TOS Blog: Daily Commentary from an Objectivist Perspective

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

No Child Let Ahead

Posted by ARI Media at 7:52 pm

Irvine, CA—With the No Child Left Behind Act up for reauthorization, critics are pointing out that it is preventing gifted children from advancing ahead. Because the act forces states to ensure that the weakest students are not left behind, it has dried up funding for programs intended to challenge the strongest.

“The problem is not just with No Child Left Behind,” said Dr. Keith Lockitch, resident fellow of the Ayn Rand Institute. “The problem is inherent in the very system of public education, itself. When people’s tax dollars are taken to pay for the education of other people’s children, there is no way to distribute those dollars fairly.”

“The inevitable result is a massive government bureaucracy making collective judgments involving millions of students. And given the egalitarian philosophy dominating that bureaucracy, should it be any surprise that it is our nation’s best and brightest that are sacrificed in the attempt to serve the weakest?

“Only a free market in education can prevent the injustices of the current system—a system that, like any government-run industry, has deteriorated into a junk heap of dismal public schools that meets no one’s educational needs.”

Copyright © 2007 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.

Posted in: Business and Economics, Education, Individual Rights and Law