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Throwing money at education

By Arthur Webster of Ask Old Coot

The trouble with 'throwing money at a problem' is that it creates an atmosphere of largesse. The solution to the problem becomes mired in the economic rewards of leaving the problem to get larger so that even more money is thrown at it.

The trouble with most cases of 'money being thrown' is that the money is not seen as a resource - it is seen as an excuse for doing nothing else.

The trouble with education is not a lack of money but a lack of desire. Teachers no longer desire to teach and pupils no longer desire to learn. The level of apathy that rules in all areas of our lives will never be cured by 'more resources'.

When I was learning to read, there was a system in place that allowed me to learn at an accelerated rate if I wanted to but another system in place to ensure that I was taught (and learned) to a minimum acceptable standard. There were no such things as tests to ensure that every child was compared with every other child in order to create a graph of mean achievements (which would invariably be a bell curve) but there were tests which teachers used to learn in which areas each pupil needed more assistance.

Tests were nationally organised so that all schools were using the same parameters but the results of the tests were a local issue - NOT lost in some pointless nation- or county-wide statistical exercise.

The most fascinating aspect of the tests that I remember was that they were used by teachers to work out what each child was able and willing to learn. The test results created three very distinct fields or streams of teaching - the theoretical subjects, the practical subjects and the applicable subjects. These, in turn, created the three primary grades of school that the UK used to produce some of the best educational results in the world:-
1 - the grammar schools produced great thinkers able to apply theoretical concepts
2 - the technical colleges produced skilled craftsmen able to use their natural talents in the processes of creation, development and innovation
3 - the secondary schools produced knowledgeable all rounders who were able to take the results of the grammar schools and the technical colleges and spin them into the every day fabric of community.

Today there is no streaming of pupils so all are taught to the same low standards - we see these standards fall every year as the 'results' are massaged for political convenience.

Today there is no competition among pupils to achieve results that will get them into the educational stream that they see themselves as being most akin to.

Today there is no education of a our youngest children in the ways and means of advancing through life by excelling at different aspects - indeed, children are taught from the day they can reason that they are all 'equal'

equally worthless
equally exploitable
equally insignificant
equally condemned to fail because their elders no longer see their education as of paramount importance.

Like all political footballs, education is repeatedly kicked into touch.

It is not money our children need. They need the vocational style of teacher that I was lucky to have. They need to be motivated by parents who see the value of education and the importance of being involved in the lives of their children.

Most of all, our children need to feel that they are not simply born to play computer games, watch television and learn how it is always somebody else's fault.

Children need that greatest of all support systems - THE FAMILY!

Contributor's Note

My comment on Larry Barkan's intel was simply too long and is now an intel of its own.

Yes yes yes... Preach it Arthur... I couldn't have said it better. We've been throwing money at the educational system for years and all we get is PC and corruption in the school systems.

It's very sad that many of the problems are not 'educational' or 'vocational' - many of the problems are now 'party political'.

The apathy of parents towards the education of their children now has created a political impasse because all parties recognise the need to improve the education system but they also recognise that they will win no votes by improving educational standards.

Throwing money at anything including education seems to me to me to be focusing more on the "means" without first understanding what "end" is desired.

The assumption is the "end" will take care of itself and if it doesn't just throw more money at it until it does.

Old Coot's theory of diminishing returns - The hole you try to fill with money will grow to accommodate more than you are prepared to throw.

Sounds like we could use more of the UK system here. Since I wrote a piece on "throwing money at education," let me comment. Certainly some money is "thrown away." But when I taught in the inner city of Chicago believe me, no money was being thrown our way. Books were at a premium. The physical plant was in terrible shape and the kids lived in very unsafe environments. I attended a Chicago public high school and my school wasn't that way. When I taught in that system, funds were very unfairly distributed. We could have used some of that "thrown money."

It isn't that the funds are lacking - it is the way the funds are used!

Why does an education authority need to have a huge office complax?
Why is education run by people who can't remember what a classroom looks like?
Why does education need to be subject of massive and expensive seminars all over the world to which administrators are invited - all expenses paid?
Why is there no audit of the education budget? It's quite likely that only 7% of the budget is used to enable the teaching of children. The rest will be spent on offices and equipment for the 'authorities', travel expenses, hugely inflated salaries for 'experts' and, of course, there will be a massive amount spent on lobbyists to ensure that 'government' is made aware of the financial needs of the education hierarchy.

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