United Liberty

If you were a policymaker tasked with running a school system with one of the lowest achievement rates in the country, and someone came along and offered an idea with proven results that costs less, would you give that person the time of day? (We can only hope.)

In their second installment of Reason Saves Cleveland, Nick Gillespie examines Cleveland’s dysfunctional school system, and show methods around the country that actually work.

As Reason explains, “Cleveland’s public schools are failing to prepare students for their futures and as a result, all parents who can afford to have been fleeing to the suburbs for decades. Within Cleveland’s own boundaries, charter schools are booming and delivering quality education at a fraction of the cost of traditional public schools. Does Cleveland have what it takes to fundamentally reform its K-12 education system and become a leader in 21st-century education?”

For the sake of all those children who did not choose to be born into poverty, let us hope it does. Watch:

Portions of this video have been making the rounds on Atlanta news stations, due to the disbanding of the dance team featured for one year. District administration officials suspended the activities of the extra-curricular group after complaints by parents. This is clearly a First Amendment issue, as these girls are expressing themselves through dance at a public function. The performance of the dance was not exceptionally distasteful, but I can see how some may view it as inappropriate for girls of that age. I think it is hardly different from the latest Beyonce video that can be seen on MTV or VH1 whenever it is that they actually show music videos.

It is is a widely held assumption (whether right or wrong is not the point of this post) that governments, the education industry, and healthcare industry generally are less efficient than other industries, such as technology. The high of levels of typical annual costs growth in these industries, often well above the rate of inflation, gives some statistical data to back up these “peformance lag” perceptions. Assuming that the perception of a peformance lag in these industries is correct, then why is this the case? The reasons are countless, with many coming down to basic organizational, pricing, and incentive structures. But there is an additional factor (the extent of importance which is unknown) of who is in these industries.

In Sweden, parents are enjoying the freedom of being able to choose where their students go to school:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Schools run by private enterprise? Free iPods and laptop computers to attract students?

It may sound out of place in Sweden, that paragon of taxpayer-funded cradle-to-grave welfare. But a sweeping reform of the school system has survived the critics and 16 years later is spreading and attracting interest abroad.

“I think most people, parents and children, appreciate the choice,” said Bertil Ostberg, from the Ministry of Education. “You can decide what school you want to attend and that appeals to people.”