Perhaps best known as the “guy with the baseball cap,” former Silicon Valley heavyweight and current U.S. General Consul to Bermuda Gregory Slayton, who spent years in Asia and Africa studying how to improve the economic situation of the poor in the Third World, has taken a stand on education.

Slayton said that solving the problems in Bermuda’s education system — and America’s — is to move it more towards a free-market model.

“The public school system in the US and perhaps in Bermuda has some marks of the socialist system,” Mr. Slayton said. “Whether you are a great teacher or lousy teacher you get paid the same amount, you get the same raise.”

He continued: “You get a lot of the attributes of a failed economic policy. It has failed all over the world and that is the lack of choice.” — The Royal Gazette

Socialism is defined as an “economic system which is based on cooperation rather than competition and which utilizes centralized planning and distribution.” Since the No Child Left Behind Act took effect, we certainly have seen an uprecedented level of centralized planning and distribution of education. And since John Dewey, socialization has been one of the primary purposes of education rather than individual achievement and general competency.

Perhaps that is why the Oklahoma Education Association and three Oklahoma school districts took the State Legislature and the leaders of its two houses to court, suing for $ 1 billion due to what it says is inadequate funding.

State Assistant Attorney General Neal Leader argued Friday that the issue is political and not within the court’s jurisdiction. He said that the OEA could either lobby the Legislature for more money or file an initiative petition in an attempt to amend the state constitution. — KOCO

Oklahoma is ranked 48th out of 50 states in per-pupil spending, although one third of its budget goes to fund education. To many, this equates with a substandard education. On the other hand, Education Week, one of the nation’s most respected trade publications, issues a yearly report card grading states on a variety of categories and ranks Oklahoma 7th in the nation.