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U.S. public education needs a bailout
Robert Reich
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TEXT OF COMMENTARY
Kai Ryssdal: Amy Scott was telling us a couple of minutes ago about those new proposals for some kind of unified nationwide education policy.
Commentator Robert Reich says deciding who studies what and in what grade is well worth a conversation but first, he says, we've got to fix a bigger problem.
ROBERT REICH: The recession has ravaged state and local budgets, most of which aren't allowed to run deficits. That's meant major cuts in public schools and universities, and an unfathomable future deficit in the education of our people.
Across America, schools are laying off thousands of teachers. Classrooms that had contained 20 to 25 students are now crammed with 30 or more. School years have been shortened. Some school districts are moving to four-day school weeks.
Community colleges are reducing their course offerings and admitting fewer students. Public universities, like the one I teach at, have raised tuitions and fees, which means many qualified students won't be attending.
Last year, the nation committed $700 billion to bail out Wall Street banks, the engines of America's financial capital, because we were told we'd face economic Armageddon if we didn't.
We've got our priorities backwards. Our schools are the engines of our human capital, and if we don't bail out public education we face a bigger economic Armageddon years from now.
Financial capital moves instantly around the globe to wherever it can earn the best return. Human capital -- the skills and insights of our people -- is the one resource that's uniquely American, on which our future living standards uniquely depend.
Starting immediately, the federal government should give states and local governments interest-free loans to make up for all school and university budget shortfalls. The loans can be repaid when the recession is over and local and state tax revenues revive.
Over the long term we've gotta shift incentives away from financial capital toward human capital. A tiny one half of 1 percent tax on all financial transactions would generate about $200 billion a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. That might put a crimp on Wall Street bonuses, but it's enough to fund early childhood education, smaller Kindergarten through grade 12 classes, and lower tuitions and fees for public higher education.
The Street's financial capital is important to the American economy, but over the long term the classroom's human capital is absolutely critical.
RYSSDAL: Robert Reich is a professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Money, money, money.
Almost all of us need it to stay alive in this society.
If here it is the "measure of all things", does that mean what people earn is based on how valuable what they do is to all of us?
If that were the case, wouldn't those who grow us healthy food earn the most? How about honest cops? Fair judges? Those who design and build our homes? Those who can make us well, or at least better, when we are sick? Those who bring us clean water? Those who know a lot and are willing to share their knowledge and passion with our children?
Robert Reich's commentary made me think about how badly we need to discuss our social contract, the agreement between the people and the state as to what we are to each other and what responsibilities we have to each other.
Most of us might be able to agree on a few basic things, but we'll never know unless we first address the issue of the social contract itself.
Then maybe we could discuss what "Human (rather than "Market") Capitalism" might look like and reframe the whole, stale debate.
Marketplace: Can't you find someone in the Public Policy field somewhere that would balance out Robert Reich's standard knee jerk liberal view that more money -- especially federal -- solves every problem. Clearly not so for public schools. . .Sheppard Perkins
Robert Reich has proposed a brilliant, elegantly simple solution to one of the biggest problems confronting us, especially here in California. Lack of long-range planning, current budget crises and shortfalls, and the politically popular "quick fix" will not get us where we need to be in 20 years, or even 10. More investment in education, at all levels, is exactly what we need now and in the future—not less. I hope lots of people are paying attention to his ideas!
I think it is so interesting that the solution to a problem created by Federal intervention is to create for Federal intervention. Until government schools and their coddled workers can actually compete with the marketplace, I so no reason that they should coerce me into supporting their failing industry.
Dr. Reich is right on the money about the problem our nation has with prioritization. We need to, indeed, recognize that human capital and education are our most prized resources that need continued investment. While many of our elected representatives pay lip service to education, the reality is that the trend--even with many reform efforts--has been toward privatization, even of public education. Signs of this trend include the continuing fee hikes that threaten to price out those students who need education the most: the poor and the first in their families to attend college; the growing use of contingent faculty to provide 'flexibility' in hiring; increasing faculty workloads as student enrollments continue to grow but faculty numbers do not keep up; and the growing numbers of highly-paid administrators. But prioritization requires more than just throwing more money at education, a concern that many of the comments address. And I agree: we need to look at where our money is spent, within the educational system (ratio of administrators versus faculty) as well as outside of it (federally). The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation reports on its website that the Obama administration's FY 2011 defense budget request is $708.3 billion. "In addition," the Center reports, "the Administration has requested $18 billion for nuclear weapons activities at Department of Energy and $7 billion for additional non-Pentagon defense related activities. This brings total non-Pentagon defense related spending (053/054) to $25 billion, a $2 billion increase over Fiscal Year 2010." Meanwhile, the discretionary funding request for education amounts to $50.7 billion. Priorities?
As a teacher at San Francisco State University, part of the CA. State U. system, I--with a Ph.D.from U.C. Berkeley--face job loss due to the massive cuts in course sections. My students can't get classes and I may be out of work. Education is touted as the key to a secure future, but we starve education and lay of educators. We should be TOO BIG TOO FAIL!
Speaking as a teacher (of "at-risk"youth) who was laid-off last month I have to say that people who have not been on the ground, in the classrooms lack a great deal of perspective and understanding about what kind of a job (life) teachers have. My friends, in other states, who are fortunate to still have positions are talking about class sizes in the 40's next year. This is not a teaching environment, it's a crowd management environment.
As to those who claim we have it so easy because of "so much time off" please consider the fact that most of us often work well beyond 8 hours a day, and into weekends. I love Spring Break and other holidays because it allows me to get caught up on grading and planning without interruptions from students who need academic remediation or are having crises ranging from the mundane to the horrifying. Summertime is continuing education, income supplementation (some of us are even working multiple jobs during the school-year). To those who argue against more tax money going to schools I say: if business and philanthropists would follow the lead of the likes of Gates and Buffet I'd be one of the first to vote against taxes. Re-hashing the old chestnut of "Throwing money at schools isn't working so they shouldn't get more" doesn't work in this economic climate. Schools are losing money hand over fist. We are not asking for higher levels of funding, we are asking that they don't continue going down.
Critique about admin. pay, I can buy it, to a certain degree. But please, don't vote to punish students and teachers because of some districts having ridiculous admin. pay. That strikes me like saying: "We're going to bomb the people of that country until they stand up their leader that we want out of power because they are harming their people."
Professor Reich, thank you, thank you, thank you.
I see this topic engenders lots of feelings. I agree and disagree with Dr. Reich. Education is very important to our coutry's future success, but money DOES NOT EQUAL eduation. Our per pupil spending has risen over time, but our results have gone down. The distribution system of those resources is broken. The student discipline is broken. The parental involvement is broken. We should remake the system before we pour more money into a system with a negative return on investement.
Reich claims that "The loans can be repaid when the recession is over and local and state tax revenues revive." The current level of economic dysfunction far exceeds the standard for a typical recession. How much longer must millions and millions of Americans do without jobs before well-meaning people such as Reich finally admit that investing in our human capital will only be successful in the long run if globalized capital learns the meaning of accountability.
As for pensions, I can appreciate the resentment that private sector individuals might feel about "public sector" retirement benefits. A case can be made that teachers should have no more right to a pension after 20 years of service than those who serve in the "public sector" of the U.S. military. I invite those who rail against teacher pensions to first step up and slap down the pensions and life-time health care provided to those who defend our freedoms. If you can't look a 20 year army or navy veteran in the face and say, "You don't deserve a pension," then where do you get the nerve to say that to someone who has taught 7th graders for 35 years? My father was in the U.S. Navy for 20 years. He deserved his pension. So do teachers.
-- William Mohr, Long Beach, CA
While I agree that the state systems need bailed out, they also need to accept a severe austerity package to help them move into a new paradigm.
I worked in the University of California system for more than a decade. I knew full professors who were gleeful that they had not taught a single course in many years because they were granted release time for administrative work.
Our public universities are great. However, we need to do more to boost faculty workload in the classroom not in administration.
We also need to track students into programs that are uniquely suited to their needs.
Like Europe, we should embrace a system that moves easily from vocational occupations at a young age for those who need them.
We also should adopt a "means test" for community colleges. Why does a community college need to be offered at a rock bottom price for everyone? Although my parents certainly were not rich when I attended community college, they could easily afford paying more than the equivalent of a bus pass for me to earn 30+ units a year. Set fees at 2-3-4 times the current rate and scholarship all those who have the need.
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