Thursday Links

I do not understand the persistent, vehement conservative attack on public school teachers. Not that I am defending the teachers. Some are lazy, and many are incompetent. But the market solution seems obvious: pay teachers more money, to attract more competent teachers. The idea that you can have good education on the cheap is ludicrous.

Not that conservatives really want good public education, I suppose. I cannot say that I know any conservatives who actually believe that, but Reagan campaigner Roger Freeman warned of the "danger of producing an educated proletariat." That is a conservative sentiment that I understand.

Perhaps it goes back to the conservative mantra that government is incompetent. Public education is an easy target. By attacking teachers conservatives can pretend that they are in favor of public education, even though they are not in favor of paying for it.