SAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND IMPROVE EDUCATION

By: L. Rob Werner
lrobwerner@yahoo.com

The following is a list of six proposed reforms to our system of education that could save billions of dollars, reduce tuition fees and improve the quality of education.

1.  Teaching for a test.  Educators often decry that if at the end of the school year their classroom performance and rating are based on the achievement test results of their students that something will be lost, and they will only be teaching for a test.  Many of these same educators grade their students based on test performance.  Achievements in many subjects such as math, science and grammar can be accurately measured by test results. Comparing test results among teachers is a necessary element in determining who the best educators are and is essential for implementing the next proposal. Tenure rules need to be modified so that performance outweighs longevity. 

2.  Students would be better served by having many classes taught via video of the best teacher in the district.  A good movie is better than a bad play.  Teaching Assistants (TA’s) could serve in the actual classroom or auditorium.  These programs could also be available online.  TA’s could be available on line to assist students with their individual problems.  Not only could one teacher teach all the Algebra One classes by video, but that video could be utilized for several years.

3.  Computer technology has allowed teachers to be more effective with their time.  Testing, grading, and classroom preparations have all become less time consuming.  Yet, in actual practice, school districts have cut down the number of required on campus teacher work hours.  More on campus working requirements should be required for elementary and secondary teachers.

Our college professors have been paid full time for part time work.  Typically, a Junior College professor only teaches twelve hours a week.  Many do this in two days.  Often tests are graded in class or graded by a computer program.  Many professors have little or no take home work.  Professors in State Universities and the U.C. system teach even fewer hours.  Many receive full time pay for only six hours of weekly classes.  Imagine the savings if the minimum teaching requirement were even just twenty hours per week.

4.  A substantial portion of college graduation requirements include upper and lower division classes that may have little purpose other than political indoctrination.  Traditional programs such as the study of Western Civilization have generally been abandoned and been replaced with classes on disparity of income and politically correct concepts.  These social requirement classes should be replaced with programs to help students manage their own lives such as Personal Financial Management, Aptitude and Employment Opportunities, Understanding Investments and the Stock Market, and Budgeting with Basic Accounting. 

5.  Most elementary and middle schools group their students based on age rather than ability.  This may work for the average student, but gifted students and students with disabilities are harmed by this grouping. 

Gifted students are held back, generally given the same homework as others and are not competing with students on their own level.  The result is that many who could excel are held back, become bored and go through their formative years without developing study skills.

Special Education students are given additional help, but rarely is the help designed to bring them up to the class standings.  Instead, they are given reduced requirements which each year pushes them further behind.  They are often encouraged to enroll in study skills class which is just a classier way to refer to study hall.  So they encounter the additional problem of being placed with misbehaving students sent to study hall. 

By having classes geared to a student’s capability, gifted students can advance more quickly and special education students can have more concentration placed on work to keep them up with the core educational requirements. 

6.  Taxpayers and College students waste millions of dollars on text books.  Books are often replaced without any real improvement with newer books at additional cost.  Text books should be available on line and they should not be replaced unless the new book provides a significant improvement.  College professors who write text books may get the additional benefit of having a shorter teaching requirement at full salary while writing their book and also earn royalties on the book.  They should not be allowed this form of double compensation.

L. Rob Werner
27257 ½ Camp Plenty Rd.
Santa Clarita, CA 91351
661-252-9022
661-252-3118