Abuse in our kids' education

Thirty years ago, President Reagan requested a report on American education. The report became known as "A Nation at Risk." It describes our nation's public education system as performing so poorly that a foreign enemy could not have done more harm to America than has our public school system.

Twenty years ago, and again 10 years ago, it was reported that improvements have not been made. Endless studies show that teachers and their unions have stiff-armed desperately needed reforms. In places like Coeur d'Alene, school boards pretend that there are worse systems than theirs - as parents in large numbers home school their kids, send their kids to private schools if they can, or pray that their kids can escape regular Cd'A schools by sending them to charter schools.

After a career in the military I taught in a public high school for five years. I learned first hand about lethargy and indifference. Discussions about improvements were not tolerated. Here, I've attended Cd'A school board meetings and know how angry parents are treated when they complain that their children are being poorly educated and have been bullied. Parents complained directly to the district superintendent. During that session, the superintendent kept her head down, pretended to be writing, and, unbelievably, was given an extension to her contract that very evening.

There aren't good reasons why beautiful Idaho would have one of the worst public education systems in the nation - No. 47 out of 50. Though most teachers work hard, good reasoning would conclude that 50-plus years of "accommodating" teachers' demands over the needs of children have led to this form of abuse.

Now, a local election is touted as the throwing out of a school board known for its malaise. Candidates now insinuate that they will usher in the solution - as if conservative school board members will create needed reforms. Most school boards across America, both conservative and liberal, merely tread water. School boards pretend that their job is only fiscal oversight. They know well that administrators merely keep busy, and that the education effort, oversight and results, are sub-par.

Here are some real questions to pose to candidates:

1. Locally administered achievement tests are used to claim our public schools are adequate. When achievement tests are administered by outsiders, over 70 percent of our students cannot pass. Please explain why this is the case, and how you would change that reality?

2. Today, teachers are virtually unsupervised. Many hand out grades without assuring that students have learned material. (See No. 1 above.) How would you change that in the Cd'A schools?

3. Would you initiatestudent before-and-after testing to assure a teacher's competence? How would you remove teachers?

4. Why do you believe that students' parents resort to many education alternatives to remove their children from Cd'A schools?

5. Bullying regularly takes place in our schools - see comments above. We pay heavily for supervisors called assistant principals, who are paid well to solve that issue. They don't! They have endless excuses which equate to an unsafe school environment. How would you solve this problem?

Today, most industrialized nations' education systems outperform America's. Unless our students go through Gifted and Talented (GATE), International Baccalaureate (IB) systems, or Advanced Placement (AP) programs, our kids are poorly prepared for life. That is indeed child abuse for 70 percent of our kids. Idaho elevates only 10 percent of its citizens as college graduates - a dismal statistic. Other American states each produce about 30 percent of its citizens as college graduates.

We can turn the corner in Cd'A with real leaders as school board members. It goes without saying that district bureaucrats refuse to address the quality of this school district. With real leadership from your school board, you can insist that they commit to meaningful reforms such as those listed above. School board positions most often become stepping stones for self-promoters. School boards typically only tread water, pretending that fiscal issues are their only domain. That can and must change for Coeur d'Alene. This is the opportunity.

Note: The best-performing schools around the world are systems where: teachers work 8-hour days, where teachers keep their jobs dependent upon student learning, where students must pass a very difficult test encompassing all subjects over four years - before they can graduate - and where teachers teach 35-45 more days per year than our very highly compensated teachers. The result: Their students earn a huge percentage of slots in America's best universities.

Ronald Deady is a Coeur d'Alene resident.