The Ideal School

                                                                                    The Ideal School 

     The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the 2nd Century, A.D. in his personal writings, now known as “Meditations, writes of his experiences as a student. He tells us about his great-grandfather, Catilus Serverus, who advised him “to avoid the public schools, to hire good private teachers, and to accept the resulting costs as money well-spent”. That was 1,800 years ago!

     The public school system in American began in earnest after the Civil War. This is when the federal government funded and controlled schools replaced the private education system. By 1870, 57% of the school age children in America were enrolled in public schools. Then by the beginning of the 20th Century numerous groups pushed for a more comprehensive and bureaucratic public education system that was suppose to be  “critical to America’s future”. The Progressive movement replaced the community run schools with their sophisticated and standardized system that was backed by business leaders and the labor unions. 

     In 1905, seeing the rise of Germany as an economic threat, the United States manufacturers pushed for state-run trade schools. Then these American businesses, along with the labor unions, pressured Congress to expand federal spending on education. The school administrators, teachers and students all had a place in producing a standardized “final product”. Even today public education is dominated by these objectives.

     The role of public education has expanded to encompass all aspects of family life  - such as:  instilling moral values, managing health and nutrition needs, fighting crime and protecting children from physical and psychological harm  -  public education has taken control of every aspect of the student’s life! Finally, numerous groups use the public school system as a way to promote their own political and social goals....racial integration, democratic participation, or environmental awareness. 

     Every year since World War II, the American public felt that something “new” was happening in public school reform. But statistics tell a different story. There has been very little change in student performance, in fact the changes were downward. What has become clear is that government is totally unsuited to teach America’s students.  

     “America’s monopolistic, bureaucratic, over-regulated system of public schools is woefully unprepared to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. Political, business and education leaders continue to talk about “reforming” the current public education system. They should, instead, be discussing how to replace it.” 

     Studies show that private schools produce better students than public schools. My ideal school is a private school that has teachers and administrators who listen to input from the students and their parents.     

www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka