Our Corrupt & Obese Government

The curmudgeon has returned to slinging arrows at a government that has forgotten its function and purpose under the United States Constitution. Government has come to serve the labor unions and special interest groups that contribute to political campaigns and gives lip service to the rest of society.
My attack today is on the United States Department of Education, a cabinet-level department that our founding fathers never intended be created, and which is in fact unconstitutional.
For those folks unfamiliar with the history of DOE; it was created under the Carter Administration in 1979 and began operating on May 16, 1980. Prior to its being named the United States Department of Education and a cabinet position unto itself, the federal government played a minor role in the funding and supervision of public education and education fell under the umbrella of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Since its creation, the DOE has become a powerful entity of government and basically serves to keep the Democratic Party in power, although every Democratic politician and every NEA union leader will protest this fact and claim that the DOE is all about providing quality education to America's youth.
President Ronald Reagan and many members of the Republican Party rightly recognized that the Department of Education is unconstitutional and unnecessary federal bureaucratic intrusion into local affairs (Wikpedia) Reagan promised to eliminate the DOE as a cabinet post, but the DOE had become such a powerful entity he was unable to do so.
Since its creation, trillions of $$ have been poured into public education by the fedral government and every year the leaders of DOE and the NEA proclaim that the reason America's youth are failing is a lack of funding. They doth protest too much and in my mind they are greedy skunks fleecing the American taxpayer for the sole purpose of making the NEA more powerful and the DOE as a controlling force in politics.
From my perspective the qualities that will insure a good education are dedicated teachers having the cooperation of parents committed to doing everything possible to see that their child studies and learns. Those are the two most important factors.
Once upon a time (I know this sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale because it was so long ago) schools were all about education and no nonsense was allowed. Teachers and administration was permitted and expected to provide discipline to ensure focus on learning. Parents supported strict discipline as they knew a disciplined school environment was absolutely necessary for the learning process. Along with the discipline was a dress code and although casual clothing could be worn to school, that clothing should be relatively clean and not provocative or revealing. Classrooms were an orderly environment of learning and distractions were not permitted. Then along came the modern day child psychologists and behaviorists who proclaimed that discipline and embarassing a child in school would damage self esteem and lead to permanently damaging their psyche. What nonsense! No one had his self esteem damaged in school more than your writer and the discipline I received was appropriate and made me a stronger and better person.
Many classrooms of today, indeed in some areas, entire schools, are chaotic, with little respect shown by students for teachers or for each other. Shorts, revealing dress, cell phones, ipods, tattoos and piercings serve the chaos and distract from the learning environment. In some schools, rap and hip-hop music echo through the halls and in the class rooms many students talk all at once and disrupt the learning process.
In lieu of suspensions, students receive referrals. One referral, two refferals, three referrals and then, boy, you are in big trouble, man! Your parents might be required to visit the school to discuss your behavior. No big deal to students who are spoiled rotten. Not much of a concern to the kid who has one parent and basically is on his or her own at home. Not a big deal to the kid who knows that his parents will believe his version that he is being picked on and singled out in school.
Meanwhile, the public school environment becomes ever more chaotic and many once devoted and dedicated teachers have come to accept that it is far easier to avoid a hassle with administration and parents and just put in time toward retirement at what - in most districts - will amount to one-half annual pay plus full medical, dental and vision
benefits.
No Child Left Behind had a wonderful sounding title but it was a pollyanna vision and a huge expense that saw children continually left behind. The program should be graded an F.
An entire book could be written considering the failings of modern public education and why it will continue to fail, but I can sum those failings up in one sentence. Education would be greatly improved if the Federal Government was not involved. Education is best served by the States and communities that can address the specific needs of their demographic makeup.
Unfortunately, their is no hope of the federal government giving up control of public education so billions of $$ will continue to be pumped into a cesspool that continues to receive a failing grade.
How many of you knew that among the sub-agencies in the DOE is the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Aw what the heck, this agency probably just costs us a few million bucks each year and all those illegal ( I mean undocumented kids ) have to be provided all the special needs required by their culture and language.
And that is only one department that meets the needs of a particular group. How about "Historically Black," or, White House Initiative on Tribal, etc. etc.
Bah! Humbug!