My Education Plan

I am thinking of running for the school board to represent all the childless people who are taxed to pay for the schooling of other people’s kids. Parents and educators are all too willing to throw more and more money at the schools, and I think someone should sit on the board to check their spendthrift ways. I have a couple of ideas for cutting costs.

Firstly, why do you need a masters degree to teach? It seems to me that in order to teach first grade, for example, you probably don’t need to know all that much, just more than a six year old. When I started school, some of my older teachers were graduates of “Normal School”, an old teacher training institution that was less than an undergraduate education. They were the best teachers I ever had. Requiring degrees for school teachers means that we have to pay them more and that we will have shortages in some vicinities. If you could teach with a two year degree or certificate, teacher salaries could be reduced dramatically, and we could hire many more teachers and/or have much cheaper schooling.

Here’s what I think would suffice for teacher training: a two year course of study coupled with a teaching assistantship. In some cases, the erstwhile teacher might do this in the final two years of high school. If the Board can lower or waive excessive qualifications for teachers, it should do so.

Secondly, eliminate school buses and require parents to provide transportation. Their kids are getting free education, and the least they can do is get them to school without inconveniencing everyone else.

Thirdly, let extracurricular activities be funded by fees and donations rather than as part of the school budget., especially where the privilege of participation is restricted through competition. The participants and their parents are certainly the principal beneficiaries of these activities, and it is not plausibly arguable that the community benefits.

Fourthly, cut administration to the bone and eliminate as many non-classroom positions as possible.