Letter: Spending on school systems doesn’t produce better students, he says

TO THE EDITOR: A previous writer suggested we need to throw piles of money at the infrastructure of our schools to achieve top performance from our students.

Abe Lincoln, our “Log Cabin” president, would never have made it. All he had was self-discipline and initiative.

Many studies have shown spending, and more spending, on school systems does not produce better students. I believe it was New Jersey that spent billions of dollars on their system, only to find it made no difference in student achievement. In fact, student performance continued in a substandard direction.

Other studies have shown students improve where teachers’ salaries are performance-based. If students achieve well above a standard, the teacher receives a bonus. Ineffective teachers earn less and resign.

The second step—parents must require—no, demand—their children perform up to their abilities. Educate children, yes; but ever-increasing expenditures on education do not produce better students.

New brick buildings with ceramic interiors and a huge student lounge with over-stuffed chairs don’t help.

Sorry, we prefer to keep our property tax dollars for increasing costs of food and medical care.

Tags: maiden rock, opinion, letters, politics