In the $600 BILLION per year enterprise that is government schooling in North America, if next to nothing is spent on parents as co-educators of their children, the “next to next to nothing” line item in those budgets is “research”. I am pretty sure that more is spent tracking prospects in baseball’s farm system than is spent researching, understanding and objectively measuring and assessing how kids actually learn in the big business of government schooling.
The number one reason nothing gets spent is, quite simply, they don’t have to. There ain’t no competition. So there.
The number two reason nothing gets spent on objective research is that, quite simply, they are under no obligation to be objective. While schoolers are under certain fiduciary duties to children, they are under none to themselves or to government or to the public at large. There is no “duty of fairness”, or no “officer of the court” obligation among adults in government schooling. It is a profession, but in this regard, it is a profession akin to professional poker.
The number three reason next to next to nothing gets spent on objective, critical, both-sides-of-the-coin research in government schooling is that there are no independent agencies, ombudsmen, “watchdog” type agencies set up to independently conduct such research. No real “audit” control. Nothing that is not at liberty to be selective in its memory or self-serving in its focus.
Remember this, Gentle Parent, when you are served up by your school or schooling authority as “proof” of one thing or another (class size… homework… school hours… curricula…) “research” that, if handed in as a Grade 9 paper, would be given a “D-” for completeness and diligence. Nobody’s marking them. Nobody’s checking their work. Nobody’s on the other side of the debate.
At least, nobody they’re going to tell you about. Because they don’t have to.
GLO
gordotto@parentsnschools.com
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