More money won't help failed education system

Utah suffers from several education paradoxes, but the one we always hear about — lots of money thrown at public schools but low per pupil funding — isn't one of them. It's a false paradox, as is its latest variation, "Paradox Lost." Statistical anomalies are hardly policy paradoxes and, in these cases, neither portends an existing or looming crisis in education.

A paradox is defined in several ways. As used above, it once meant that we really didn't spend as much on education as we thought we did, and its latest iteration means the same thing. Both are false paradoxes for two reasons. First, education spending is not a high correlate for academic achievement and, second, the paradoxes are relative statistical comparisons (i.e., meaningless outside of political circles advocating for more education money).

If you are looking for real education paradoxes you can find them.

First, increases in education spending don't make any child smarter. Money has little to do with academic achievement. The Utah public school system could be "fully funded," whatever that means, and its students would not do any better. We could spend $20,000 per child in our public school system and not increase IQs or test scores one iota.

Does money buy better teachers? Of course it can. Our private school neighbors have taught us that. Unfortunately, our public school system prefers not to evaluate teachers by ability; therefore more money is meaningless. On the other hand, our home-school neighbors paint for us a truer picture — academic success can be accomplished at very little monetary cost.

Second, parental involvement is much more valuable than money. This factor is most evident in home and private schooling. Again, unfortunately, our public school system devalues parental involvement. Try to do more than take cookies into a classroom and every parent will soon find out how much they're really appreciated. Of course the system loves parents who willingly serve its own programs like PTA. But try having an independent thought that bucks the system and you'll be treated like weird Uncle Henry at Thanksgiving dinner.

Third, the public school system works against its public purpose. They think Dewey when they should think Jefferson. The real public interest in educating children is to civilize them, not socialize them. Socialized, but uncivilized, children will still throw rocks through your window or steal your car. Civilized children form the future basis of a free society. Education should be about character, not some idealized and wholly unrealistic sense of community.