by Matt Lau

Created on: January 28, 2008   Last Updated: February 01, 2008

Lack of competition always leads to a drop in performance. When there was only one method of delivering mail, the U.S. Postal Service was a horribly inefficient means. When there was only one telephone company, there was no advancement in phone technology. Now the United States education system is reaping the rewards of a lack of competition in schools. Unfortunately the lack of competition is not among students, it is among teachers.

Teachers in public schools, under the union protection of the National Education Association (NEA), have removed all incentives for actually teaching. Instead of being paid based on merit, they are paid based on longevity. Instead of being replaced for incompetence, they are ensured employment through tenure. Instead of being required to be cost-efficient, they argue for more funding as a solution to poor student performance. The only competition that public schools face is from private schools, which is normally only reserved for the most affluent families, since they are essentially trying to sell a product that the government is giving away for free.

What have been the results of a government-supported monopoly on education?

Student grades began to plummet. Then the grading standards were adjusted and grades shot back up. Unfortunately there was no corresponding increase in SAT scores. In other words, the NEA answer to poor student performance was to lower the standards for grades to artificially inflate the number of passing students. In the business world that is known as fraud. In point of fact, it is also fraud in the academic arena, but it is instead referred to as "re-standardizing."

When comparing U.S. students at the international level it is also pretty clear that the public schools are failing. Students at the fourth grade level rank fairly high in math, science, and reading literacy. By twelfth grade they rank below just about the rest of the industrialized world. It's pretty clear that the more time spent in the public school system, the worse the student rates in terms of international testing.

Customers (students and parents) are not allowed to switch their education providers (school or teacher). They are usually forced to attend a particular school based on their address. They usually have no control over a choice of teachers. Even in cases where geography teachers are forcing their own political and religious views on students, parents are powerless to effect any change on the other side of the classroom threshold.

The

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