There are several things that need to be said about the state of education in our country. Spending is not the problem; accountability is the problem. Long ago, schools stopped teaching fundamentals and started focusing on inanities like fuzzy math. Socialism is not the answer to solve the many problems of the public education system.

There is one myth that needs to be put to death. When you look at all the sources of funds, we spend almost twice as much on education as we do on the military. In the 2001-02 school year, education spending was at $745 billion, according to The Heritage Foundation. In fiscal year 2005, the Department of Defense only got $401.7 billion, and that’s with two wars going on.

For decades failing schools have asked for more money to solve problems without being accountable. They insist they’ll fix the problems in a decade or so, firmly committing yet another generation of black kids to a life of mediocrity only to be ended by New Orleans flood waters. The solution isn’t to wait for another generation of children to be poorly educated; it’s to allow those parents who care about their children’s future to have a choice where to send them.

Not everyone believes that parents who care about their children’s education should be given a choice on where to send them. University Professor Walter Feinberg wrote in a recent paper that it isn’t the monopoly of public schools we should worry about, but the crisis is the monopoly of parents choosing educational institutions that share their values. The horror, the rectum-clenching horror! Parents who care about their kids and play a part in their education is something we can’t tolerate! For the love of Karl Marx, Vladamir Lenin and Chairman Mao, we must prevent these bourgeois parents from corrupting the youth against the glorious and benevolent Party!

Having parents hand over their kids at birth to the department of Child and Family Services to be raised by the state is not the answer, comrade. Schools should focus more on teaching and less on competing with parents.

When people like admitted left-wing terrorist Bill Ayers are professors of education, one wonders what values they think should be taught in schools. After his earlier career of blowing up government buildings, one wonders if part of him cheered when other left-wing terrorists succeeded in blowing up the World Trade Center. It’s no wonder parents don’t want their kids in public schools, when people like Ayers, who once said, “Kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at,” are supposed to be training the next generation of teachers. A mind, after all, is a terrible thing to waste.

There was a point when schools focused on reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead of pursuing excellence and achievement, the education gurus want to pursue having kids feel good. This is when they aren’t taking valuable class time out teaching children about the joys of sodomy or lecturing on sexual technique.

Don’t take my word on the sorry state of public education. More than 20 percent of public school teachers send their children to private schools, according to a study done by The Fordham Institute. That speaks volumes about the state of public schools.

I believe in a woman’s fundamental right to choose where her children are educated. It is a private decision between a woman and her children’s teachers. Men in Washington have no business writing laws that put their hands on a woman’s motherhood. It’s about her constitutional right to privacy.

The solution is that people with bold ambitions should volunteer their time and talents to teach kids the right way. The solution is not more of the same socialist mindset that barely prepares kids for assembly line work. We can remedy our educations ills by letting parents choose their children’s schools with vouchers, teaching the fundamentals, and making schools accountable. It’s the work of the average citizen that should be trusted over the intellectual defecation of career bureaucrats.

John Bambenek is a graduate student and a University employee. His column appears every Friday. He can be reached at [email protected].