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Rico Oller on Education
"I want you to think for a moment how much big government has messed up education.
It is important to everyone - parents and their children; teachers and their students;
you and all of society. However, government has responded time and again by throwing
money at failed programs, which become even more disastrous. Then when the programs
don't work, the children are promoted the next grade without having mastered their
present grade.
But proper education means more than newer schools and computers. Failed programs
like bilingual education must be washed clean from our school policies. Our students
should be required to pass yearly-standardized tests and students in the primary
grades need to learn to read through phonics instruction. One of the problems facing
today's schoolhouse is that in many areas a once vibrant learning center is now an
environment shackled by bureaucracy and top-heavy administrative costs. A more even
balance must be struck and creative ways need to be developed to involve teachers
and parents in the process of returning California schools to their premier status.
One reform that has been suggested is the concept of charter schools. Charter schools
are public schools that remain directly accountable to parents and teachers and not
to a bureaucracy that can soak up funds that should be going to the classroom. Currently,
there is a 100-school cap on charter schools. This cap needs to be eliminated. If
we fail in our effort to raise an educated populace, society as a whole and individuals
themselves will fail to move forward and more people will turn to welfare and the
government for answers to problems that government created in the first place."
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This page first published April 6, 2001 -- last updated April 6, 2001