Federal Funding: Making a Difference?

Williams, Walter. "Increased Funding Does Not Improve Public Education." 5th Ed. Opposing Viewpoints: Education. Mary E. Williams. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000. 191-194. Print


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Increased funding does not improve public education is the view of Walter Williams. Williams believes, in schools that spend less money on public schools, higher levels of student achievements are found. Society should focus on providing genuine solutions to the education crisis, such as more charter schools, concludes Williams. Williams evaluates two schools who have large amounts of expenditures, Washington D.C., and New Jersey, as well as two schools who don’t have large amounts of expenditures, Minnesota, and Iowa and compare where they are in terms of ranking of how well the students are doing in school. Williams exclaims that it is no surprise to him, that Minnesota and Iowa lead the nation in education while Washington D.C. and New Jersey are near the middle of the pack. Williams doesn’t think the teacher to student ratio is a problem in our school system either, comparing the United States to Japan, saying that Japan had double our ratio and can run circles around the United States. Williams thought is that more money and more teachers is a ploy by the federal government to enhance the wealth and power of the education establishment and that our solution to our current state in public education is in changing the way education is delivered.

The piece by Walter Williams has a relation to my article in many different ways. Williams belief that more federal funding to public school does not help in their academics, closely relates to the problem with kids and parents wanting the state to keep paying for the transit and bus passes, where the money from the state comes from the federal government. The examination of the four schools by Williams in how their academe was, by ranking, was to further prove his theory of not needing more federal funding, which would link to my article, saying that more money is not needed to help further the education of the students. Williams’s belief that more federal money to improve public education to enhance the public education’s wealth and power, provides a valid statement and point when looked closely to my question. Williams thought shows that with more federal money being supplied to the public education system, not only do parents and students become more dependent on the federal government to provide better amenities for the teachers and students, but also just because the federal government does supply money to the public education system, does not mean that it helps students to have a better education.