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2015-02-16 Home Front: Culture Wars

Glenn Reynolds: Scott Walker's national education effect

A lot of people don't know much about him yet, and he may not even be running, but if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is elected president in 2016, he'll immediately accomplish something that no other candidate being talked about can: He'll lay to rest the absurd belief that you're a nobody if you don't have a college degree. And he might even cut into the surprisingly recent takeover of our institutions by an educated mandarin class, something that just might save the country.
You can be born stupid---but, to be a real idiot, you need an education.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2015-02-16 04:38|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 The path to sanity includes diminishing the cost of the public workforce by 50-75%. One of the most glaring examples of this is the education industry. Nationally there are seven times more higher ed employees and three times more public ed employees than in 1950 vs the size of our general population. Add to that the fact that public school teacher's total compensation has doubled in constant dollars since then and you can see the REAL reason the long knives are out.

These people are terrified of losing their easy jobs and paychecks which can never go away short of committing a felony. They are scared into animal madness by the thought of losing a retirement which is twice what a person with a private sector job can get. Finally, they are pushed over the edge with fear by the take-home message of a man with not only no college degree but not one from the self-styled elite colleges - which is that maybe their services, and the magic paycheck that accompanies those services, will be deemed unnecessary by the public.

Sleep light little ones. That time is coming.

Posted by no mo uro 2015-02-16 05:29|| 2015-02-16 05:29|| Front Page Top

#2 To pile on to comment #1. Americans would probably not blink at the exponential rising cost of education if student performance moved correspondingly. Unfortunately that is not the case mostly because costs went to higher pay (without higher performance), security, busing, fancy brick and mortar buildings, expensive athletic facilities, unfunded mandates....

Posted by Airandee 2015-02-16 07:28|| 2015-02-16 07:28|| Front Page Top

#3 Spent the first few years of retirement as a substitute teacher in middle school. This gave me a lot more respect for good teachers and a lot more disdain for the educrats.

The good teachers are basically hand-cuffed by the "educators", the real source of most of the problems, and the amount of administrivia they have to deal with is ridiculous.

There are bad teachers that need to be weeded out. The worst ones are the true believers in the indoctrination of the Marxist educators in their colleges. Most could be dealt with in the same way as normal under-performing employees are dealt with in private industry.

Then there is common core.............the reason that I'm no longer subbing.

Posted by AlanC 2015-02-16 08:42|| 2015-02-16 08:42|| Front Page Top

#4 In the public school system as in our government, one of the big problems is public unions.

In universities, they are basically a reflection or microcosm of the federal government. When professors or researchers secure a research grant, federal dollar research grants have a higher status in a researcher's record than private dollars.

Large state universities are splinters of the federal government in that a large part of the administration supports federal mandates that have created OSHA, EEO, EPA, etc. This inflates the cost of education considerably.

Posted by JohnQC 2015-02-16 11:09|| 2015-02-16 11:09|| Front Page Top

#5 Sheila Jackson Lee has a college degree.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2015-02-16 12:04|| 2015-02-16 12:04|| Front Page Top

#6 So does Barack and Michelle ~~Antonette~~ Obama.

Posted by CrazyFool 2015-02-16 12:31|| 2015-02-16 12:31|| Front Page Top

#7 In California, at least, teachers get automatic raises every year. They also get raises for completing even more college courses. They do not get raises for performance. I believe there are still good teachers. I do not believe it is a sin to be a teacher. But there are no merit increases, therefore no incentive to improve performance and no disincentive for mediocrity. This will never change as long as the unions are in charge.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2015-02-16 12:53|| 2015-02-16 12:53|| Front Page Top

00:52 Skidmark
00:33 EMS Artifact