Government Schools Producing Illiterates
Call it the secret scandal of public education. According to the Heartland
Institute, a Chicago-based public policy research organization, there has
been an explosion of remedial education programs in government schools
grades K-12. An astonishing 36% of America's 45 million public school
students are now taking remedial education classes, in reading, language
arts, and/or math. The number of teachers, aides, and support personnel
involved now approaches the size of the United States armed forces. In 1998,
the total cost of remedial education programs is estimated to be over $65
billion.
Sixteen million children are now enrolled in Title 1 and Special Education
remedial programs. Of them, only about 1 million have physical or mental
handicaps that require them to take such classes, says Regna Lee Wood of the
National Right to Read Foundation. The rest are in these classes, she says,
because of what she calls "school-induced illiteracy" -- the failure of
teachers to teach them how to read, write and do simple math.
Adding to the tragedy: remedial education programs are "documented
failures," says Heartland. Congressional studies in 1993 concluded that
Title 1 programs were ineffective. Disadvantaged children taking the
programs did no better than similar children who did not. Only 7.5% of
Special Education students graduate with regular diplomas; 40% drop out.
Evidence of the growing failure of government schools continues to pour in.
Seventy percent of U.S. high school students can't read ninth-grade
assignments. Thirty percent of U.S. high school seniors can't read
proficiently at a fourth-grade level. A 1998 international math survey
ranked U.S. students near the bottom of 20 countries.
(Source: Heartland Institute's "School Reform News," February 1999
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