May 4th, 1999
by Ryan Lee Stollar
Alexis de Tocqueville said in 1835 that "however enlightened and skillful a central power may be, it cannot of itself embrace all the details of the life of a great nation. Such vigilance exceeds the powers of man. And when it attempts unaided to create and set in motion so many complicated springs, it must submit to a very imperfect result or exhaust itself in bootless efforts." "A very imperfect result" and "bootless efforts" basically describe the past, present, and future of the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, some 23 million adults are functionally illiterate by the simplest tests of everyday reading, writing, and comprehension. Scores on the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Tests demonstrate a virtually unbroken decline from 1963 to present. More than 90 percent of the students entering U.S. colleges would not be admitted to post-secondary education anywhere else in the world. How did get here? How did the United States, the land of wealth, prosperity, and technological advancement, fall into a pit of educational despair? Because of the U.S. Department of Education.
The United States Constitution is a list of enumerated powers, meaning the Federal government is permitted to do only what the Constitution specifically states. This is said clearly and precisely in the 10th Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Since education is not listed as a Federal responsibility, it was exclusively under the jurisdiction of states and localities through most of our history, until the 1930s. Government started expanding through the New Deal, and began to control the previously unrestricted areas of health, education, and welfare.
This was the beginning of the movement for Federal-run schools. What was the goal of this movement? Robert Owen, who was called the father of socialism in the United States, said that "the great object was to get rid of morality, and to convert our schools into halls of science. The plan was not to make open attacks on religion, but to establish a system of national schools, from which all religion was excluded, in which nothing was to be taught but such knowledge as is verifiable by the senses and to which all parents were compelled by law to send their children." Even though this may seem extreme, it is true. Many years after the founding of this great nation, socialists were trying to get a foothold on America, and to do so they started a system of national schools. Once these were formed, the government would force all children to go to these schools, where future generations would basically be "dumbed down."
And sadly, this movement is working. The Family Research Council stated in 1997 that "student achievement has been declining in recent years at the same time that both government spending on and federal control of education have been increasing." The 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress declared that as many as half of elementary and secondary students do not demonstrate "competency in challenging subject matter in English, mathematics, science, history, and geography. Further, even fewer are able to use their minds well."
Why did the U.S. Department of Education fail? After all, it does have over 1.5 million teachers employed. The reason is that this bureaucracy has eroded the cornerstone of our nation: self-government. For over a century, education was run on the local level by individual cities and communities. Parent involvement was high; government intervention was low. But then the Federal government got involved, and as Alexis de Tocqueville recognized, "a centralized administration is fit only to enervate the nations in which it exists, by incessantly diminishing their local spirit." Increased centralization and bureaucratization saps civic and individual responsibility. In the area of education, increased government involvement has bred local apathy which, in turn, has bred greater government involvement.
If the United States Constitution is a document of enumerated powers, and nowhere does it state education is a Federal responsibility, something must be done. If half of elementary and secondary students do not demonstrate competency in basic school subjects such as English and mathematics, something must be done. If student achievement has been declining at the same time that both government spending on and federal control of education have been increasing, then the something that must done is clear: get government out! All the U.S. Department of Education has created is a very imperfect result and bootless efforts. It is time to decentralize, and restore the local spirit that Alexis de Tocqueville once saw thriving in this great nation.
Ryan Lee Stollar is the President of the Center for American Freedom.
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