The Failure of Public Schools

John Stossel who is one of the hosts on ABC's 20/20 recently hosted a TV special called "Stupid in America". In this show he pointed out several facts and statistics that highlight the failure of our nation's public school system to educate our children. He writes about the fallout he has experienced since the showed aired here. Here are some highlights:

Teachers unions are mad at me. The New York State United Teachers demands I apologize for my "gutter level" journalism, "an irresponsible assault on public school students and teachers." This is because I hosted an ABC News TV special titled "Stupid in America," which pointed out:

-- American fourth graders do well on international tests, but by high school, Americans have fallen behind kids in most other countries.

-- The constant refrain that "public schools need more money" is nonsense. Many countries that spend significantly less on education do better than we do...

-- Most American parents give their kids' schools an A or B grade, but that's only because, without market competition, they don't know what they might have had...

-- There is little K-12 education competition in America because public schools are a government monopoly...

All that angered the unions. But when they criticize my "bias and ignorance," I don't hear them refute the points listed above. They don't refute them because they can't. It's just a fact that rules that insist an energetic, hard-working teacher who makes learning fun must be paid exactly the same as a lazy, incompetent teacher are rules that promote mediocrity...

Instead, teachers' unions announced that Wednesday (3/8), they will hold demonstrations against me and ABC in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, and elsewhere. One police permit suggests the crowd outside my office will number 750-1,000 people. It should be interesting...

Here once again is a prime example of the liberal establishment refusing to see things for how they are and making the choice instead to live in fantasy land. At the expense of our children I might add. Look no one argues that there are many fine people working as teachers and administrators in our public school system. But if America is to keep her innovative edge in the global economy then we must at least be willing to admit that the current education system is not working and throwing more money at it is not the answer. What we're getting instead is the teacher's union putting their interests above the education of our children because they don't want to disrupt the status quo.