The United States is now facing an ominous threat. One that is as patent as terrorism. Nevertheless, the dangers posed cannot be overlooked. The education cartel has been wielding sufficient powers, sadly, to the deterioration of the education system. More dangerous is the fact that the effects are long term and immeasurable.
Almost everybody recognizes the present problem. Students of public schools are consistently performing way below the desired objective. This is evidenced by test results in math and reading that leaves a lot to be desired, corruption that is rampant and a very long and arduous process of dismissing teachers and staff, to the effect that it is virtually impossible to do so. The stark reality is that US will face a future filled with ill-prepared workforce.
The most pressing problem brought about by the cartel in education is it protection of the teachers and staff, irrespective of their performance. This translates to moves toward mediocrity as the need to improve is dispensed with.
Also, the education cartel is more concerned with increasing its power base as well as accumulating bigger budgets which do not really benefit the students. In fact, the flexing of muscles of the education cartel can be seen in the recent veto of Florida Governor Charlie Crist of a proposed law, which ties compensation of teachers with their performance. Clearly, the overriding concern of the cartel prevailed.
In this regard, cartel in education has been a major player in the derailing the dismissal process for undeserving teachers. Its power is duly recognized such that the termination of employment of all teachers and staff in Central Falls, R.I. has caused major shock waves. It really makes one stop and take stock of what is going on in the public school system.
It is quite disheartening, however, when criticism of the current state of the public school system is construed as hatred in the system itself. This is not so. The truth is teachers and staffs that perform well are still being accorded recognition. One such teacher is Beverly Jones. She exposed the dishonesty that was rampant in Trenton, involving payment of salaries to ghost employees as well as promotion of the repeaters’ program, at the cost of holding back students. This is just one of the facets of the fraud present in the system.
The problem of having an education cartel will not go away on its own. The response must be proactive to stamp out the corruption and mediocrity it generates. The present alternatives are charter schools and voucher schools. Their advantages and disadvantages are not comprehensively known. Nevertheless, coming up with alternatives are necessary to prevent the education cartel’s detrimental effects on students.
It is but natural to expect that competition will breed better choices for the parents and children alike and that this will prevent them from becoming victims of the bad performance promoted by the public school education cartel.
AnnaZ story of The Cartel, a film by Bob Bowdon.
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