By Pepper of the Daily Pepper
John Stossel has a new libertarian rant, "Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids" (or, more appropriately, "Stupid in America: Belgium Rocks My World"), in which he blames all problems with American education on those lazy public-school teachers. Because, really, all teachers are just as they are portrayed on television, right? In Stossel's companion article, he gripes, "Don't like your public school? Tough. The school is terrible? Tough. Your taxes fund that school regardless of whether it's good or bad. That's why government monopolies routinely fail their customers. Union-dominated monopolies are even worse. "
Did you hear the sneer behind the word "Union"? Yes, teachers who like to eat and pay their mortgage are destroying your child's education. Well, Doghouse Riley, who happens to know a thing or two about public schools, held his nose and watched the whole program. With a little research, he proceeds to poke a hole in each of Stossel's arguments, starting with Stossel's misplaced affection for Belgium, which supposedly spends less on its students yet their students have higher scores than Americans:
