Schools Failing Despite Influx of Money

Money is the answer to improved education, right? That's what we constantly hear.

The Washington Post reports that after decades of improvement (that's debatable!), the nation's school completion rate has stagnated over the past 15 years despite the large amounts of money and attention focused on education. Nearly one quarter of the nation's students fail to graduate, though some go on to earn GED's and other alternative credentials. Let me say that again: nearly one-quarter of the nation's students fail to graduate from government schools.

That is a scandal. It is also an outrage, given the amount of money we are forced to pay for them and the lack of choice.

Here's a question for you: President Bush has proposed spending millions of dollars on character education. Didn't we used to learn character from our parents and at church? What happened? We know, don't we? Our increasingly divorced, day-cared and secularized society happened. Schools that fail to graduate so many and can't teach character don't need more money. Parents need a choice.