Department of Miseducation

Conservatives, including tea party candidates, have faced scorn and ridicule for declaring that they favor abolishing the US Department of Education. This position is no heresy. Why is it forbidden to assess the efficacy of any particular Federal agency before more tax money is directed down what may have always been or may have become a black hole? First, ask the question, has American educational instruction demonstrably improved since the creation of the Department of Education and the elevation of a Presidential adviser to the level of a cabinet officer, the Secretary of Education? Sadly, to the contrary, all the efforts at nationalizing education have failed from the inception and feel good initiatives like "Head Start" through "no child left behind". Massive resources have been allocated (read as tax dollars squandered), but no substantive, quantifiable progress is manifest. With early intervention in pre-K (Head Start), statistics show gains evaporate by middle school. We would all like these programs to work, particularly in light of the vast amounts expended on them, but they simply can not. For education to improve, the focus must be local with as much parental involvement as possible, not doled out as yet one more mismanaged top down scheme from Washington D.C.