Nothing but a Profit-hungry Cartel
Something fishy is definitely going on when the state can afford to shell out around $400,000 annually for each classroom but the quality of students in terms of learning is at an all-time low. What manner of outrageous mockery is this? Could it be the fault of some type of educational cartel? The following details may serve to validate it indeed.
The statistics themselves are enough to dishearten anyone... nearly 80% of graduates from high school who actually manage to take up further schooling in college need some form of remedial lessons. Students who enter college should already be capable enough already academically as long as their fundamentals are sound. If that was not bad enough, the current educational system is the main culprit for this shortcoming.
A saying goes that the youth are the hope of tomorrow. However, there is a small problem with this particular statement. How can there be a tomorrow if the youth aren't well equipped enough to handle the challenges ahead because of sub-standard schooling? It makes for a very provocative thought indeed.
The culprit here is the New Jersey Education Association. The group is primarily a teachers' union with the noble task of molding the minds and the educating the youth in public schools across the state. It wields considerable political influence and it has massive influence. One would think that proper education would be the focus but sadly, it is not. This union acts in ways that show it to be only after personal enrichment using state funds and to perpetuate generations of students who will always lack a good education. This despite increasing funds allotted for the improvement of learning curriculums. It seems the funds have only proceeded into the pockets of an unscrupulous few in the group.
There has been news of how one of its members has been grossly paid beyond acceptable means. A job as a school district secretary is by all means a reasonable position but there's something wrong if the pay received amounts to approximately $180,000 yearly. The amount is enough to raise eyebrows but the reason is even more shocking because it was done due to the influence of the educational cartel.
When the children's minds and opportunity for learning are sacrificed for the benefit of the ones wielding power, it truly bodes ill for the educational system indeed. This is coupled with the fact that even incompetent teachers cannot be removed or replaced simply because they are close to the said group. Parenthetically, untainted and/or qualified educators who have had the courage to go against the status quo found themselves being harassed or even dismissed from the job.
This is truly a sad state the educational system is in. Mentors with principles and a heart for students are being targeted leaving a bleak future for the current system. It is corruption at its worst, indeed.
However, not all is lost. There are charter schools whose mission is to uplift the quality of education and they have done a consistently good job in outperforming the state-run district schools. One would think they would be receiving better state or government support for their efforts but the sad case is the opposite. The very same educational bureaucrats make it hard for these charter schools to progress any further simply because they are a threat to their well-entrenched positions. At this rate, more young minds will continue to languish in substandard education unless the tax-paying public does something about this.
GOOD Education story of The Cartel, a film by Bob Bowdon.