Won’t someobody please think of the children?
March 28, 2006
Somebody has.
There is a growing trend is taking root across the country, as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act, of increasing education standards across the board - it’s being considered in Michigan, as the Free Press reported last week. Specifically, the Freep asks “What good are impressive graduation requirements if kids can still quit school at 16?”
What good are the elevated requirements? Joshua Hall, over at Division of Labor cites Thomas Sowell, “[W]e all drop out of school at some point. The efficient level of output of bads is generally not zero and some failure is optimal.”
To the point, here, raising the standards of education does not help those who are unable to meet the requirements, or unwilling to do so. The Freep points out that the bill will make allowances for those whose family hardships require that they work to help feed the family or pay the bills — but why should such a pressing need be bound by the restraints of bureaucracy? Insofar as the proposal won’t increase the education of the “drop-outs,” (they’ll still be working outside of school - just earning high-school credit for it) I don’t understand the point. Life is always about trade-offs; we can’t all grow up to be millionaires or even moderately rich to begin with…
It’s just a misguided attempt by (perhaps well-meaning) politicians, to put something on their political resumes that will make people feel warm & fuzzy. The real question is why the education of our nation’s children, arguably one of the most important “industries” in the development of human capital, is left entirely to the State and its accompanying red-tape and regulations. I favor at the very least, a voucher system, but I am compelled to adopt some more radical, free-market-in-education positions. But that’s a debate for another day.
Related posts:
- Won’t Someone Please Think of the Children?
- Politispeak
- Higher Ed: Can the Government “Fix” it?
- On Political Accountability
- Joe Six-Pack on Taxes
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