“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

–Benjamin Franklin

Notwithstanding my “expectations bar” being set pretty low for our Washington politicians, a recent interview with a well-known U.S. senator really surprised me. When asked the difference between “equality” and “equity,” this self-acknowledged socialist scratched his balding scalp covered with wild wisps of gray hair, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, muttered a few words, and then admitted, “I don’t really know.”

Seriously? This is a man who has planted his flag on the hill of equity after trampling over the virtues of meritocracy on his way to the crest. Yet, he admits he doesn’t know equality from equity. Simply put and captured in one sentence, equality refers to opportunity and equity refers to outcome. But you and I already knew that.

Let’s look at how it applies to one area: our children’s education. First a disclaimer: I am not an educator, an economist, or a social scientist, so this is just my opinion from the “cheap seats.”

Today, there’s a clarion call for equity in education. Let the intelligence and the performance of the student be damned–those factors are no longer relevant. What some folks want now is a level playing field for students entering advanced classes in high school and admission to college. And they want the classrooms and enrollment rosters to look blended, with just the right combination of yellow, white, brown, and black.

Look where that gets us. In the name of equity, the teachers have to teach to the lowest common denominator, leaving a Goldilocks picture–some students bored, some still hopelessly lost, and a few just right. This is a disservice to the majority of the students, in that some don’t get the education they deserve while others don’t get the education they so desperately need.

I submit, and this is not a novel idea, we would be far better off as a society if we put our dollars to work funding early education–pre-school and the early grades, after-school programs, and tutoring. Far better to equalize each and every student’s potential for success at an early age than equitizing (I know, it’s not a word, but I like it!) outcomes when they’re in their mid to late teens. Wouldn’t it be nice to have children of every color and demographic go into their formative school years with an equal chance at a good education?

Furthermore, let those dollars follow the students–another concept many have proposed. Reward public schools that perform well and actually educate their students. Support charter schools. Offer opportunities at private and parochial schools. Let the parents decide what’s best for their family and their student and, once a school choice is made, those dollars follow the student to the school he or she attends.

The need for teacher unions would become a thing of the past. Teachers would be rewarded based on their performance in the classroom, not their years of service or the amount of money they “contribute” to the union. During the pandemic, teacher unions showed their true colors when they abdicated their duty to educating our kids so as to protect their ability to “teach” from home and protect their personal health, long after we knew the latter was a specious argument.

One more thing: get the federal government out of education. Constitutionally, it has no business walking the halls of our schools. Abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Let the states be responsible for education. I suspect the folks in both Massachusetts and Mississippi, for example, are more concerned about their respective citizens’ education than the people who are encamped in the halls of the U.S. Congress.

Many of our kids are now feeling the deleterious effects of missed years of education, and this crisis hasn’t yet played itself out fully. It’s time for serious people with logical ideas to step up and institute change. A liberal senator mired in his political rhetoric is poster-child proof enough that the feds aren’t the people to do this.