Education

I was waiting in the lobby of a newly-built glass factory outside Atlanta. They were hiring production workers at that time, and as I waited for my contact to come outside, I overheard one applicant ask his companion:   "What's five times four?"

What portion has this man in the 'global economy?'

Without assigning blame, this individual's educational deficiencies are a serious problem. How is it sustainable to pay him a wage that enables him to live decently in the United States, when there is competition for his job from the citizens of countries that are willing to do what it takes to educate their citizens? (Please note, I said 'do what it takes,' not 'spend whatever they can.')

Many people seem to regard public education with suspicion and disdain. (I suspect secretly this sentiment results partly from adults still carrying the emotional baggage they picked up as teenagers.) A popular rationalized version of this casts the education establishment, personified by their powerful union, as the corrupt and villainous antagonist à la On the Waterfront.

It is tempting simply to dismiss the issue by reciting self-indulgent platitudes such as "These dadgum kids blah blah blah. When I was a kid etc. etc." It's tempting for me, and I'm not even a member of The Most Important Generation Ever to Grace the Universe with their Presence. But when the clerk at the Whataburger doesn't know how to make change for a five, it's no good for anybody.

What would I propose as a legislator? Well, I would aim to negotiate with the union to:

• Change the nature of tenure, because I think it protects the positions of some people who should not be teaching.
• Compensate by paying teachers enough that salary becomes an economic incentive to enter the profession, and to try to stay in the profession.
• End the practice of 'social promotion.' Social promotion makes a diploma into a date code, not a sign of competence.
• Ensure that school rules and requirements are enforced uniformly and without regard to parents' social standing, the student's athletic prowess or lack thereof, etc.