Re: A policy that all Republicans can get behind

Jeffrey Turner <jturner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Jeffrey Scott Linder wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> School funding is skyrocketing, well above inflation and other
>> mandates.
>> 
>> http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_19_56/ai_n13675424
>> 
>> The truth is that, between 1960 and 2000, after-inflation education
>> spending more than tripled.  Harvard's Caroline Hoxby has found that
>> real, inflation-adjusted spending grew from $5,900 per pupil in 1982
>> to more than $9,200 in 2000. In its most recent figures, the
>> Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates
>> that current U.S. education spending is over $10,800 per child.
>> 
>> In fact, some may be surprised to learn that the U.S. ranks at the top
>> of the international charts when it comes to education spending. In
>> 2000, the most recent year for which international comparisons are
>> available, the OECD found that the United States spent significantly
>> more per child than any other industrial democracy, including those
>> famous for their generous social programs. In primary education, on a
>> per-pupil basis, the United States spent 66 percent more than Germany,
>> 56 percent more than France, 27 percent more than Japan, 80 percent
>> more than the United Kingdom, 62 percent more than Finland, 62 percent
>> more than Belgium, and 122 percent more than South Korea. At the
>> secondary-school level, the figures are similar, with the U.S.
>> outpacing Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and South Korea,
>> among others, by more than 40 percent per pupil.
>> 
>> Despite all this spending, the U.S. ranked 15th among the 31 countries
>> that participated in the OECD's 2000 Program for International Student
>> *****sment reading exam. Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand were among
>> the nations that outperformed the U.S. while spending far less per
>> pupil. The results in math are equally disquieting: In the
>> international 1999 TIMSS study, which *****sed mathematics and science
>> achievement at the eighth-grade level, the U.S. ranked 19th out of 38
>> countries.
>
>Obviously the more you spend on education the worse the results.  What a
>blow to capitalism.

Well...education isn't run by capitalists so there you have it.

>
>But seriously, I'm not sure what you think this means or proves.  How
>does the cost of health insurance for staff and faculty (and even
>children) get figured into the above?  

Right...those costs gone up so much that its tripled the real dollars
spent since the 60's.

>Does anywhere spend as much on
>high school football coaches as Texas?  

Here we go again.

>Then there's school breakfast and lunch programs.  

Exaclty...why?

>How many of those countries charge major social
>welfare programs to their schools?  Come back when you've got some
>analysis that won't fit on a bumper sticker.

Fine.  Keep passing the buck...that way you can convince yourself
you're not part of the problem.

JSL