AMERICAN IDIOTS

Unions = Socialism=Failure

Jim:

I'm curious to get your take, as an educator, on the quality of students you see.  I teach Master's courses online and I have now formed some opinions about the quality of students and the educational philosophies of different cultures.

As the father of 4 teenagers, I am frustrated at times with my children's efforts (as most parents are).  Even in a home that espouses the value of education, they don't seem to get it.  We talk often about the fact that they are not competing just with their classmates and kids in the U.S. but now in a global economy where other cultures value education more.  We live in an upper-middle class suburban area and the schools are "highly-rated".  We spend a ton per student on education but I am amazed at how little is really expected of the kids.

Fat, dumb and apathetic is no way to go through life.

Jim - - -

I don't like to correct you, but you said:  "Our public schools are either not teaching the right things or not using the right techniques."

You should have said (in my opinion): 

Our public schools are either not teaching the right things or AND not using the right techniques.

If I were to build an education pyramid, I would put the three R's on the base.  The next level would be logic and critical thinking.  The third level above the foundation would be history and geography.  The fourth level would be civics, economics concepts and personal finance, the fifth level would be science and the top level would be literature and the arts.

This pyramid defines the order of introducing topics, but not the order of finishing them.  The foundation would be all that is covered in K-2, but it should be continued in older years.  Simple logic and critical thinking should be introduced in grades 3-4 and become more sophisticated as grades progress.  History and geography should be introduced in grades 4-5 and continued with more depth though high school.  Civics, economics and personal finance should start in grade 6.  Science should start in grade 7.  Literature and the arts should start in grade 9.

"Subjects" such as physical education, health, personal art and music should be available (PE and health required) should be included in school programs, but should not displace subjects in the pyramid.

A major problem is that too many teachers do not have basic knowledge in all of these areas and some are lacking in most of them.  Education degrees place emphasis on courses in how to teach and do not assure that the graduates (teaching degrees) have the knowledge needed.  Yes, teachers must understand how to teach, but that must come after knowing what to teach.  And when it comes to the level just above the foundation, how many teachers do you know who have sound logic and critical thinking skills?

Having taught college science courses, and finding it necessary to teach simple algebra to some students who have passed algebra courses in high school, has made me wonder just what our primary and secondary schools are doing.  Making sure all students have grasped the basics apparently is not one of their accomplishments.

Jim - - -

You wrote:

"Instead of encouraging excellence in our most gifted children, government bureaucrats spend billions experimenting with the latest educational fads and trying to make sure all students are treated equal. This socialist teaching methodology has accomplished mass mediocrity. The devastating combination of mediocre teaching methods, weak curriculum, disinterested or non-existent parental involvement, lazy unmotivated pupils, and greedy self serving teachers’ unions has led to the poor excuse for a public education system."

I have often said that "No Child Left Behind" has turned out to be "No Child Gets Ahead".  That is an over statement (it might be more accurate to say "Fewer Children Get Ahead") because some bright children still do excel.  The real problem is in the middle of the performance distribution, where those who might rise to higher percentiles are not being so challenged, but are allowed (expected?) to perform at a level averaged with those with performance below theirs.

We must not allow system performance level standards to interfere with the opportunities for individuals to improve. 

I just posted an Instablog on Seeking Alpha with a link back to this post.  I put up a graphic pyramid as discussed above.  My latest effort rearranged the outline in the comment above.  After giving it some more thought, I think my notes above could be improved.  I will post the same piece here on TBP for more discussion and perhaps some more improvement as a result.

The link is http://seekingalpha.com/author/john-lounsbury/instablog 

I have run into more academic morons in my lifetime than I even care to think about.

Ben Bernanke is the #1 academic moron in the country at the moment.

"When the dollar goes down it does not effect Americans at home, it only effects them when they go abroad"

                        ---  Ben Bernanke  (the fall of 2008)  A product of the American educational system

"Liberal Waste of Money ... The states with the lowest graduation rate in the nation were South Carolina (53%), followed by Georgia (56%), Tennessee (57%), and Alabama (58%).”

Not exactly bastions of liberalism. Historically, those states linger in the bottom half of per capita educational expenditure (http://www.ppinys.org/reports/jtf/educationspending.htm), so citing them doesn’t necessarily support your overall thesis that spending money on education doesn’t help. On the other hand, Alaska is #1 in per capita spending on education, and it doesn’t seem to have produced, say, a more enlightened class of political leadership than the rest of us “enjoy.”

“With the highest average salary per teacher, Detroit must be turning out the best and brightest.”

Jim, I’m surprised at you! After all your years in private enterprise (and your discovery of the rule of “FUMU”), do you really expect the formula “compensation = competence” to apply any more in the field of public education than it does in the world of business? While I’m sure teachers’ unions have an effect, I suspect that the effect in a place like Detroit is peanuts compared to the effect of Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the marketplace: the turnover rate for teachers in places like Detroit is so high that they’ve got to bid up the salaries just to get someone to show up for work.

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2008/section4/indicator31.asp

“Whenever I read about failure, my immediate reaction is to look for examples of success.”

Good idea. Be sure to check out Geoff Canada’s work with Harlem Children’s Zone: http://www.hcz.org/. And he’s done it with kids who aren’t either Asian or Finnish.

“Based on the studies I’ve found, Finland finishes at or near the top of every survey in Math and Science. They must be doing something right.”

Not to take anything away from the Finns (I’ve only known one, but he’s a great guy [you knew him too]), but, let’s face it, they’re dealing with an awfully homogeneous population. With all of our huddled masses here in the USA, it’s a real struggle.

“An important ingredient in Finland's high achievement in reading and writing is a strong culture of reading in the home.”

Ain’t that the truth! I taught for five years in a private high school. Invariably, the kids who had the toughest times academically were the kids whose homes contained nary a book; often, not even a magazine or a newspaper. I don’t care how much money one spends on schooling, it’s pretty hard to make a dent in kids who live in a home like that: after all, they’re in any one teacher’s class for only a tiny fraction of the time that they spend at home. That’s why Geoff Canada’s program has had to take such a broad-based approach to shaping the entire culture of the students in that program in order to make a difference in their lives: it’s a lot more than simply what happens in the classroom.

“Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son”

It worked for Sen. Blutarsky; then again, he *was* a pre-med. Sometimes, though, I think it comes down to another great Mark Twain quote: “I never let my schooling interfere with my education.” My grandfather was a farmer who never made it through high school, but he was one of the most well-read men I’ve ever met; and could recite pages and pages of poetry by heart. He also taught himself all about soil chemistry and botany, and a fair amount of mechanical engineering, as well. Life presents us every day with so many great opportunities for learning.

I must share with you the following as it supports your argument perfectly.

I was watching the trivia show "Cash Cab" last night and during this episode two young women were attempting to answer multiple questions.

One of the questions pertained to the location of Ayers rock, a.k.a Uluru. The host of the show presented the two women with a picture of the rock formation and asked "in what country is this rock formation located?"

One gal responded " I think it is Australia" and then looks to her friend for confirmation. Her friend replies "IS AUSTRALIA A COUNTRY?"

My jaw hit the ground as I could not believe what I had just heard. I did not laugh instead I felt embarrassed and even a bit scared because let's be honest this young woman represents the future of our country.

In some areas of the country students must take a test to get to the next grade, the schools and teachers are evaluated on the test scores.  The teachers teach only the test, it becomes a short term memory drill.  The students are not challanged, have little to interest in current events, and many of them have no idea the applications of what they are being force fed.  I think the process fails to generate problem solving abilities and crushes creativity.  Add a few doses of Ritalin for any kid who becomes disinterested or becomes animated when something interests them and you end up with a dumbed out, doped up, group of unmotivated youg sheeple.

 High Schools are now handing out "degrees" to graduates now?

I always thought it was a diploma.

Mises.org had a great article today about education http://mises.org/story/3617

Great article as always Jim

Jim, tell me you didn't laugh your "fat ass" off while watching both those movies.  I'd bet money you have Animal House and Fast Times at Ridgemont High in your DVD collection.

Didn't Senator Blutarski work to help shore up the accounting errors in the last FED report?

Both movies still make me laugh.

Just a side note-

Delta House Pledge Class of 1994.  It was the fall midterms that really helped to pull up my GPA.

Ezra

Jim, Something to think about. I saw this quote and thought about all your "American Idiot" posts:

If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.
Ronald Reagan

"Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est". - Knowledge itself is power.

The whole experience of education has been one of experimenting with adaptation.  It is not about humiliating people by shutting them into preconceived models.

That is why the strength of the public school system has always been the key for young citizens to find their way.  And that is why the desire of many established middle classes to withdraw their children from the public system is deeply irresponsible.

To do so is a failure of citizenship; an unwillingness to take the time and resources to help right whatever is wrong in the system.  It is a failure to consciously accept that education works because of the mixes created in those public schools.

If the elite desert them, they betray their country.

And that is why the actions of many state governments over the last few decades to cut back on programs and services in public schools were -- and these words are not often used -- intentionally evil.

The slowness with which many recently elected governments are undoing this damage and working out new ways to re-energize the public system represents a profound confusion as they fiddle with bookkeeping instead of investing in the core of the public welfare.

nothing changes until schools start refusing federal mandate money. Fat Chance.

These statistics are misleading. In many countries of the world, the less intelligent students are weeded out early and may be sent to technical or vocational schools. So the test scores in these countries do not reflect the entire range of students, just those who were selected for higher education and thus have better scores. In the US, the public schools educate [or try to] everyone. And the test scores reflect that all students are included. So, naturally, we will not do as well as those countries that have weeded out the less capable students.

Our top students do just as well as the top students in other countries.  One solution is to stop pretending that all American students should be in high school programs designed to get them into college. We have far too many students in college who have no business being there. Many of them should have been trained for blue collar jobs. We should create again vocational and technical schools for appropriate students and provide college prep education for those who are intellectually capable of college. Rebuilding our manufacturing base is essential for many reasons and this is one of them - jobs for those who don't belong in college.

  I taught for 9 years in the public schools.  After 16 years in the land title business, I became concerned when I would hire 1 out of 12 applicants and half of those hired wouldn't last through the 90 day probationary period.  So I took an 18 month leave of absence and got a MA in Secondary Education and a job teaching at Edinburg High School.  I soon discovered what was wrong with our education system.  To make a long story short, academics and discipline are of little importance in the public schools (at least in Arizona, Colorado, and Texas - where I taught middle school, high school, and junior college students).  In 1990 (according to the UN), the U. S. was #1 in spending and #16 in academic performance.  In 2000, the U. S. was still #1 in spending and #143 in academic performance!  My teaching career was encompassed by that decade (NOT MY FAULT, I DIDN'T DO IT!).

  I did see school administrations that were more concerned with having warm bodies in the classroom for census (= money) purposes than what, or even if, the students learned.  I saw too many young idealistic teachers flee the classroom because of threats made by the administration if too many students failed (usually because the students didn't want to do the work) and threats of bodily harm by the students.  I saw tens of thousands of dollars wasted by schools to send teachers to seminars to learn how to teach students critical thinking skills and then refusing to allow those teachers to impliment anything they learned at those seminars.  I saw students shot (2 drive-by shootings), stabbed (too many times to count), and battered by other students - all in small towns!  I heard the constant complaint that the number of students in a classroom was too large.  Yet most of the countries in the UN census that surpassed the U. S. in academics had almost 50% more students per classroom than the U. S. did!

  Put public education back in the hands of the local community.  Bring academics and discipline back into the public schools.  And get the federal and state governments as far away from education as possible!  Then MAYBE we can turn the situation around.

At least the Hispanics know how to WORK.

The rest end in prison or on welfare.

HOME SCHOOL your kids. Keep them out of the cesspool of the general public until you put them on their feet. Then they will have enough understanding of who they are and where they are going that the stupid public mindsets won't pull them down.

There are exceptions but most kids won't learn much without a whole family. You cannot fix education without FIRST fixing
families. America(via liberal fools and passive folks who knew better) has trashed the family...and now they wonder what went wrong.

AMERICAN IDIOTS is right!

Your choice of the word "idiot" may be more appropriate than you realize. The paragraph below is quoted from Henry J. Abraham, Professor, University of Virginia (who is obviously much better educated than I)...

The ancient Greeks had a word, idiot?s (“idiot”), for the man who took no part or interest in civic matters, which carried the social and political connotation of paying no attention to the state and the community but simply tending to private affairs. In the word of the sage Pericles in the celebrated Funeral Oration: “We regard a man who takes no interest in public life not as a harmless but as a useless character.”

Jim, I thought you might want to note that the SAT was revamped (made easier) in 1992 because scores had been declining since 1968.  So like so many other indicators statiticians use now-a-days, one is really comparing "apples to oranges" when one compares the old scores with the new.  As usual, when indicators decline, the answer is always to fix the indicators and not the problem!

 please Lord... deliver a brutal justice upon this country which has failed miserably in so many ways. amen

Sparta, Athens’ neighbor, was a horse of a different color. Society in Sparta was organized around the concept of cradle-to-grave formal training. The whole state was a universal schoolhouse, official prescriptions for the population filled every waking minute and the family was employed as a convenience for the state. Sparta’s public political arrangements were an elaborate sham, organized nominally around an executive branch with two legislative bodies, but ultimate decision-making was in the hands of ephors, a small elite who conducted state policy among themselves. The practical aspect of imitation democracy figures strongly in the thought of later social thinkers such as Machiavelli (1532) and Hobbes (1651), as well as in minds nearer our own time who had influence on the shape of American forced schooling.

Spartan ideas of management came to American consciousness through classical studies in early schooling, through churches, and also through interest in the German military state of Prussia, which consciously modeled itself after Sparta. As the nineteenth century entered its final decades American university training came to follow the Prussian/Spartan model. Service to business and the political state became the most important reason for college and university existence after 1910. No longer was college primarily about developing mind and character in the young. Instead, it was about molding those things as instruments for use by others. Here is an important clue to the philosophical split which informed the foundation of modern schooling and to an important extent still does: small farmers, crafts folk, trades people, little town and city professionals, little industrialists, and older manorial interests took a part of their dream of America from democratic Athens or from republican Rome (not the Rome of the emperors); this comprised a significant proportion of ordinary America. But new urban managerial elites pointed to a future based on Spartan outlook.

John Taylor Gatto- Underground History of American Education- Link below:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm

Home schooling gives the child's natural desire to learn great access to resources. The needs and abilities of the student are well known by the parents. Noone cares like the child's parents who will go to great lengths to see that the child succeeds. If you start when the children are young, the parents can learn and grow with the child. It is amazing what parents learn as we homeschool. The path of discovery is inspiring to both child and parent via mutually experienced thrill of learning.

The most basic and essential thing to teach(via demonstration) is the love of learning. The life-long path of zealous learning produces a wealth of wisdom in an older generation. It is clear that our society has no love of learning, just money and pleasure. The older generation has little "salt".

Let's go counter culture!

Jim, I disagree with you completely. AMERICAN IDIOTS ARE USEFUL IDIOTS.

Most young men and women graduating from high school should know practical math, how to read and write, and should have learned a trade so that they'll be good "hewers of wood and drawers of water". Students should also have been taught to love their country, the people who run it, and the heroes who made it great. In high school, education in the trivium should be discouraged.

Further formal education should only be for the purpose of enhancing a citizen's ocupational skills. Brighter students should be co-opted into an elite, educated further in the tradional way, and trained for leadership roles in various areas of society. Those who can't adapt to the American way should be re-educated if there are other ways they can serve their country.

What you failed to mention, Jim, is that a bright and well-educated (in the classical sense) citizenry is a dangerous element in society. They're questioning, active, and disruptive. They're the type who cause revolutions that lead to destruction and death for many innocent people. The American Revolution is a good example of my point. Virtually all the rebels - I call them that, not patriots, because they were disloyal to their country, its government, and its laws - were well educated men. As a result of their recalcitrance Americans suffered through the revolution against Great Britain, then later had to endure the Civil War, and have been involved in continual wars for almost the last 100 years. Had all Americans been good followers we would all be good Brits. Our ancestors and we wouldn't have had to endure wartime horrors and disruptions.

No country's perfect, nor are its leaders or citizens. However, in the United States it would be better for all if we Americans were followers not critics. Too much non-occupational education is detrimental. AMERICAN IDIOTS ARE USEFUL IDIOTS.

How about those Asian students?

"Utopian schooling is never about learning in the traditional sense; it’s about the transformation of human nature. The core of the difference between Occident and Orient lies in the power relationship between privileged and ordinary, and in respective outlooks on human nature. In the West, a metaphorical table is spread by society; the student decides how much to eat; in the East, the teacher makes that decision.

The Chinese character for school shows a passive child with adult hands pouring knowledge into his empty head."

John Taylor Gatto

Ah! But the key is- What knowledge is being poured in?

"No public school in the United States is set up to allow a George Washington to happen. Washingtons in the bud stage are screened, browbeaten, or bribed to conform to a narrow outlook on social truth. Boys like Andrew Carnegie who begged his mother not to send him to school and was well on his way to immortality and fortune at the age of thirteen, would be referred today for psychological counseling; Thomas Edison would find himself in Special Ed until his peculiar genius had been sufficiently tamed."

John Taylor Gatto

Let's see.... Five hours a day tutoring, for 20 days a month, for nine months a year, and for 12 years, adds up to 10,800 hours of intense education. That's about $10 per hour at the 12 year $111,000 public school cost Jim Quinn quoted. Three students paying for one tutor is $30 per hour for the teacher, four students $40 per hour and so forth. Oh, and if the liberals who are clamoring for more money for education, as Jim reports, get it, then in my example our kids might get more small class education, or the teachers get more money, or both.  And for our kids ... Hey, we don't 'em so smart that they talk to each other in Latin, do chess problems in their heads, and snigger at their parents because they can't multiply two four digit numbers without pencil and paper. That's not worth $111,000 is it?

 That's quite a stunning indictment of our educational system.  You can thank television, movies, radio, newspapers, and most of all Madison Avenue for their roles in this fiasco as well.

Here's a question for you Jim. If I provide you with a link to a peer reviewed scientific paper, proving incendiaries were used in the destruction of the World Trade Center Complex, will you read it?

http://www.bentham.org/open/tocpj/openaccess2.htm

Click on 2009 to read the paper. It can be finished in under 90 minutes easily.

Perhaps kids are sick of being institutionalized on a daily basis. Perhaps they can sense that this "progress" freight train is completely unsustainable, and skewed towards promoting greedy, arrogant, psychopaths. My eight year old daughter told me yesterday her elementary school resembles a prison. It does.

In education, as in so many other things, America you get what you tolerate.

Good luck with the future.

Excellent article. The Options offspring attended private school. Even though the tuition was expensive and the education was "tainted" by the state mandates that regulate private schools and public alike, we were glad to spend the money. In high school, Options Daughter revolted, she wanted to go to public high school. We permitted it, and regretted our lapse of judgement. Options Daughter graduated college summa cum laude and is a well adjusted adult today. However, those three years of public high school had to be supplemented with additional classes and activities to counteract the public school's mediocrity.

Someone had suggested that the reason Finland does so well is because they don't have the social issues afflicting the U.S. I thought that was a good thought. So I checked. Shockingly, Finland has the 3rd highest divorce rate in the world.

World Divorce Statistics

Percentage of New Marriages which End in Divorce, in Selected Countries (2002)

                                                            Country Divorces (as % of marriages)

Sweden                                                                   54.9
Belarus                                                                    52.9
Finland                                                                     51.2
Luxembourg                                                          47.4
Estonia                                                                    46.7
Australia                                                                  46.0
United States                                                          45.8

Jim, I'd be interested in seeing how diversity effects these statistics. For example, there is little racial/ethnic diversity in the nations you compare the US to.  How would these numbers look if you took out American inner-cities?

I thought the Finns were so smart because they ate so much fish.

Seriously the demise of the family structure is directly correlated to our children's educational performance. There are too many men who don't act like husbands and fathers and women who have to be father, mother, and breadwinner. Obviously the kids respond when there are adults who act like adults and can teach and mentor. I am the first to admit that I can certainly do more to reach out to those children and families who need help.

You blame our educational problems on socialism and compliment Finland for their results yet fail to notice that Finland is

extremely sociallized.  What Finland is not, is an empire full of individuals with very different backgrounds and aspirations. 

The U.S. empire suffered a heart attack in 1913 and was declared dead (bankrupt) in 1933.  The CCCP (country club criminal party) their intelligence networks and the goons who do their dirty work are preparing this nation for a seven hundred year backstep to serfdom. 

Have not any of you people ever read Richard Lynn.  Knowledge and educational attainment is a function of IQ level, period.

And why the subject of different IQ levels among the different ethnics is so very carefuly avoided is beyond me. Unless this fact is addressed and faced head on, the US will continue it's social and economic dead spiral.  If fact it's all ready to late.

Sorry, correction, death sprial. In fact it's all ready to late.  You see, I was educated in the public schools and didn't learn to proof read.

From Sol Stern's "Breaking Free" copyright 2003

"John Chubb attempted to get some accurate data on the number of people working in the central bureaucracies of the NYC public school system versus the archdiocese school system. When he ...asked how many people worked at 110 Livingston Street (in Brooklyn), he was told that it would take days to get that information. Chubb never did get an accurate headcount, although it was widely suspected that the number was somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000.

"Chubb then made his call to the offices of the archdiocese schools. He immediately reached an aide...The aide said that if he stayed on the line he would have an answer shortly.

"AS HE WAITED, CHUBB COULD HEAR SOMEONE COUNTING HEADS - "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR."

"The aide then got back on the phone and told him that a total of twelve people worked at central headquarters."

It's not race, it's not money and it isn't even two-parent families. It sure ain't Finland.

Look up Albert Shanker's 1991 challenge to the NYC Catholic schools and Superintendent Catherine Hickey's response.

Excellent article. Thank you, Jim.

I'm an engineer, but I taught economics for two years at a college where the majority of students were in Education. I helped place graduating students, (you wear a variety of hats in a small college), and I saw first hand how stifling and bureaucratic the education system had become.

It has been alluded to before in your article, and the many fine comments, that we need decentralization. Couldn't agree more. I'd like to see federal and union control reduced. Privatization of all schools, and a voucher system of some sort might be a possibility. The three R's surely need more emphasis. Diversity would be a plus. Most of the programs to date, like "No Child Left Behind", are really steps backward.

Unions breed mediocrity, instead of protecting hard workers against evil corporations, they have become money-sucking institutions dedicated to keeping union dues flowing, and low performers and "problem" employees pay just as many dues as the good ones.

Mainstreaming breeds mediocrity.

Even good teachers are forced to teach to the lowest common denominator.

The brightest are all but ignored, until state mandated test time.

No way to run anything.

Between my daughter becoming forced guinea pig for Big Pharma and the AMA, and the quality of the public teachers I have personally seen lately (and at $70k a year for MBAs in Michigan), I am thinking of homeschooling my daughter until I can afford private school.

And with this economy, and the government promising to short my pay even more, who knows how long that could be.  Scary stuff and nicely done.

Jim:   You wrote " As of 2008, 14% of Americans over 18 years old haven’t graduated high school, 31% have achieved a high school degree, 27% have earned a bachelor’s degree, and only 9% have earned an advanced degree."

Let's see 14%+31%+27%+9%=81%

For an article so critical of education,  where is the other 19% of the population?

FInland may be highly socialized, like any homogenous well functioning society,.....but its NOT socialistic in its governance...there is a huge difference 

Mr. Quinn,

Historically and if you accept the saeculum thought instead of the linear thought, we in America have entered the Fourth Turning.  When the crisis catalyses, and if we manage it the best we can (as we did the depression + WW2), we should come out armed with the old values, thrift, education, honesty and so on.  If we fail, we could be loosing our place of leadership in the world and enter dark times.  My education, in a foreign country, has equipped me with considerably greater knowledge with my 12th grade than what I've seen around here.  The decadence of our society is really what is ailing us.  We wish to blame someone or something but in fact we are in the process of closing the cycle.  We shall see what comes!

I admit to not reading all of the comments here so maybe my questions were already posted. But first I want to say that I completely agree with your thesis which is basically another twist on the T.J. quote that people get the govt they deserve (or something like that). My questions, 1) What is the ethnic composition of Finland? 2) Who was taking the SAT in 1972, this year referencing the first year in your SAT graph? (which btw is the year I took it and I can tell you that only the smartest kids went to college then; now it's a free-for-all)

Solution:  Marketing!

The Wall Street Journal

• AUGUST 17, 2009

Public schools in the U.S. have added professional marketing to their back-to-school shopping lists.

Financially struggling urban districts are trying to win back students fleeing to charter schools, private schools and suburban districts that offer open enrollment. Administrators say they are working hard to improve academics -- but it can't hurt to burnish their image as well.

A bus in Washington, D.C., carries an ad for the city's public schools, which have seen enrollment plunge from nearly 150,000 students in 1970 to less than 50,000 last year. The district spent $100,000 this spring on a campaign that also included radio spots in an effort to win back students who have left public schools. The ads include quotes from students who say they are glad they stayed in public school.

So they are recording radio ads, filming TV infomercials and buying address lists for direct-mail campaigns. Other efforts, by both districts and individual schools, call for catering Mexican dinners for potential students, making sales pitches at churches and hiring branding experts to redesign logos.

"Schools are really getting that they can't just expect students to show up any more," said Lisa Relou, who directs marketing efforts for the Denver Public Schools. "They have to go out and recruit."

Administrators working on the public-relations push say the potential returns are high. State funding for public schools is based on attendance, so each new student brings more money, typically $5,000 to $8,000 per head. In addition, schools with small enrollments are at constant risk of being shuttered in this recession, and full classrooms help.

Some districts also hope a better image will entice more local business sponsorship and persuade voters to support school levies and bond issues

"They think like educators. They like to explain things in lots of detail," said Christy Lui, who works with schools through her firm Marketing On Demand, based in Oconomowoc, Wis. "They have to learn to think more like businesses."

Not all corporate strategies translate. In the business world, it's fair game to knock a rival, but when a Denver charter school put out fliers comparing its superior graduation rate to that of nearby public schools, tempers flared. The superintendent of Denver Public Schools pleaded for a halt to "negative campaigning" and the charter school pulled the flier.

Charter schools are technically part of the public system in Denver, as in most cities. But they are run independently, with control over their own budgets. To ease the tension sparked by the fliers, the superintendent called in an educational consultant to draft a code of conduct for ethical school marketing. The resulting truce allows for comparisons of graduation rates, test scores and the like. "So long as it's truthful, they can use it," said Amy Slothower, the consultant.

If sharp elbows are one peril for schools, sounding desperate is another.

KIPP Academies, a national network of charter schools, tried TV ads but yanked them for fear that parents might question "the quality of a school when they see it marketed like a used car," said Steve Mancini, a KIPP spokesman. KIPP found better success sending staff door to door in neighborhood to hand out fliers and talk to parents.

Most public schools don't have the resources for that kind of one-on-one marketing. Instead, they are experimenting with mass media.

The Washington, D.C., district spent $100,000 on a campaign that included radio spots and bus ads. The district's enrollment has plunged from nearly 150,000 in 1970 to less than 50,000 last year. To lure students, the ads include quotes from students who say they are glad they stayed in public school.

"We wanted to show the city that there are smiling, happy kids in D.C. public schools," said Jennifer Calloway, a district spokeswoman.

In Pittsburgh, where enrollment has dropped about 25% in the past decade, yard signs along a marathon course this spring touted a pledge by city officials to give full college scholarships to all qualified graduates of city schools. This fall, that message will be carried by $1.5 million of donated advertising space and media airtime.

The TV spots will combine the scholarship pledge with news of recent district achievements, like last week's announcement that Pittsburgh schools met federal benchmarks for academic improvement for the first time.

"We are counting on it to be irresistible," said Saleem Ghubril, who runs the promotional campaign.

The cost of public-school marketing efforts varies widely, from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million. That has raised eyebrows in a few cities, especially when the public schools are making big cuts to balance their budgets.

"If we don't want our schools to look bad, we need to tackle the real issues -- instructing our children, nurturing them, graduating them -- instead of just putting a papier-mâché facade over the problems," said Anna Alicia Romero, who belongs to a parent advocacy group in San Antonio.

Ms. Romero has three children in the San Antonio Independent School District, where enrollment has fallen 25% over the past decade. The district recently signed a $180,000 contract with a marketing firm that has done work for grocery chains, a swanky hotel and Eye Care Centers of America. The marketing plan calls for radio spots, billboards, Twitter feeds, online banner ads and promotional videos on YouTube.

"Most public schools have a negative image," said James Howard, president of the school board. "We're hoping that image can be changed."

Perhaps the boldest marketing push is in St. Louis. The urban district's enrollment has plunged 40% in the past decade because of students moving to charter schools and suburban districts. The school district has been through eight superintendents in 10 years and lost its state accreditation. It faces a $53 million deficit and recently closed 14 schools.

But administrators have set aside $1 million for pay for publicity that may include bragging about a top-ranked high school and magnet programs in culinary arts, aeronautics and international studies.

A marketing firm will spend the next two months asking residents, "What would it take to get you to send your children to school here?" said Patrick

"We're losing 1,500 to 2,000 students a year," Mr. Wallace said. "If we can get those kids to come back, that's a whole lot of money."

If you call yourself an american then you are calling yourself an idiot also? Why would you put down your country like that? Do you like living here? Looks like to me you need to leave and go to a smarter society. Nevermind you stay here because it makes you feel better about yourself.

How did you come up with 36.9 hrs./wk ?  Was preperation time, inservice time, bus duty and other required suppervision, as well as parent contact after hours included?  Not to mention grading papers and book keeping.  How about  time at school events?  We also have to monitor every passing period and the caf. at lunch.  Just where did you get this number?

When I started elementary school, we had a high, medium and low class.  I am not positive that is what they were called but I think it is correct.   Students were divided after kindergarten based on how well they did in reading and math.  Kids who excelled were in the high class and kids who needed extra help were in the low class.    Today that would be totally unacceptable due to self esteem issues.   We have to dumb down classes to make sure the slowest is not left behind and their feelings are not hurt rather than pushing the smart kids to excel.   More money is invested in helping slower kids keep up than encouraging and motivating the gifted kids.   Many schools do not even have a gifted program but yet they have numerous resources to help the kids lagging behind.  

I am not advocating for anyone to be left behind, a lot of kids need extra help and deserve to get extra help.  I do think, however, we need to rethink our attitude towards our gifted children and give them the help they need to reach their full potential.  

I also think that the age at which a child enters kindergarten should be based on the child and not the age.  I have seen many five year olds that would benefit greatly from an extra year at home or preschool but who are forced to start school bc their birthday is before the cutoff date.   Likewise I have seen some kids who miss the cutoff by a couple of days or even months who would do great in school and do not need to be held back another year.   The cutoff is arbitrary and varies by state.   It makes no sense in determining a child's readiness for school.  

Courtesy of Robmu1:  only  about a quarter of the 2009 high school graduates taking the ACT admissions tests have the skills to succeed in college - WSJ 

I wonder how many students would move out of the public schools if money were not a factor for their families.  25%?  50%?

Nah - there are many families who believe in public schools as well as those who say they do so they don't have to pay for tuition.

But i liked Faber College. God damn might as well join the fucking peace corps now.

It's the lack of parent involvment and the Federal government mandating testing every other year plus teaching all the political correctness thats the main reason for the failure. After high school it took me years to figure out that "bullshit and lies" they teach aren't worth a damn. Should of taken more shop classes instead of "social problems".  If people would learn to build and  grow things for themselves  world would be a better place. Doesn't food come from the Grocery store??

Instead of complaining about the education of this country - partake in the solution or have your son and daughter go to private school and do some sacrificing like I did with mine. 

Not all students are dumb students although some in this society and teachers are dumbing down society's own and should be told that this is wrong for this country and society as a whole. 

Blaming all is like taking a apple and seeing it rotten will not eat another from the bunch of apples you have bought. 

Jim, if you don't like the people of this country - pack your bags and go to Europe.