Students, Not Systems

Podcast - Bob Zadek Show

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In his Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith described a so-called “Man of System” who is “so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it.” This man imagines that he can “arrange the different members of a great society” as easily as a hand moves pieces on a chessboard – not seeing that “every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it.”

Today’s educational central planners bear an uncanny resemblance to Smith’s 250-year-old caricature. Led by national teacher’s unions, public schools cram children and parents into a one-size-fits all school system. But students are not widgets, says Corey A. DeAngelis – Cato Institute adjunct scholar and Executive Director at the Educational Freedom Institute. DeAngelis is co-author with Cato’s Neal McCluskey of a new book, School Choice Myths – debunking the 12 most common misconceptions about education freedom.

Against the claim that a free market in education would turn schools into factories, churning out carbon-copy graduates, DeAngelis notes that it is the current monopoly system which results in uniform, standardized testing. He finds the roots of our broken educational institutions in the compulsory Prussian school system, which “started in 1819 with the clear mission of creating citizens that would be obedient miners, factory workers, and soldiers.”

Corey joins me this Sunday to unravel this and other pernicious falsehoods around school choice, and to discuss recent developments related to charter schools, voucher programs, and other challenges to the goverment school monopoly.

We will also touch on the troubling news that Biden’s transition team for the Department of Education includes four members of the nation’s top two teachers unions. Finally, we will look at how unions have sought to protect teachers from the minuscule risk of COVID at the expense of student outcomes, and why we must not allow special interests to determine educational policies.

Don’t miss the show of ideas, not attitude – this Sunday (11/15) from 8-9am PACIFIC.

(424) BOB-SHOW

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Links:

• Buy the book: School Choice Myths | Cato Institute

• Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) / Twitter

• Educational Freedom Institute (@EF_Institute) / Twitter

• VIRTUAL EVENT: School Choice Myths | The Heritage Foundation

• FORUM: Cato Institute

• VIDEO: Set schools free! Covid crisis shows mums & dads need control over their own kids' school funds - YouTube

Related Shows:

• A Teacher’s Brave Stand Against Her Union – Rebecca Friedrichs and Terry Pell June 19, 2016

• Lisa Snell on School Choice Experiments, March 19, 2017

• Jason Bedrick on Overregulating School Choice, April 17, 2016

• Robert Pondiscio on California’s Common Core Test Results October 25, 2015

• Jeff Reed on Breaking the Government’s Monopoly on Education May 4, 2015

• Educational Choices, Not School Choices, with Katherine Mangu-Ward, June 9, 2013

• Who Knows What Kids Need: Parents or Bureaucrats? with Arwynn Gilroy April 8, 2012

• End the Unconstitutional Federal Involvement in Education, with Andrew Coulson, August 23, 2009

Repealing School Vouchers April 12, 2009 (No guest)