THIS is How to Fix Education
Democrats are usually the first to blame America’s problems on education.
But this means they’re primarily blaming themselves because they have a virtual monopoly over education.
According to FEC data, 87% of high school teachers and 90% of professors are Democrats. Since 1980, the teachers’ unions (NEA and AFT) have contributed 30% more to federal campaigns than any other corporation or union, of which 95% has gone to Democrats.
It’s therefore unsurprising Democrats tell us the problem with education is that we don’t give them enough money when in reality America already spends more money per student than virtually any other country on Earth and at any other point in our history!
In my home state of New York, which has the second-lowest literacy rate in the country (after CA) we spend $25K per student. Bonkers!
But this isn’t to say our education system is ineffective.
It’s just effective at getting more money and power.
It’s in our oligarchy’s self-interest to get you to support free pre-K and college because rather than tell you what to think for at least 12 years they’d like to do so for at least 18 years because hopefully by then you’ll be a good little conformist. Pronouns: He/Him.
The education system is designed to teach obedience and conformity and prevent the child’s natural capacities from developing. — Noam Chomsky
Governments don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. That is against their interests. — George Carlin
The state of our educational system is a disgrace to our country. We have an elementary and secondary school system in which close to half of the youngsters never graduate properly. It’s a disgrace that there is more illiteracy today than there was 100 years ago. I blame the existence of a governmental, monopolistic school system. I also blame the teacher’s union, and the control they have over the school system. — Milton Friedman
Do you have the critical thinking skills and intellectual courage to see the truth?
Do you understand that the problem with education isn’t a lack of funding, but a lack of freedom?
The ultimate question, therefore, is how can students take back control over their education?
Well, virtually every Republican politician has been arguing for school vouchers and charter schools for decades, which I support, but yet even in the reddest of red states they’re virtually non-existent (school choice programs less than 0.4% of total U.S. K–12 public-education expenditures).
Clearly, Republicans need to return to the whiteboard.
On the federal level, we already know we need to abolish the Department of Education and student loans because education is a state responsibility and federal student loans just drive up tuition prices on degrees that often don’t reflect market demand.
And then on the state level, a state should accredit degrees-by-examination.
Any state resident should be able to get a high school diploma, associate’s degree, vocational degree, and bachelor’s degree for free purely through examination!
If passing an exam without any college is good enough to become an EMT, commercial airline pilot, railroad conductor, electrician, plumber, firefighter, mechanic, and lawyer then it should be good enough to get a degree in history.
A state university could offer free online enrollment to a select group of majors to choose from based on what jobs are in high demand (computer science, statistics, accounting, nursing, physics, economics, architecture, biology, chemistry). The enrollee would have to pass 10 tests to get an associate’s or vocational degree and then another 10 tests to get a bachelor’s degree.
The first few tests could be done online, the next few tests could be done at a local partner, and then the last few tests would have to be taken at the university. Test day would be the 1st of every month.
How you learn is up to you!
In addition, if you sign up for an exam you’ll get an Education Savings Account (ESA) with $300. Once you pass that exam you can then sign up for the next-level exam and get another $300 added to your account and so on until you graduate.
This means students who choose this education alternative could after graduating from Middle School hypothetically get their High School diploma (via an exit exam) and a bachelor’s degree by 16 years old with zero debt!
You see, most of education is signaling, i.e. you can already attend university lectures FOR FREE, but virtually no one does. Students choose the “easy A’s” and skip classes despite spending a lot of money because university is primarily about getting that little piece of paper at the end. Cut the fat! If they demonstrate the knowledge, grant them the degree!
Now, obviously any alternative to our existing education system will face strong opposition from our oligarchists who want to maintain their iron grip over your mind.
They already badmouth test-taking because they don’t want to be held accountable for their failure to teach basic reading and math. They complain, “I don’t want to teach to a test,” which is a euphemism for, “I don’t want my job performance to be objectively measured.”
Obviously, too much testing isn’t good, which by the way 20 tests are less than the current number required to get a bachelor’s degree, but America doesn’t have an over-testing problem because the Democrats who control our system ensure it. We have a poverty, debt, and indoctrination problem, which only by expanding and standardizing credentialing will we free the youth!
I believe more and more people will accumulate degrees/certificates/badges online from purely passing exams. This is because as the internet expands and A.I. improves it’ll be easier to take cheat-resistant skill-correlated online exams where our credentials will follow us onto forums and into the metaverse.
It’s scary how quantifiable our knowledge will become, but it’s also exciting because it could lift up our political discourse by pulling the country back to the Right (studies show the Right has a higher political IQ).
But the beauty of Degree-by-Examination + ESA (DEESA) is it doesn’t require much innovation so it could be enacted tomorrow if there is just one red state with the vision and resolve to enact it!
I think DEESA is also more politically feasible than the never-ending voucher/charter battlecry because whereas they conflict more with our establishment education DEESA is a one-and-done that simply streamlines it.
Once more and more people opt-out of crumbling schools, overpriced tuition, and unemployment to opt-into DEESA then employers will find that on average these graduates make better employees than those who graduated from swampy safe spaces. As DEESA gains in popularity, it’ll also pressure universities to increase affordability and quality. Win-win.
I believe the state that implements DEESA will see a dramatic rise in its population’s skills, civic knowledge, critical thinking, personal responsibility, and wealth. It’s a massive A+!
A small step out of the Ivory Tower, a giant leap for mankind.
The Ivory Tower’s knowledge is already widely accessible and so its credentials should be made so too — drain the moat. Shoot the crocodiles. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!