Louis Gerstner shares “Lessons From 40 Years of Education Reform” in a Wall Street Journal article today.
Put simply, Lou wants Barack Obama to centralize nearly every aspect of our public school system – curriculum, operations, testing, etc. His proposals include the following:
– Abolish all local school districts, save 70 (50 states; 20 largest cities).
Comment: Lou argues that, “The U.S. Department of Education can direct all of its discretionary funds to this effort.” Why should we trust educrats in Washington any more than those on the local and state levels?
– Establish a set of national standards for a core curriculum.
Comment: Will ED be in charge of this too? No matter who is in charge, we would see test questions written by interest groups, lobbyists, politicians, and sundry ideologues.
– Establish a National Skills Day on which every third, sixth, ninth and 12th-grader would be tested against the national standards.
Comment: Why test 12th graders? At that point, it is too late to do anything. Why not test at grades 4, 6, 8, and 10 instead?
– Establish national standards for teacher certification and require regular re-evaluations of teacher skills. Increase teacher compensation to permit the best teachers (as measured by advances in student learning) to earn well in excess of $100,000 per year, and allow school leaders to remove underperforming teachers.
Comment: The merit pay idea has, well, merit, but, again, who sets the national standards for teachers?
– Extend the school day and the school year to effectively add 20 more days of schooling for all K-12 students.
Comment: That doesn’t do much good.
