Certain basic assumptions that have long dominated the thinking of American educationists are now being increasingly called into question. Almost no one used to doubt that children learned more in direct proportion to additional inundations of a) money, b) teachers, c) classrooms and d) integration: all appropriately nursed and coerced by the Federal Government since the states, naturally, could not be expected to be other than slightly Neanderthal. It now transpires, however, that since the passage of the “landmark” 1965 School Aid bill that was supposed to have favored disadvantaged children, not a shred of evidence has surfaced to support the contention that such children are helped by a, b, c, or d. Quite the contrary.
One must begin by comprehending the gigantic proportions of America’s recent educational efforts. While the country’s business and other private investment tripled over the past twenty years, investment in education increased eightfold, reaching about $52 billion in the school year 1967-68. Public school revenues account for more than half of that, having increased by more than 150 per cent in the last decade. (Only a tenth of the increased funds came from the Federal Government.) Congress has passed forty major education laws in the last four years. It spent over $4 billion on education this year alone.*
Comments