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this is a history teachers paradise Enter here we have increasingly held the view that education is a private good, which should serve the individual interests of educational consumers, rather than a public good, which should serve the broader public interest in producing competent citizens and productive workers. First, consider our traditional commitment to preserving local control. The core issue here is the wide and deep strain of libertarian sentiment that lies at the heart of the American psyche. The geography usa urge to preserve individual liberty is a key to understanding american society, and it is what defines our distinctive approach to politics, economics, and education. don''t tell me what to do" has long been our national slogan. by it we have meant in particular that government should keep off our usa backs -- especially government that is far removed from our local community. all you need to do is remember that this nation was born of an uprising currently so strong that it may well geography leave a number of listeners wondering why such an obviously needed and beneficial reform wasn''t undertaken a long time ago. but the fact is that the effort to establish educational standards has always usa been an geography uphill fight in this country. in light of these circumstances, it is useful to examine why americans have so vigorously resisted educational standards over the years. the history of such resistance suggests that there are three factors in particular that have made standards usa such a hard sell: a commitment to local control of schools, a commitment to expansion of educational opportunity, and a commitment to form over substance in the way we think about educational accomplishment. all three of these factors, geography which i treat below, can be traced in large part to our usa preference for one particular purpose of education: with a national average of almost $6,000 per student geography [3]. homeschooled children represent over seven billion dollars out of reach of local government schools and, at its current growth rate, each year more than another billion dollars slips away. politically, homeschoolers are a force to be reckoned with when their rights are endangered. the most highly publicized and effective example of their growing political clout occurred in 1994 usa when the house of representatives inserted language into an educational appropriations bill that would have required all teachers to be credentialed. geography homeschoolers perceived this provision as a threat to their autonomy and overwhelmed phone and fax usa lines to their representatives until the credentialing language was removed by a 424-1 vote. homeschooling’s economic and political impact is keenly felt by teacher unions, |
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