U.S. public education needs a bailout

03-11-2010

By Kai Ryssdal/Marketplace

KAI RYSSDAL: Amy Scott was telling us a couple of minutes ago about those new proposals for some kind of unified nationwide education policy. Commentator Robert Reich says deciding who studies what and in what grade is well worth a conversation but first, he says, we've got to fix a bigger problem. ROBERT REICH: The recession has ravaged state and local budgets, most of which aren't allowed to run deficits. That's meant major cuts in public schools and universities, and an unfathomable future deficit in the education of our people. Across America, schools are laying off thousands of teachers. Classrooms that had contained 20 to 25 students are now crammed with 30 or more. School years have been shortened. Some school districts are moving to four-day school weeks. (more...)

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U.S. public education needs a bailout

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