Saturday, April 21, 2007

Public Education

Government can be Smarter, and we can be smarter.

Education Vouchers sounds too many like a quick fix to problems in our public education system. But supporters of an education voucher system have not been able to address many problems I see in the system.

One does not need to be a high school graduate to know that:
Heavy use of the vouchers for private schools will increase the price of tuition's at private schools, so vouchers would not cover the cost of this education.
Heavy movement of students from the public education system would create vacant classrooms increasing the operation cost of public schools and in many cases eliminate many schools, local public schools may became a thing of the pass.
That low-income family’s may opt to get the vouchers to supplement their income by home schooling and never actually educate their children.
Private schools current success is due to numerous operational factors that are not available to public schools. Low performers are permanently expelled, behavior problem students are permanently expelled, and children with learning disabilities or physical disabilities are not accepted, dress code is heavily enforced and violation can result in permanently being expelled, and the word of the private school board is finial.

Education Vouchers are not a quick fix solution to public education problems.

The Problem with our education system in my opinion is not public education, but in the delivery system.

Everyone is aware that public education is not teaching the skills necessary for future employment. Modification of our current public education system grades 9-12 is necessary for the success of this country to once again to become independent and a world leader in innovation.

I support the concept that at grades 9-12 children delivery system be changed to:

Academic students will receive at home education on interactive educational programs through a computer Internet link to the local or regional school district.
1. Students will log into the computer each day, and perform their work at their own pace.
School provided computers Internet access will be programmed to school site only.
2. A key logger would insure that actual work is being performed.
Courses requiring hands on lab work would be performed once a month in classrooms at the school. (Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and etc.) Rotation of students would ensure continued use of the classrooms and teacher employment.

Trade students would receive at home education on interactive educational programs in much of the same manner as the academic students with the following differences:

A rotation every two weeks of students to the physically located school, classes would met for one group Monday and Tuesday of one week and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday of the next week, the other group of trade students would be meeting days opposite the other group. This will provide for continued employment of teachers and utilization of the school.


Students will access to live teachers during their days working at home on the computer by phone at a help desk.


This concept will provide the following:
Reduced cost of housing students during school current school hours.
Reduced on-site school behavior problems.
Enforce in students the concept that they are responsible for their own education, no the teachers. This country stop believing that if we that if take students to the water they will drink.
Reduce energy cost to operate schools.
Reduce the need of a never ending school construction program.
Reduce cost of education.
Increase self-discipline of individuals.
Allow rapid and slow learner to progress at their own pace and not at the pace of the class.
Educate students for future employment.
Make our graduating students competitive in the global market.
Provide state of art equipment for on-site classroom labs.
Teach students to think, not to recite.

Smarter students will make smarter citizens, and smarter citizens will provide for a smarter government.

Lost Tax Revenue

As this year tax season closes for individual income tax, every tax paying citizen should be outraged. Numerous sub-contract workers are not paying a single penny in income tax. Its a wonderful setup, get paid the going rate and or in many cases a higher rate for services and pay no income taxes.

How is this happening you ask? I can not pay income taxes without risk of losing everthing or going to jail. And the Internal Revenue Service is allowing ten of millions of workers to pay nothing in taxes.

If you are a illegal immigrant or a "dead beat" dad, you can work as a sub-contractor in the United States, get paid regularly, not have taxes taken out of our check, and never pay income tax. False identification or someone Else's identification will allow you to work for years before having to change identification. The Internal Revenue Service requires contract labor income to be report on 1099's by February of each year. This allows the contract labor to work eighteen months with a fraudulent Social Security number and up to three years with a stolen Social Security Number. Once the Internal Revenue Service notifies the payer to start withholding taxes, the sub-contractor just moves on to another business or in some cases just present the contractor with a new fraudulent Social Security number.

Where is the logic? A few years ago the IRS required copies of W-9's (the forms that sub-contractors fill out about name, address, and social security number) to be filed at least by the next first quarter the contractor paid his 941 taxes. That is no longer required.

Quick solution to this problem is to fire the Secretary of Treasury and the Director of Internal Revenue Service for not protecting the revenues of the United States.