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1989-04-15
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Condensed from the article,
EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN by H. Ross Perot. EDUCOM Review, Spring, 1989.
. . .
Let's look at where we are today: We rank at the bottom of the industrialized
world in terms of academic achievement, but we're spending $328 billion a
year on public education. We're paying more than any other nation on earth
for educating our young people, and we have the least to show for it.
Other dubious distinctions: We are now the largest debtor nation in the
history of man; 10 years ago we were the largest creditor nation. We're the
most violent, crime-ridden nation in the industrialized world. We're also
the biggest user of illegal drugs; we have 5 percent of the world's population,
and we're using 50 percent of the world's annual output of cocaine. Nine out
of 10 of the largest banks in the world are now Japanese, the 10th one is an
American bank, but if you took the Third World loans out of it, it would be
insolvant.
. . .
The Japanese made the best products in the world. We bought their products.
They got our money. Now it's in their banks. . . . If they ever shut us off
we'll be in real trouble - because 30 percent of our debt is funded by our
international competitors.
. . .
Our best and brightest (graduates) are not going into the places where they
will most help our country's future. Instead of designing new products and
services, they go into law or consulting. Or, they go to Wall Street, where
they do a leveraged buyout deal, collect a huge fee up front, and produce a
debt-laden corporation that lays off tens of thousands of people.
To many of us, it's hard to accept that Pittsburgh is no longer the steel
capital of the world and that Toyota City, not Detroit, is now the automobile
capital of the world. In 1960, we made 75 percent of all the cars in the
world. Today we make 25 percent. . . . The Japanese are filing more patents
in our own patent office than we are.
. . .
Nowadays we treat our most serious domestic problems like a crazy aunt that
we keep in the basement. Everybody knows she's there, but nobody talks about
her. But one day she's going to get loose and kill a neighbor.
Let's take a look at one fundamental area where sweeping change is needed -
the public schools. Back in the 1940's when many of us were in public school,
the top problems were talking, chewing gum, making noise in the classrooms,
and running in the halls. That's what the really bad guys did. Now let's
look at the top problems of the 1980's: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, pregnancy,
suicide, rape, robbery, and assault. You cannot have learning in that
environment.
We have diverted our schools from places of learning to places of play at
a time when our international competitors have been deadly serious in
pursuing academic excellence in their public schools.
The typical high school graduate in Japan is more knowledgable than half of
our college graduates. The typical Russian student studies physics and
algebra for five years, chemistry and biology for four years and calculus for
two years.
Just hearing that would give the typical high school student a No. 4 migraine
headache. Most American high school students don't take physics or chemistry,
and only 6 percent take calculus. In a recent worldwide algebra test we
ranked 14th out of 15 nations tested. . . we beat Thailand.
. . .
How can we get back on our feet? . . . For a year and a half starting in
1983, I worked as head of a committee charged by the govenor to convert the
Texas school system from one of the worst to one of the best. . . .
(The State) had no clearly stated objectives, no philosophy for managing
a multibillion-dollar business. We had no accountability for academic
achievement; we had no standard cost accounting system. We didn'y know what
it cost to teach algebra . . . or shop.
Now this is comparable to flying a 747 in the fog, through the mountains,
at low altitude, without an instrument panel. Texas was spending $8 billion
a year flying blind. And we ranked down in the 40's among the 50 states.
We found that 65 percent of our high school principals were coaches. . . .
Their mission in life was to win the district football trophy every year.
And we found that the money was going to all the wrong places. In one big
city school system, we discovered . . . that 30 cents went for academic
subjects, 30 cents went for soft electives, and 40 cents went for extra-
curricular activities and administration. So, the most basic reform we
made was to recapture the school day for academics. Instead of spending
four hours a day on drill team or football practice and 15 minutes on home-
work, extracurricular activities now take place after school, on weekends,
and homework is assigned and reviewed.
(Skip 11 paragraphs)
One way to deal with that is to get rid of all the unnecessary things that
schools now do. In Texas, the typical school had 40 clubs; each club raised
money to support its activities by selling ribbons, candy, cookies, balloons,
and other items during the school day. We had drill teams traveling to Tokyo,
entire bands and choirs in Europe missing several days of school - but always
returning in time for Spring vacation. Now, why not just throw all that out
and teach something instead.
Do we want our kids to win on Friday night on the football field, or do we
want them to win all through their lives? That's what we have to start asking
ourselves. Are we prepared to make the sacrifices in our own lives that will
make a winning future possible.