’t buy it.
“how exactly America is turning out these dolts in droves”
30 million votes are cast weekly for American Idol. Check mate.
7:46am,12:44pm You’ve nailed several realities in modern government schooling the US. Public schools , whether teachers or local administrators realize it or not, are in the business to teach (not educate) consumerism, conformity, docility, bell curves, prolonged adolescence, and Horacio Alger-ism (belief in the dream that anyone can make it big by pulling oneself up by the bootstraps). The modern school system has roots in pre-War Germany, in the industrial complex, promoted and funded by Rockefeller, Ford, Morgan, and Carnegie. John Taylor Gatto’s books articulate these facts quite well, and his last tome <> has been released for free on his website www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm
In his article, Mr. Hughes is getting at something really important here: “For most of us at UW, it's a study of all the factors that propelled us to attend this fine institution — most of which, undoubtedly, weren't picked up in school at all.”
However, throwing more money, equal or differential, at the modern public school system isn’t going to fix the problem. Public schools are in the business to self-aggrandize. The only viable solution is dismantling the whole forced schooling machine. The social experiment of forced schooling has had 150 years to prove its success, and it’s been found wanting. Give parents and their communities their kids, and give kids their time back. Yes, some parents have got some major deficiencies, but at least their shortcomings are limited to their immediate sphere of influence. The word “public” in our form of public education has not had a real significance for a long time; public schooling will come back when we strip control from an Egyptian pyramid of experts.
11:19am— I have two articles on Puritanism that you might find interesting. 1. John Taylor Gatto’s comments on the congregational principle, http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/14h.htm 2. The transcript of the speech at the Spirituality Conference in Boulder, CO http://web.archive.org/web/20040603161852/http://csf.colorado.edu/sine/transcripts/gatto.html
1:44pm “So the children of America should just be processed into functional adults as soon as possible then?”
This idea that students are to be “processed” comes from the mindset that school is a kind of assembly line. However, if you think about the constitution, the US government has no authority to be processing people at all.
I don’t know why people are saying our publics schools are trash. In fact, the schools are a wild success! They have succeeded in their purpose quite well. They process, rank, classify, and spit out automatons ready to consume anything and everything: jobs, resources, mass media, counseling services, fast food, etc. The problem in our country used to be overproduction. We tried to fix this by paying farmers not to farm. But this didn’t make much sense. The problem wasn’t overproduction, it was UNDERCONSUMPTION! The public schools are the perfect place to teach consumerism.