I just heard Jeb Bush talk about education at the Republican National Convention. I agree with him about the problem. United States is lagging behind in Science and Math, the foundation of any advanced country. But I disagree with him about what needs to be done. The policy prescribed by republicans is to privatize k-12 schools and to annihilate teacher's unions. I am not sure that will work.
A lot of people who talk about education, say that India and China are leaving USA behind in the number of engineers graduating each year. A lot of the education improvements in China is driven by the Chinese government. Why then do people bring up China as the example of education excellence but oppose how Chinese did it.
I grew up in India so I know a thing or two about the Indian education system. There was a time when India had schools that were run by the government, but over the last 50 years the number of government schools have dwindled both in number and quality. That has also been the time when private schools have grown in number. Contrary to the republican assertion that private schools democratize education, education becomes more and more of a luxury when schools are privatized. This is because private schools are run for profit like any other for profit organization ROI for the investor is the paramount concern. The way you increase the ROI is by decreasing the expense and increasing the price of the education. Private schools do both. They make the organization efficient, by getting more done with less. This can mean lowering teacher's salary or making teachers work more. I have no problem with removing inefficiencies but I am not sure kids would be better off by getting Mcdonalds style education.
I have a bigger problem when private schools raise the price of education. As the cost of education goes up, less and less people will be able to afford quality education.
A lot of republicans think and espouse that as soon as you privatize something the cost goes down. If that was the case cost of health insurance should have gone down. Anybody who has a pulse knows that is not the case.
In India, people who have the means, are able to send their children to good schools. People who don’t, cannot. Then, there are parents without means who work hard all their lives, without a break, so that their kids can go to good schools and have opportunity to make something of their lives. I was fortunate to have such parents. The other factor in India and other countries is the premium parents put on education. Education is the only sure shot way of getting out of poverty. So parents do everything possible to get their kids best possible education. When parents in USA start believing that education is more important that football, USA will do much better in Mathematics and Science.
In my opinion it is better to make education accessible to all. That can happen only if the education is a right not a privilege.
