Education update

From Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute:

The latest Long Term Trends results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress are out. They reveal a productivity collapse unparalleled in any other sector of the economy.

At the end of high school, students perform no better today than they did nearly 40 years ago, and yet we spend more than twice as much per pupil in real, inflation-adjusted terms. I can’t think of any other service that has gotten worse during my lifetime. Our school system has failed alone.

Exactly what would it take for voucher opponents to concede that government run schools just aren't working? It is increasingly obvious that they simply can't conceive of a system that doesn't have government as the primary service provider. It's an approach that is steeped heavily in ideology and lacking in imagination.

Update: And, yet again, I must ask whether it is wise to trust the same people who have presided over the disaster of public education to assume responsibility as the primary provider of public health.