A Better Idea: MANY Children Left Behind

Is a mind a terrible thing to waste?

Absolutely NOT!

I'll tell you why.

If you apply a cost/benefit analysis to the highly specious argument
that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, then you will see that the
argument fails and fails miserably. The cost of salvaging every last
mind is simply too expensive. Attempting to do so tends to bring down
the whole educational system rather than allowing you to reap any
benefits from this misguided premise.

The concept of "no child left behind" follows along the same lines,
and so the immediate conclusion is obvious: DO THE OPPOSITE AND LEAVE
MANY CHILDREN BEHIND!

Let's face it. The educational kick on which the U.S. has gone for the
last few decades has done nothing - NOTHING - to stem the state of
decline of the country. To the contrary, this kick actually
contributes to the decline of the country (more on this below). And
one can make an argument for the elimination of education all together
because being educated will soon get NO ONE a job. Not only are
low-wage jobs fleeing this country, but so are highly paid jobs. Time
and time again, the news media reports on poor souls who were
displaced from jobs paying six-figure salaries only to face long term
unemployment (18+ months) and then to cave in and settle for jobs that
pay a mere 10% of previous earnings.

OK, now for a simple and admittedly partial analysis (there are other
factors in play here) why the U.S. education kick runs down the
nation's educational system:

You may think that, economically speaking, the government is on the
supply side of the demand/supply relationship of education. Not so!
While the government is a "provider" of education to the masses, it
*purchases* educational services and materials which it then provides
to the population. These purchases, of course, place the government on
the demand side of the equation. When the educational purchases get
way, way out of hand for nonessential things such as public high
schools (which didn't even exist a century ago) and for public
colleges, public graduate schools, public medical schools, etc., then
you have runaway demand. When you have runaway demand in a
marketplace, you not only raise prices out of sight, but you also have
indiscriminate demand. Under such circumstances, marginal (meaning
"substandard") suppliers of services and materials are lured out of
the woodwork, and "they poison the well from which we all draw our
water." (The well is also "poisoned" by keeping undesirables in the
educational system far longer than they should be kept.)

So, the conclusion is simple: just reduce the demand for education,
and you will automatically elevate its quality.

Now, if I were the Emir of this kingdom, the following would be my
education policy which will drastically reduce the demand for
education, and which will surely leave many, many children behind, and
which will waste many, many minds, all very, very good, good things!

1.) All education institutions will be gender segregated.

2.) All public education below the third grade and above the eighth
grade will be eliminated. (Footnote: it's been said that boys below
the age of eight (grade three) are simply too young to be in school. I
agree. Young children should be home schooled by their parents in
preschool, first, and second grade material. If the parents are too
intellectually feeble to handle this much, then, in all probability,
the offspring won't benefit from any education of any kind anyway.)

3.) The six grades of three through eight will be compressed into
three full years of schooling.

4.) ALL educational institutions - public and private - for females
above the eighth grade will be BANNED!

Additionally, the following will be prohibited:

1.) Athletic scholarships; and

2.) Payment of compensation to and receipt of compensation by schools'
athletic coaches, team managers, referees, and the like.


Jeremy Miller