Plane Truth

On a flight to Phoenix the other day, Lanee and I sat next to a lady from Idaho--a first-grade schoolteacher who is retiring this spring after forty years in the classroom. Besides being chatty, opinionated and funny ("I had to quit golf because I swear too much!"), she had a lot to say about the effects of legislation and regulation on education.

What's new in the world of education, according to our traveling companion?

1. Because of education reform, she has to publish all of her lesson plans a week in advance. So if the class fails to understand a principle, the teacher isn't supposed to adapt to conditions, but must hold to the pre-ordained schedule or risk violating policy.

2. Some astute observer of the fire code pushed forth the law that a maximum of 20% of classroom wall space can have paper hanging in it, and none in the school hallways. So the teacher can't hang up student papers and the children are denied the one thing they universally need--recognition.

3. Teachers can't hug kids anymore, a law that I suppose was designed to suppress the seeds of abuse. So these little six-year-olds who are neglected at home can't be touched. And when her students say "I love you" and try to give a hug, our teacher's dictated response is to push the child away and say "thank you."

I am reminded of Philip K. Howard's stirring book, "The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America." The problem isn't the bureaucrats, it's the philosophy of excessive and controlling regulation that hamstrings the bureaucrats, that takes away their decision-making authority, the opportunity for common sense to intervene. It's the notion that the answer to every problem lies in the legislative process, and that it is possible to virtually eliminate such life fundamentals as risk and injustice given sufficient space in the legal code.

I suspect that most laws do more harm than good. I think we're all for protecting our personal rights and property, but those rather modest aims could be accomplished with but a small percentage of our legislative text. I have seen the process of law-making, and it is no surprise to me that most laws are bad laws--flawed by someone's self-interest, by political wrangling, and, most commonly, by unforeseen consequences.

I think maybe there ought to be a one-year review period for new legislation--so generally the same political powers are in place. But give everyone that has been affected a chance to tell their stories, and let us all reconsider, and be given the opportunity to vote again, this time a little more enlightened by the reality of its consequences.

And I think the world is a better place when a first-grade teacher can hug her kids.