If Supermarkets Were Like Public Schools

Here's something thought-provoking from the excellent blog of Harvard econ prof Greg Mankiw.  

Nerd News: In Support of Charter Schools

Read this.  What do you think?  Here's a bit of it:

The fight for charter schools — to have more of them, to make them work better, and to give more children (and teachers and principals) the chance to participate in them — is one of the most important fronts in the struggle to build an America that can thrive in the 21st century. ... School choice will make our society more flexible and entrepreneurial — and the biggest immediate beneficiaries will be the poor and those who seek to serve and teach them in creative new ways.

Edu-punktastic!

Nerd News: JUST DO IT

Do it!  Resurrect the DC school voucher program!  DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN.  Let the unions howl if need be.  Forcing students to remain in failing schools is an outrage.

Nerd News: Public School Teachers More Likely To Place Own Kids in Private Schools

Hmmmmmmmm. Here are some numbers:

More than 25 percent of public school teachers in Washington and Baltimore send their children to private schools, a new study reports.

Nationwide, public school teachers are almost twice as likely as other parents to choose private schools for their own children, the study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found. More than 1 in 5 public school teachers said their children attend private schools.

In Washington (28 percent), Baltimore (35 percent) and 16 other major cities, the figure is more than 1 in 4. In some cities, nearly half of the children of public school teachers have abandoned public schools.

In Philadelphia, 44 percent of the teachers put their children in private schools; in Cincinnati, 41 percent; Chicago, 39 percent; Rochester, N.Y., 38 percent. The same trends showed up in the San Francisco-Oakland area, where 34 percent of public school teachers chose private schools for their children; 33 percent in New York City and New Jersey suburbs; and 29 percent in Milwaukee and New Orleans.

Michael Pons, spokesman for the National Education Association, the 2.7-million-member public school union, declined a request for comment on the study's findings. The American Federation of Teachers also declined to comment.

Nerd News: Thoughts on Charter Schools and School Choice in Chicago

Check out this editorial in the Chicago Tribune.

Nerd News: A Critique of Obama's K-12 Public Education Policy

You've heard me rant about this topic repeatedly.  Here is a slice of why.  (Oh, don't even get me started on Obama's higher/college education policy.)  Anyway, as any thinking, objective person knows, you can't fix the education problem simply by throwing money at it.  As for wealthy politicians killing the DC school voucher program (for low-income families!)  even while they send their own kids to expensive elite private schools?  HYPOCRITICAL MUCH?  Pfffffft.

Nerd News: School Choice in the New Orleans Education Revolution

Read this.  What a delightful change from the DC debacle!

Nerd News: The Education Debacle of the Decade

Read it and weep.  Then go fight for change.

Nerd News: The UK "Free School" Movement

Fascinating!

Even more so: half the supporters of the idea are teachers. This isn't full-on "edupunk" since there is still state funding involved, but it's probably as "edupunk" the UK ed system is going to get? Still, the existence of this as a movement at all is evidence of the fact that there is dissatisfaction with the education status quo. As always, MM applauds folks who want to fix a problem. The "Do Something Useful" tag comes out of retirement.

Nerd News: Storming the Barricades of Public Education

Allons-y! And again!

People want choice, not government monopolies. RESULTS MATTER. The stakes for the future could not be higher. (And I am still enraged about the DC school voucher debacle.) Are you into actual education or in the currently entrenched vested interests? Would you rather that your child go to a bad school or a good one?

Lesson of the Day, class: "teachers' unions" are not the same thing as "teachers." Teachers, the good ones, are fantastic human beings who have dedicated themselves to the cause of education and the lives of their students. Teachers can literally change the world, one life at a time (just ask SIR Patrick Stewart!). Teachers' unions are often horrid rackets that grasp for political clout and care little for the actual education of students. (Here's a useful rant.)

In the same vein, professional nerd organizations are not the same thing as nerds. My various professional nerd organizations often say all sorts of stuff, but they do not speak for me, even if I more or less have to be a member. Capisce?

You know, I think I shall take up the label of "edupunk" with pride. (And awesome shoes . . . though they may not be much good for storming actual physical barricades, I do want to show off my new fire-engine-red nail polish!)

Nerd News: Charter Schools Versus Public Schools

Read this!

Nerd News: School Reform Flip-Flops

Hmmmmm. Assessment IS a problem, that's true.

Nerd News + What Fresh Hell Is This? -- AG Holder Tries to Kill Pro-Voucher Ad

I ranted about the DC school voucher debacle here, here, and here.

Now I hear THIS. *MM's head explodes.* Yo, Holder, ever heard of freedom of speech? I am increasingly NOT IMPRESSED with this administration's attitude toward people saying things that they don't like.

Nerd News: Parents Rally in Favor of DC School Vouchers

The entire situation is a government-sponsored disgrace (as documented here and here), but the MSM has not covered this AT ALL. Shameful.

See coverage of yesterday's rally here and here. More than 1000 concerned parents and other folks who care about quality education were involved.

A piquant bit of reporting: "A father of a scholarship student pointed out the hypocrisy of Congress bailing out failing corporations but taking scholarships away from D.C. students."

I am tempted to label this mess "felony stupidity," but I have a nasty feeling that the Congressional rascals involved weren't acting out of idiocy as much as cynical kissing-up to special interests (like teachers' unions, etc.).

Nerd News: DC School Voucher Disgrace

This is a follow-up to a previous post about the Congress killing the DC school voucher program -- and taking choice away from low-income parents hoping to give their children a better education.

See this piquant op-ed on school choice and the hypocrisy of the governing elite.

Reason.Com has a good video criticizing the voucher disgrace. Watch it:



Great quote from an outraged mother: "This has become about politics and not about children." Also: she was an Obama voter.

Nerd News: DC School Voucher Rant

Juan Williams is ranting passionately about education -- and therefore saving me from having to do so. And the decline of American high school education continues apace while feckless politicians wheel and deal -- and fritter away our future both in terms economic AND educational.

For the record, I am all for school choice and vouchers, oh yes.