13. Home schooling may or may not be on a par with institutional schooling.
14. School vouchers raise questions of quality control, union opposition, and the teaching of political or religious dogma at public expense.
The grounding for these assertions is everyday experience, anecdotal evidence and statistical studies. Jay Leno has done a series of humorous segments called “Jaywalking.” In them he conducts man-on-the-street interviews where he asks questions that people would be expected to answer easily from knowledge obtained in grade school. In one he asked people to locate Alaska on a US map. Several people could not, nor could they correctly name the capital city, Juneau. In another he got blank looks asking whose picture is on a one dollar bill. One girl was not able to tell him how many two-dollar bills would equal a ten dollar bill in value. He does not appear to have much trouble finding people whose ignorance is laughable, though it makes us wince. (I suppose we should not be surprised after witnessing the anti-intellectual sentiment during the presidential campaign. Kids whose parents mock or disparage education can hardly be expected to put a lot of energy into their studies.)
For the Obama administration, defining the problem and addressing it will require people who can think outside of the boundaries of their professions, loyalties and affiliations. It remains to be seen if those he is choosing are of a caliber to meet the challenge.
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