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Test Your Powers of Reasoning.

            1) Having one national airline

would be good for our country. YES ___ NO ___

            2) Having one national clothing chain

would be good for our country. YES ___ NO ___

            3) Having one national automobile company

would be good for our country. YES ___ NO ___

            4) Having one national grocery store

would be good for our country. YES ___ NO ___

            5) Having one national education system

would be good for our country. YES ___ NO ___

Believe it or not, there are people who still answer "Yes" to question 5.

It's one of the great mysteries of our day. Otherwise rational people, who have no problem recognizing the absurdity of a clothing monopoly or a grocery monopoly, somehow tolerate a monopoly in a far more important part of their lives - the education of their children. The fact is, federal, state and local governments control almost 90% of American education, making it one of the largest and most powerful monopolies in our history. Why is it when we go to get the vital necessities for our children of food, clothing, shelter, medicines, or transportation, that we enthusiastically shop the competitive marketplace, but for the critically important education of our young the vast majority still look to government schools? As everyone knows, monopolies produce poor quality at high prices, and the education system is no different. Sadly, in the latest round of national exams, 60% of our 12th graders could not even read at what the Department of Education defines as a proficient level. The 2002 Nation's Report Card that Ernie Fletcher cites in his political commercials points out that "36 percent of Kentucky's fourth graders read at a below basic level." This is the best government schooling can do after a dozen years of the highly acclaimed KERA and the billions of our hard earned tax dollars squandered ? It is NOT so much the fault of the students, parents, or teachers. The problem is the system. There is a better way. It comes down to two cherished principles - freedom and choice. In all other aspects of American life, competition and free choice ensure high quality and innovation. If we would eliminate government education of our children then the free market would work solutions to this societal need and education services would develop naturally and more efficiently on the private market than they ever had when run by a government bureaucracy. Students would learn and good teachers would receive the rewards they deserve. By following the American model of competitive enterprise, what stands today as a rigid monopoly would move ahead as an open, dynamic system, propelled by a creative energy. And education would be truly American once again.

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