Special Report: Education

April 7, 1997 • San Diego Business Journal • 17

The education bureaucracy seems to fall for one worthless fad after another

Why 1 million tutors? Have public schools failed?

I run a very successful, very effective tutoring company. However, odd as it may seem, I have major concerns about President Bill Clinton's proposed literacy program which would build, as he put it, "an army of reading tutors on college campuses all across America."

In his 1998 budget proposal, as part of fulfilling a reelection campaign promise, Clinton advocated establishing "America Reads," a $2.75 billion literacy program which aims to recruit and train 1 million tutors, including l00,000 college work-study students, to teach schoolchildren to read.

About two-thirds of the administration's proposed funds would go to the Education Department; the rest would go to the AmeriCorps national-service program.

A million tutors? Sounds intriguing for my company.

A federal mandate requiring every child to learn to read? Perhaps a nice goal.

But, why aren't our public schools already doing this right now?

Under the Clinton plan, the lion's share of the money would go to pay reading specialists and supervising tutors at 15,000 to 20,000 nationwide sites. These folks would assist 1 million volunteers, who, it seems, would do most of the actual work.

Why aren't our public schools already doing this right now?

Is it possible that hundreds of millions of tax dollars might be better spent on existing reading programs in our public schools? I think so.

It's embarrassing to admit that more than half the freshmen who entered the 22-campus California State University system last fall were unprepared for college-level math and

43 percent lacked the skills to handle college English courses. Plus, the number of freshmen who need remedial courses is growing.

Over the past 25 years, inflation-adjusted, per-pupil K-12 spending has jumped 88 percent. But we don't have much to show for it.

The best measures of student performance, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), show little progress. After climbing some through the 1980s, NAEP scores fell slightly from 1992 to 1994.

In 1994, 40 percent of fourth graders failed to show basic reading skills. Just 30 percent tested as proficient for their grade level. Yet, study after study shows that children who fall behind in reading early find catching up nearly impossible.

So, what did the 88 percent increase in spending buy? Public-school teacher pay rose 7.4 percent, after inflation from 1970 to 1993 against a real gain of just 1 percent for all private-sector wages.

The huge boom has come in public-school administrators and other nonteaching personnel: this group grew 79.8 percent from 1974 to 1994.

In other words, while private-sector firms have downsized and outscored, the public schools have let middle management and other unproductive cost centers grow fatter still.

The fact is our public schools have failed in educating our children. Nationwide, 13 percent of students attend private schools, and the number is growing.

A big reason why public education is so ineffective is that the teachers unions and the educational establishment manage to hijack every public school reform drive, diverting resources to their own ends.

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest and perhaps the most powerful trade union in the nation, appears to spend much of its energy on political activities (98 percent of its PAC contributions in 1994 went to Democrats) and promoting liberal causes, including condom distribution and abortion on demand.

The education bureaucracy seems to fall for one worthless fad after another. Reading education, in particular, has suffered.

Apparently, the public schools have no discretion when it comes to the most absurd, goofball ideas. Self-esteem is placed above correct answers. Group work is valued above excellence and personal achievement.

The president must know about the bungling of public education. Not only does he send his own daughter to a private school, he got much of his own primary education at a Catholic school --because it was the best his mother could find for him.

The longer the educational establishment stonewalls change, the more the schools will falter.

One straight-forward solution to the problem is to expand school-choice programs. A recent Harvard University study said expanding choice improves measures of student performance, including test results in the eighth and 10th grades and the probabilities of finishing high school and attending college.

Another answer is for parents to become more involved with their children's education. More than 50 research studies have said that when parents get involved, those public schools improve dramatically; their children are more motivated and better behaved in the classroom; their diverse needs are met more effectively; and scores on achievement tests are significantly higher.

A child's education remains a parent's own personal responsibility --not the school's. Tutors, teachers and other school personnel are only helpers in meeting overall educational goals for their children.

My advice is let your child know that school is a very important place and what they learn extends far beyond the classroom. Then, you'll pave the way for an excellent education.

Dean is president of The Quality Mind, a tutoring company with instructors who teach in the student's home. Instruction is available in a variety of subjects from elementary grades to college courses. For more information, phone toll-free, (888) 444-MIND (6463).

Aaron Dean