Fixing Education
April 25, 2008 | By Nathaniel Ward
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Two key principles of positive global warming policy
Twenty-five years ago, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published “A Nation at Risk,” a groundbreaking report highlighting the deficiencies in how we educate future generations of Americans.
» Watch the video: Dan Lips explains the lessons of education reform
» Take our poll: Which is the best way to improve education?
Today, argues Heritage Foundation education expert Dan Lips, “the American education system remains in a state of crisis.” Barring reforms, he adds “this widespread failure may imperil our nation’s prosperity and security.”
We spend vast and growing amounts of money on education. In fact, the average student will have 69 percent more taxpayer funding than in 1980.
But Lips notes that this money hasn’t bought us much. “On the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test, 33 percent of fourth-grade students scored ‘below basic’ in reading. Among economically disadvantaged children, 50 percent scored ‘below basic.’ In many of the nation’s largest cities, high school graduation rates are below 50 percent.”
Lips looks back on the past 25 years and draws four important lessons:
- Simply increasing government funding for public education is insufficient.
- Federal intervention needs to be limited.
- Realize the promise of expanding parental choice.
- State-level reforms can lead to improvement.
The importance of abstinence education
Liberals tend to look the other way as our popular culture promotes permissiveness and promiscuity. They further maintain that abstinence education programs have no effect on teen sexual behavior. Many sex-ed programs, therefore, effectively condone risky teen sexual activity so long as contraceptives are used.
But abstinence education is both effective and vitally important, Heritage Foundation experts Christie Kim and Robert Rector write in a detailed new analysis.
Kim and Rector examined the results of 21 scientific studies on abstinence education. They found that 16 of these studies “reported statistically significant positive results, such as delayed sexual initiation and reduced levels of early sexual activity, among youths who have received abstinence education.”
Abstinence is important for both individuals and society as a whole, they explain. “Studies have shown that abstinent teens report, on average, better psychological well-being and higher academic achievement than those who are sexually active. Delaying the initiation of or reducing early sexual activity among teens can decrease their overall exposure to risks of unwed childbearing, STDs, and psycho-emotional harm.”
What’s more, they find that real abstinence education efforts are “crucial to efforts aimed at reducing unwed childbearing and improving youth well-being.
Who makes your health care decisions?
American families spend large sums of their own money on health care—but they have little control over how that money is spent. Instead, it is government bureaucrats, lawyers, lobbyists and others who dictate most spending decisions.
To drive this point home, The Heritage Foundation purchased an advertisement last week in The Hill, a newspaper read daily by policymakers on Capitol Hill.
This advertisement is part of our ten-year Leadership for America campaign to educate members of Congress, the media and the American people about the importance of personal freedom and individual choice in health care.
» Download the ad in PDF format and send it to your friends and family
Heritage experts are taking the lead on this critical issue. In a new report, Ed Haislmaier outlines the principles for patient-centered health care reform, while Bob Moffit lays out six tests that identify meaningful changes.
In other news
- President Bush has nominated Gen. David Petraeus to lead Central Command, the military authority in charge of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. He will be replaced as the head of coalition forces in Iraq by Gen. Ray Odierno, who was instrumental to the success of the surge strategy in Iraq. Odierno spoke at Heritage in March. For all the latest on Iraq, visit Heritage’s Progress in Iraq page.
- Conservatives in Congress blocked a bill that would have made it easier for workers to sue employers for “wage discrimination.”
- In an unsettling echo of the dilapidated military of the late 1970s, the Navy has deemed two warships “unfit for sustained combat operations” because of broken-down equipment. This is why Heritage experts advocate spending enough on the military to keep our forces in working order and to upgrade equipment to meet future threats.
- Even though the Soviet Union was relegated to the dustbin of history 16 years ago, it’s still possible to buy web addresses with the “.su” extension that the communist state employed.
- To draw attention to the tremendous costs of global warming legislation, Americans for Prosperity is conducting a hot air balloon tour of the nation. Find out when it’s coming to your area.
- Former President Jimmy Carter met recently with top leaders of the terrorist group Hamas. He denies the State Department warned him not to visit the group.
- The chairman of the FCC says new legislation to regulate the Internet and stifle innovative ways of content distribution is unnecessary.
- Videotape evidence suggests that the Syrian nuclear reactor that Israel bombed in September was built with North Korean assistance.
- The rising cost of food, which stems in large part from government ethanol mandates, may be undermining popular support for global warming policies.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage’s website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.
- On Monday, April 28 at 11:00 a.m., Mexico’s ambassador to the United States joins a panel of experts including Helen Krieble and Heritage’s Jim Roberts to discuss U.S.-Mexico relations.
- On Tuesday, April 29 at noon, author Iain Murray discusses his new book, The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You To Know About - Because They Helped Cause Them.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Chris Albright contributed to this report.
