when there’s a showing of an execution,nviewers will also see the victim ofnthe crime, say, the mutilated corpse ofna rape atrocity or some adolescentnwhose arms were hacked off, or thenscantily clad casualHes of the midnightnstrangler. Take the Willy Horton problemnand the many kindhearted peoplenlike Michael Dukakis who think criminalsnshouldn’t be put away in somensolitary confinement as if they werensavage jungle beasts. Why shouldn’tnKQED show police films of WillynHorton’s victims? The camera couldnshow the viewer his crimes in, to usenMichael Schwartz’s phrase, “an unmediatednway.”nI’m sure police departments will alsonsupply films to the Public BroadcastingnService network and KQED of a murderednpoliceman’s family mourningntheir loss. In keeping with KQED’snsense of justice and fair play, the stationnmight also want to show the awfulncondition of criminals who have beennsentenced to life imprisonment, pairednwith, again, films of the victims of thesenjailed criminals.nKQED’s idea to show executionsnand my idea to show how it all begannbefore the murderer entered the deathnchamber could be a useful test for thenpros and cons of capital punishment.nFirst, you see the decomposing body ofna molested six-year-old girl in somenthicket being identified by her horrorstrickennparents, and then you watchnthe execution of the convicted murderer.nWithout emotion you then tellnKQED what you think of capital punishment.nIt would be particularly valuable tonshow the victims of mass killers whonhad been released after serving shortnprison terms, who then went out andnmurdered again. The families of thensecond series of victims might be askednto give their views as the executionnproceeded.nLots of luck, KQED, as you proceednwith your noble project.n— Arnold BeichmannAMERICAN EDUCATION is todaynso bureaucratized that every increasenin tax monies poured into thensystem produces less real learning. Wennow spend approximately 33 percentnmore in real terms ($5,638) per capitanon students in elementary and secon­ndary schools than we did ten years ago,nbut all valid measures show a decreasenin learning with each ratchet-up in taxnexpenditures. Americans are especiallynanxious and frightened by our students’nplummeting test scores preciselynbecause we are still passionate believersnin the value of schooling, and mostnAmericans still believe more money isnthe answer. But informed observersnknow this is not so.nVouchers and tax-deductions for educationnexpenditures are obviously thensimplest means, and the most politicallynacceptable means right now, fornbeginning a great “restructuring” ofnAmerican education. Parents can usentheir tax vouchers or tax deductions tonsend their children to any school theyndeem the best. Education entrepreneursnof all kinds, from the dedicatednyoung volunteers who love teaching tonhigh-tech nerds bent on creating “interactivenvideo programs,” are paid tonproduce the greatest possible learningnper dollar and the greatest investornsatisfaction — that is, happy learners,nparents, and taxpayers. The eady experimentsnin vouchers for elementaryneducation have been promising; innfact, even liberal educationists, the descendantsnof the Great Bureaucratizers,nhave grudgingly admitted thatnvouchers work. These people still hopento limit the vouchers to the publicnsystem, but they agree that smaller,ncompeting public schools would benmore efficient than the present bignbureaucracies.nSo far, the school voucher movementnhas focused on de-bureaucratizingnneighborhood elementary schools.nBut the big bureaucracies, the Factonesnof EducaHon, are not the elementarynschools in your average localnneighborhood. The real Frankensteinsnof Education are our colossal statenuniversities and state colleges. Therenare no elementary school campusesnwith ten thousand students millingnaround in anonymous herds, but therenare scores of these colossal state universitiesnprocessing millions of alienatednstudents. Almost all private universitiesnlimit class sizes to from several hundrednto several thousand students. Anythingnbeyond that is found to breed unhappyncustomers who take their tuition moneynelsewhere. But the bureaucrats ofnthe state universities have continued tonbuild ever more colossal centers fornnnherding ever more unhappy studentsnwho learn less and less for ever morentax dollars.nVouchers and tax credits are ideallynsuited for higher education. Collegenstudents would have every incentive tonseek out the schools that give them thenbest return for their vouchers and familyntax-credits. The more bureaucraticnreformers have already adopted a massnof student tests to hold schools accountablenfor their expenditures of taxndollars at lower levels, and these testsncould be adapted for universities. Anynstudent who falls below a certain academicnlevel would simply lose hisnvouchers, and any institution with aggregatenstudent scores below a minimalnlevel would lose its accreditation tonreceive vouchers.nMany other incentives could benbuilt into such a system. Studentsncould be limited to a certain lifetimenamount of vouchers, so they wouldnhave an incentive to find the placenwhere they could get the maximumnlearning for the minimum cost. Ancertain minimum number of vouchersncould be limited to general educationnrequirements, which would probablynbreed an explosion of small privatencolleges, and others could be used fornmore specialized career training. Ifnstudents were allowed to combine theirnspecialized education vouchers with,nsay, corporate-sponsored training programs,nthen employers would have annincentive to give more matching fundsnfor education.nUnder a voucher system, collegenstudents would no longer be forced ton”regurgitate” whatever values and ideologicaln”spins” their state EducationnFactories embrace. Studies, such as thenCarnegie Foundation’s The Conditionnof the Professoriate, show that 70 percentnof professors in the humanitiesnand social sciences are self-labeled liberals.nSince the majority of conservativesnseem to be segregated into thenschools in the South and Southwest,nmost students in this country findnthemselves subjected to the liberal ideologynof these state Factories. Vouchersnand tax credits, however, would endnthis indoctrination by the simple devicenof granting students “freedom ofnchoice,” which surely no honest liberalncould oppose.nSome citizens might worry that thisnnew system of education would under-nFEBRUARY 1991/7n