Analyst's note: For the entire story, please review the original article. This is a sad story for for our nation to say the least. The impact from this scandal will be seen for years to come in the lives of these children & those around them.
"America's biggest teacher and principal cheating scandal unfolds in Atlanta ... At least 178 teachers and principals in Atlanta Public Schools cheated to raise student scores on high-stakes standardized tests, according to a report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Award-winning gains by Atlanta students were based on widespread cheating by 178 named teachers and principals, said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday. His office released a report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that names 178 teachers and principals – 82 of whom confessed – in what's likely the biggest cheating scandal in US history. This appears to be the largest of dozens of major cheating scandals, unearthed across the country. – Yahoo News/USA Today
Dominant Social Theme: How can this happen after all the billions poured into America's public schools? It seemed finally that the system was headed in the right direction. What a setback.
Free-Market Analysis: No doubt there will be thousands of articles written about this most recent "teacher and principal cheating scandal." (See excerpt above.) Yet, what is taking place is entirely predictable and, as the article reports further down, cheating is taking place throughout the country. This only happens to be largest outbreak and therefore is most newsworthy.
It was President George W. Bush who, in addition to presiding over several unsuccessful and questionable wars, pushed through "No Child Left Behind" legislation that mandates national testing on a regular basis. The only rational way to improve the educational system is through competition – the Invisible Hand. But the Bush Administration and Congress, loathe to open up the system to competition, substituted legislation for competition with predictable results.
There is no law in the world that cannot be subverted; most laws of any significance are disobeyed on a regular basis. This is why the more laws a society has the more corrupt it gets. This is happening in the US public school system, which was always dysfunctional and corrupt and is only more so now.
[....] Conclusion: Of course, the Anglosphere elites that have adopted and supported this system are not apt to allow such competition. They are not interested in using the system to create alert, educated individuals capable of critical thinking. They seek socialized workers and cannon fodder; that is what public education has been constructed to provide. Corruption is far more tolerable than an educated populace."
