Page 70 - May-June 2025 Life In Naples Magazing

Technically Speaking

by Dave Trecker
hings keep getting worse. Based on Five decades later the cabinet-level agency is
national and international test scores, Shaking Up the the picture of bloated bureaucracy, soaking
T American youngsters keep slipping up taxpayer money while contributing
further and further behind as criticism mounts little to the education of America’s youth.
about our public education system. Although congressional approval will be
Reports from the National Assessment of American needed (and impossible to get) to deep-six the
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Educational Progress showed 4 and 8 grade department, it can be whittled down and more
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literacy scores dropped to 1992 levels and 8 responsibility shifted to the states where at
grade math scores fell to 1995 levels. Those Classroom least some progress is being made.
are terrible numbers. And COVID, the usual In fact most of the Education Department
scapegoat, can no longer be singled out as the spending will continue. Federal grants and
sole cause of the problem. loans will not be cut back, and little of the
The plunge in reading skills is particularly troublesome. research funding will diminish. The WSJ points out that the typical
“Students who are struggling readers become adults who are K-12 school normally receives only about 10% of its funding from
struggling readers if we don’t do something about it,” warns the federal government.
ExcelinEd’s Kymyona Burk, who advocates for education changes. Bloated Overheads – An enduring problem with colleges,
The results came to light as school districts began to emphasize government agencies and other organizations that feed from the
phonics-based instruction, focusing on context to frame the taxpayer trough is they have vastly inflated overhead costs compared
meaning of words – a new and essentially unproven approach. with true marginal costs needed to do research or otherwise
As criticism mounts, school boards have become increasingly function. So says columnist Jason Riley, who calls for
defensive. According to The Wall Street Journal, educators a 15% cap on administrative overhead. Paying more, he says, has not
complain about rising student misbehavior, teacher burnout, chronic improved education one iota.
absenteeism and cell-phone distractions. And everyone agrees that Hands-on Skills – While college loans proliferate and graduates
problems from virtual teaching, one of the true disasters of COVID, scrape to find jobs, a subset of students are pursuing the trades.
haven’t completely gone away. Lorenzo Walker and Immokalee Tech are local success stories.
Against this troublesome backdrop, let’s take a look at some of Long disparaged as consolation prizes for those who can’t cut
the things that are happening. it academically, degrees from tech schools are now held in high
Big City Problems – Deteriorating education throughout the esteem. WSJ reports that school districts around the U.S. are
country is amplified in big cities. WSJ columnist Andy Kessler looks pouring big money into vocational education and seeing hefty
at Chicago, that toddlin’ town, long held captive by the Chicago returns as welders, electricians and plumbers routinely pull down
Teachers Union. He writes, “In 2024, only 22% of six-figure salaries. “Kids can see these aren’t knuckle-dragging jobs,”
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11 graders could read at grade level. Only 19% were proficient in said an ironworking teacher in rural Wisconsin. “Blue collar is where
math.” Maybe teachers aren’t being paid enough? “As of December the big bucks are now,” added a shop teacher in Oregon.
2024,” Kessler writes, “so-called ‘regular teacher’ salaries with Meanwhile Florida is turning the screws. New legislation that
benefits was about $120,000 a year.” Chicago is not unique. will cement the state’s conservative position on education is being
Urban areas across the country are dealing with similar problems. teed up. Love it or hate it, we are on the way to less woke, less
Scuttle the Education Department – The new administration in diverse and less sexually explicit teaching.
Washington wants to do away with the Department of Education, We’ll see how it all turns out.
created in 1976 as a payoff to the National Education Association.
Dr. Trecker is a chemist and retired Pfizer executive living in Naples.

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