that's it for a very busy day. have a great week and we'll see you next "fox weeks sunday." . are we "stupid in america"? when it comes to education, maybe. >> we have a system where all the workers are thinking we're doing a great job for the kids and what we're doing is producing 8% sub says. >> kids aren't learning but school spending is through the roof. why? what's gone wrong? the bureaucracy is wrong. it's the blob people call it. >> it's the blob. it is. >> it's like reformers are up against jabba the hut. the unions and the paper pushers. >> let's destroy the system. >> good. let's bring on the destruction. who would disagree.

teachers would disagree and they're mad at me and reformers who care about test scores. >> city schools are terrible because of unions like your. >> our text scores are not what we choose to learn on. >> how do you know your kids are learning anything? >> i know they're learning when i look in their lives. >> give me a break, unions are made because some charters can fire bad teachers. >> i call it freeing up a person's future. >> what's wrong with that? >> a teacher wants to eat. >> this actor says teachers need tenure. >> why else would you take a salary. >> why have tenure? most professions have tenure. but at least now there's some good news. at some schools where teachers could be fired, kids learn. >> give me the worst school anywhere in america and we'll outperform the other schools in five years. >> how good are the test scores at his charter schools? >> there isn't even a word for

it. >> but unions say the charter schools avoid the problem kids. >> no way. i love fools. >> but sadly up to now, adult fools have run the show and made us "stupid in america." school spending has tripled over the past 40 years. we now spend much more than other countries, but what do we get? fancier schools, more assistant principals, but student learning? no improvement. look at it. there's the line. for 40 years scores have been flat. much more money, no improvement. this is awful. but there is some good news. around america some very cool things are starting to happen. but school is boring? >> no, it isn't. >> no it's not. >> yes, it is. i know. i went to school. grade school was boring. so was high school. so was princeton.

except for the party parts. but fourth grade, you have to learn reading and writing. that's work. >> reading is work, but it's rockin' awesome. >> rockin' awesome? and these kids say school is fun? >> yes. >> yes. >> how is it fun to learn. >> they just teach us in a fun way. >> so you guys look forward to going to school in the morning? >> yes. >> these kids attend one of those new charter schools, free public schools but their charter let the schools escape the bureaucracy of regular schools including teachers union rules. this school rules the city kids a risk of failure but devin's kids learn. >> going to our school is a ticket to educational success. >> this woman runs several charter schools. all get outstanding test scores. >> you do this all with the same money the public schools get? >> we actually do it with less.

$4,000 and $6,000 less per child. >> how for less money do they get the kids so interested? >> you're interested in math? >> yes. reading, writing. >> but learning is work. >> it don't matter. >> the school day here is longer. kids often stay until 5:00 p.m. charter teachers can be asked to work more than the union would have allowed. they told us they don't mind. >> but you're going to burn out. why aren't you ticked off? >> that's not an option for us because we kind of have our eye on the prize with these kids. >> they use all sorts of new teaching techniques. sometimes teachers wear earpieces during class and then they're coached by their bosses. >> what are they telling you? >> they're telling me things that i don't see. if i don't think of great question in the moment, my pistons pal's able to kind of feed that to me through the earpiece. >> we kind of view teachers as athletes in the olympics, and they need constant support and coaching to be at the top of

their game. >> kids at this school constantly wave their hands around. it confused me but then the students explained it's what they call active listening. instead of interrupting to blurt out and say can i go to the bakts room or i agree with that, they make hand gestures. >> what's the symbol for agree? >> like this. >> high test scores made these charters so popular that parents line up hoping to get their kids admitted. >> this line goes on and on forever. it goes around the block. so many applicants but not that many spaces. soo what do do you when you have thousands of people and just a few hundred slots? they hold a lottery. >> the winners are happy. sadly there are many more losers. on the other end of america in oakland, california, another charter chain gets similar top results using different methods.

>> here's what i say. give me the worst school in oakland, black, mexican, polka dot. give us the worst school anywhere in america and we'll take it and we'll outperform the other schools in five years. >> ben chavis created the model at the american indian public charter schools right in the heart of a rough neighborhood. >> i don't give a [ bleep ]. i'm american. >> these are hard workers here. >> the kids at american indian schools have higher scores than other schools in california. >> do you get the same amount? >> we get less than any other school. >> the kids in american indian public charter schools are scoring so far above the average state than others in the public school system theres isn't a word for it. >> they use techniques. here they pay some kids to tutor

other kids. >> we hire our students. we pay them. they're excited. they're going to make some money. >> chavis is politically incorrect. >> what are you going to study? >> science. >> a mexican in science? good for you. you'll be a rare bird. >> he's been accused of imposting strict rules. he made this student do pushups in the hallway because he didn't follow directions. >> you have to actually try hard here. >> hate saturday school. >> my other school we didn't have much homework. one page. but here we have six pages. the other school the teachers were a lot nicer but here, meaner. meaner but no student has been expelled since 2000? >> no way. i love fools. i love kids who get in trouble. you can take a kid who's acting

like a fool or gets in trouble and use them as an example. >> it's cruel critics say. if your sixth grader acts up, he'll be asked to sit on the floor in front of an eighth grade class. >> yes, that's true. embarrassment keeps people in line whether we want to admit it or not. >> at our old school we played games. but here it's either running for ten minutes or running around the block. >> you fire people at your zools. >> they should be fired. >> you fired a teacher after one day? >> she was incompetent? >> you could tell in one day? >> yes, she was incompetent. >> last year i thought i was going to get fired a few times. if i'm not doing a good job, it's over. it could happen at the drop of a dime. >> that's not true at union-run schools. teachers are happy they can't be fired but these charter school teachers can be. >> you could get canned in a moment. does it bother you in. >> if i'm not doing my job per

se and i was fired for that, so be it. >> if i was a doctor and i wasn't good, i mean i wouldn't have have a job. no one would come to me, right? >> i would hope not. >> you cannot maintain quality unless you can fire people says this charter founder. >> it's as many as we must and as little as we can. >> have you fired more than ten? >> in three schools in eight years, yes. >> but while bad teachers might get fired good teachers are given freedom. >> they can choose textbooks, their teaching methods as long as they every quarter, every year, the students are learning what they need to learn at the end of the day. >> in harlem 43% of the eighth graders get passing grays in math tests. 100% of her kids pass. so if such charters work, why aren't there more of them. because unions and supporters of traditional schools hate charters. this protest occurred outside one of eva moskowicz's charters.

>> i hope it's not personal but it may be. >> this union boss doesn't want charters in what he calls his schools. >> over my dead body they're going to come there. >> does he get to stop them? when we return i'll confront the unions about that and other strange things union bosses said like we should. judge teachers by how well students do on tests. but how do you know if they're learning anything? >> i know my kids are learned when i look in their eyes. >> what? more "stupid in america" when we return. equipped with droid zap for advanced photo sharing that lets you swipe images to multiple people. the new droid ultra by motorola. when intelligence matters. droid does.

her busy saturday begins with back pain, when... hey pam, you should take advil. why? you can take four advil for all day relief. so i should give up my two aleve for more pills with advil? you're joking right? for my back pain, i want my aleve. you're joking right? could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. mmmhmmm...everybody knows that. well, did you know that old macdonald was a really bad speller? your word is...cow. cow. cow. c...o...w... ...e...i...e...i...o. [buzzer] dangnabbit. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know.

♪ we go, go, we don't have to go solo ♪ ♪ fire, fire, you can take me higher ♪ ♪ take me to the mountains, start a revolution ♪ ♪ hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution ♪ ♪ brand-new season, keep it in motion ♪ ♪ 'cause the rhyme is the reason ♪ ♪ break through, man, it doesn't matter who you're talking to ♪ [ male announcer ] completely redesigned for whatever you love to do. the all-new nissan versa note. your door to more. ♪

so it was no surprise when he set out best-smelling cleaners he could. like mr. clean with the scent of gain. that combines irresistible scent and powerful cleaning. and his lemon-scented anti-bacterial spray that kills 99.9% of bacteria. people sure loved having something that smelled as great as it cleaned. that's why when it comes to clean, there's only one mr. those great new charter schools we showed you, i just wish there were more of them, more competition because competition makes everybody better. but there are some people who don't like my saying that. >> shame on you. shame on you. shame on you.

>> the teachers union, 5 million members strong. >> shame on you. shame on you. >> this group is mad at me. >> we are here to demand an apology from 20/20 oos john stossel. >> i had done another show called "stupid in america" that said it was impossible to fire bad teachers. the union boss said because of my program -- >> educators all over the country feel that they have been kicked in the teeth. >> they were surprised when i came outside to hear them. the union said i should be educated. >> so just teach for a week. we've got high schools. we've got elementary schools. >> the crowd liked the idea of me teaching for a week. >> teach, john, teach. teach, john, teach. >> i think i surprised them again when i said, okay, i'll teach. but then they changed their mind. union president randy wine garden won't talk to me anymore, but two other union bosses did.

joe dell grasso and nathan saunders of washington, d.c. >> city schools are terrible because of unions like yours. >> well, i would disagree. we have progress as a result of unions. >> three days before saunders led this protest march to complain about plans to pay teachers based on how well their students do on tests. the protesters even composed an anti-protest songs. >> i think i know why the union doesn't like testing. your results are awful. they're among the lowest in the nation. >> you make the argument that it's the lowest in the nation based upon the test scores. now, i would say that ours can get better, but i would say that -- >> your predecessors, the unions have been saying that for years. >> i think the unions have a pretty strong history of advocating for high quality

public education. >> but not achieving it? >> hard test scores are not what we choose to focus on. we choose to focus on teaching kids. >> hbut how do you know if they're not learning anything if you don't test them and compare? >> i know my kids are learning when i look in their eyes. >> they have celebrity support. matt damon. he was asked about the rules to fire teachers. >> in acting there isn't job security. why isn't there that for teacher. >> you think job insecurity is -- >> it's an -- >> i want to be an actor. see, you take this mba style of teaching. >> vouchers, even obama's race to the top are based on the idea that competition is good. if kids are free to take their school money to any school. competition among schools

including for-profit chains will force all schools to get better or go out of business. the best schools will expand. but the unions don't like that market competition. >> there's a profit motive behind all of this extra testing. >> we need to get the corporations out of the schools. >> the unions says school choice would enrich nations but further impoverish the nations. are teachers paid enough? >> no. >> you've got some teachers making over $100,000 a year. >> and they aren't making enough. >> matt damon agrees with that. his mom is a union teacher. >> a teacher wants to teach. why else would you take a [ bleep ] salary and work really long hours. >> teachers make a [ bleep ] salary? maybe to matt damon. but they make more than

accountants, nurse, architects. >> i can guarantee you this. it's not about money. >> kevin chavous is a former chairman of the school system. >> teachers got more money than ever to educate 10,000 fewer kids and the test scores did go down. what they did do is grow center office, had more deputies to the assistant to the deputy to the assistant. >> and the former district chancellor michelle rhee found they didn't even give school supplies to the kids. >> walking into the schools and seeing there were no books in the library, kids didn't have supplies and pencils and then the following week i visited the warehouse of the school district where there were boxes and boxes of books and scissors and glue. >> so why didn't they get to the school? >> exactly. that was the question -- >> why didn't they get to the school? >> it was just a complete and

utter sense of dysfunction and a lack of accountability. >> it's the reason they call the school bureaucracy the blob. it's like this blobby jabba the hut thing that can't be budged. the blob is the teachers union, janitors union, politicians, school board bureaucrats, and if you try to make a challenge, the blob says -- >> we don't do that here. we've got to to requisition downtown. they have to sign off. it's crazy. >> both union leaders escapes bureaucracy. >> you went to union school. >> that's right. >> it made me feel you had better do pretty good in that school or else. >> i'll confront the union bosses when we return. why can't other people have the choice they had? also why does it cost a third of a million dollars to fire just one union teacher? what's wrong with these people? [ dog ] we found it together.

on a walk, walk, walk.

yeah, we found that wonderful thing. anyou smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. beneful is awarding a $500,000 dog park makeover... in the 2013 dream dog park contest. enter now. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪

look who september their kids to private school. nancy pelosi, hillary clinton, al gore. >> the people who are making rules already have choice. you know, the politicians -- and i used to be a politician. the politicians have choice. >> all these politicians who sent their kids to private school oppose school alcohol for regular people. >> thank you for taking my question, president obama. i want to know whether or not you believe malia and sasha would get the same high quality education in a d.c. school. >> if i wanted to find a good

school for them to be in, we could probably do it. >> apparently he didn't want to do it. he now sends may loo ya and sasha to sid well friends. it's the same school that the vice president sends his grandchildren to. $32,000 a year. >> you went to private school. >> that's correct. >> i graduated a catholic high school. >> joe dell grasso is a tough negotiator. what ena chairman said he used up his speaking time, he marched up to the front to demand more. he said my union contract mandates seven more minutes than i got. the rigidity of the stupid union contract is why the kids suffer. your union is the problem. >> i think you know better than that. >> he lets them escape rules be i saying allowing them to attend charter schools in existing school buildings. >> over my dead body they're going to come there. i'm going to be there and physically try and stop them.

this there are certain things that don't mix. oil and water, you can't emulsify them. >> there's no room? there are not half empty schools? >> no, no. >> dell grasso says charter schools favor rich kids. but new york public schools spend almost 400 th thou per school. >> it's -- >> let them into your school. >> i don't want them in our schools. >> you're not happy for them. >> is fox and cnn in the same building? i don't think so. >> but fox and cnn can't banish the competition. competition is good. competition is why we have fox, cnn, and nbc. when you have a choice of what channel you're going to watch or school you're going to attend, competition makes things better. dell grasso understands that about his own education. >> my mother paid for me to go

to it and it kind of made me feel that i had better do pretty good in that school or else. >> it sounds like you're arguing against the unionized public schools. >> i'm not arguing against them. >> most of the independent schools are still catholic schools doing a great job for less than half the money you spent. >> i wouldn't say that. >> 17 thou instead of 9 thou. >> john, tell them to have another bingo game and get over it. >> catholic schools fire teachers but union schools don't because they have tenure. >> when you went into organized crime, you got to be a made person. there was like a ceremony but nothing like getting tenure which is a nice thing. >> it's kind of like an organized crime. you're in forever unless you die or get killed. >> well, there's that perspective of it. you're a good teacher. there should. be a problem with it. >> well, here's one problem.

not every teacher is good. some are really lousy. it's impossible to fire these tenured teachers? >> but why? >> because there are a million steps. >> no, there aren't. there's only one. >> there's all thee steps. here is a list of steps to fire a teacher in my town. this is why most principals don't even try. they look at the list of appeals like this one and just give up oer they push the worst teachers to transfer to another school. that's such a common way to avoid these rules. there's even a name for it. the dance of the lemmon. it would be funny except these rules leave some kids stuck with terrible teachers. >> this is crazy. >> this former police investigator says it takes years to fire even an abusish teacher. >> lots of people said he hit kids. the kids said it. >> lots of kids said it and teachers who were present in the classroom. it took me four years, $283,000,

$127,000 in legal fees plus what it cost to have a substitute fill in all while he's sitting home having popcorn. >> still being paid by the state. >> by the district. >> he couldn't even fire the teacher who faked his doctorate. and he went to sleep in class. >> and he was quite disturbed when the supervisor came in and woke him up. >> he complains. >> it never ends. it never ends. >> when we return, meet someone who successfully fired hundreds of teachers. >> fired your own daughter's principal. >> that was a chilly night at home.

♪ [ male annouer ] let's go places. but let's be ready. ♪ let's do our homework. ♪ let's look out for each other. let's look both ways before crossing. ♪ let's remember what's important. let's be optimistic. but just in case -- let's be ready. let'go places, safely. at humana, our medicare agents sit down wh you and ask. being active. and being with this guy. [ male announcer ] getting to know you is how we help you choose the humana medicare plan that works best for you. mi familia. ♪ [ male announcer ] we want to help you achieve your best health, so you can keep doing the things that are important to you. taking care of our customers.

taking care of her. and the next thing on our list is bungee jumping. [ male announcer ] helping you -- now that's what's important to us. i took my son fishing every year. we had a great spot, not easy to find, but worth it. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing betr. and that means...fish on! symbicort is for copd including chronic bronchiti and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. with copd, i thought i'd miss our family tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung nction, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today, we're ready for whaver swims our way.

ask your doctor aut symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or cck to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you n't afrd your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. [ male announcer ] when you wear dentures you may not know it, but your mouth is under attack. food particles infiltrate ♪ protect your mouth, with fixodent. the adhesive helps create a food seal defense for a clean mouth and kills bacteria for fresh breath. ♪ fixodent, and forget it. live from america's news headquarters, i'm sorry harris faulkner with the latest developments on the crisis in syria. president obama set to meet with key congressional lawmakers at

the white house tomorrow. it's part of an extensive lobbying earth to look at a possible military strike on syria. at the same time two house committees are gearing up to gather right after labor day. they're divided on whether to launch even a limited strike. >> i would support a very narrowly tailored, narrowly crafted resolution that made it clear that u.s. troops would not be on the ground. >> and in the middle east, the arab league has passed a resolution that the assad regime must be held accountable for the sarin gas attack, which we think it is, that left hundreds of civilians dead. i'm harris faulkner. now back to john stossel's "stupid in america." as we've seen, education in america is a mess. what will fix it? who might fix it? somebody needs to fix it!

you can do it! >> oprah thinks this woman can fix it. >> thank you, michelle. i'm rooting for you. >> michelle is michelle rhee. >> michelle rhee is acting chancellor. >> five years ago mayor adrian fenty picked her to manage d.c. schools. >> you had never run a school system before. >> i had never run a school before and that's why people thought that adrian fenty was nuts. i was a 37-year-old girl from toledo, ohio. >> and people said what? who? >> yeah. people said, he's lost his minds. >> her friends said she's lost hers. >> i have two kids, two daughters, 9 and 12, andpy it them in the d.c. public schools. >> the schools were a disaster. test results among the worst in america. chancellor rhee quickly learned that although only 8% of d.c.'s

kids were on grade level there was something odd about how the teachers were ranked. >> when i looked at the performance evaluation of how the adults doing. >> how good are the teachers doing. >> right. i found that 95% of the adults were being rated as doing great job. so how can you have a system where all the workers are thinking we're doing great job, you know, a great job for our kids whabld we're producing for them is 8% success? >> she visited schools and saw empty classrooms. >> i walk into this one school. i go into the first classroom. five kids in the classroom. second classroom. nine kids. third classroom, three kids, seven kids. i'm thinking, what's going on. i finally get to the seth or seventh classroom and i ask the teacher, where are all the kids. and she said, well, it's friday. i thought, really? i just couldn't believe that was the answer. i said, is that all? and she said no. i thought, great, she's going to

tell me they're on a field trip. she said it's raining too. >> it turns out not every classroom was empty. attendance varied by teacher. >> i'm walking through, finishing my visit. i'm walking in one classroom. there are 30 kids in the classroom. in fact there were not enough desks so there were kids sitting on the radiators and whatnot. i go to the kids and said what do you think about the teacher? he said this is my best teacher bar none. as i was leaving the school and this was about 10:00 this the morning that young man and two of his friends were walking out of the school in front f me. i tapped him on the shoulder and said, excuse me, young man. where are you going? >> he said, first great teacher is great, we came to school but our second period teacher is not so good so we're going to roll. i thought, okay, this is not the picture that american people have in their minds of truancy.

they were making a conscious decision to wake up early, come to school because they knew they were going to get something out of it and leave after that because they weren't going to get something of value. >> and this teacher gets paid no more than other teachers. >> that's right. if we were doing seniority-based layoffs, he would get laid off first. >> she decided to pay those who did good more and fire other teachers. >> that did not go over very well. a few weeks into this i was visited by my then general counsel and he comes into my office and said, you've got to stop firing people. i said why? if people are not doing the jobs that they're supposed to be doing, we need to move them out. he said, well, welcome to d.c. public schools where we never fire anyone. >> but you did fire a lot of people. >> eventually we did. >> rhee found a 90-day loophole that let her close some schools and fire some of the teachers.

>> there's nothing more than the firestorm. >> 30 school principals are being fired. >> no shortage of outrage. >> it was a plan, a plot, even before she took the job to get rid of people who had been around who have tenure. >> so you fired 200 or 4,000 teachers, you closed 15% of the city's schools. fired your own daughter's principal. >> that was a chilly night at home. >> she upset families, communities, students, and teachers. a lot of people got fired. >> she said they deserved to be fired. the system needs change. >> well, many of those thought she needed to be fired. >> people really hated you. hate you still. >> yeah. yeah. i was the wicked witch of the west, they called me the hatchet lady, the dragon lady, the teacher terminator. >> big bad witch. "time" magazine even put you on the cover with the broom. >> i actually took the broom to mean sweeping house.

>> the blob didn't want their house swept. the union said poorly performing teachers need a second chance. don't you have some union teachers who are just lousy? >> we need to lift up the low performers and help them do better. i have not -- >> not just fire them. sorry, maybe teaching is not for you. >> there's a cost to firing people. the quality of life of that person is deeply affected by that termination. >> so nobody should ever be fired? >> well, what we should do is help people improve their skills. >> people would say to me, well, if a teacher is not effective, you should talk about spending the time and effort to professionally develop that person, right? i'd say, okay, but whose children are we going to put in that classroom for this year. >> who are you going to practice on. >> right. who are you going to say, oh, and it didn't work out. sorry. i mean you only get one chance at first grade. >> so she changed the policy. >> i made the decision we were

going to do the layoffs by quality instead of seniority. and this really upset the apple cart and people, you know, were protesting. >> why would it upset the apple cart? it's just common sense to do it. >> it's common sense to you and me, but it was absolutely counter to what the district had always done. it's the way that unions operate, right? seniority -- >> it just cheats the good young teacher. don't they get mad? >> forget the young teacher. it cheelts the kids. >> kids were less cheated under rhee. test scores went up when she was chancellor but in the end the union won. >> we can get her out. >> we're going to fight. if we have to be here every day all day we will. >> the mayor lost and before she was fired rhee left. elsewhere in america all sorts of new schools are succeeding

and exciting things are happening. this place has got really good chocolate shakes. (growls) (man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk. (man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. an arm wrestling match that mr. clean realized the way to handle bigger, tougher messes was better leverage. that's why he created his new magic eraser handy grip. it has a handle that firmly attaches to the eraser so you get better leverage and more oomph with less effort. it's the perfect magic eraser for making stuff that's big and tough not so tough, after all. mr. clean's handy grip -- the newest member of the magic eraser family.

in a purpose and bath. [ engine revs ] in a purpose and bath. i'to guard their manhood with trnew depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com it's a reality check. my reality check was when i started losing customers. i couldn't update them where my truck was. i missed a video chat in my own house. i couldn't download my music.

i couldn't watch movies, and i couldn't play games. so it was time to switch. life with verizon now is excellent. we rely on verizon entirely. i love verizon. verizon's 4g lte is the most reliable and in more places than any other 4g network. period. that's powerful. verizon. get the nokia lumia 928 for free.

people who try to start charter schools often say, oh, the bureaucrats make it so hard. they put up all these obstacles and that's why there's not enough charters yet to have a real market except in one town.

most kids now attend charters. how did that happen? >> hurricane katrina on track to make a direct hit on the low-lying city of new orleans. >> it happened because of a hurricane. >> all eyes are on new orleans, not only a famous city but below sea level. >> this entire area will be under water. ♪ >> mother nature is in charge, and now mother nature has dealt one horrific blow. >> when katrina flooded new orleans, it didn't just destroy much of the city. i also destroyed the school system. some school reformers thought maybe that's what needed to happen. >> it was probably one of the worst school districts in the country. it was a horror. >> before katrina, i mean, they were just failing. >> the choice was do you rebuild what was there or rebuild something entirely new. >> louisiana built something new. they made it easy for people to

open charters. >> you tell the state, here's my plan. >> ben markovitz started a school called sci academy. when he started the cool in 2008 he was the only employee, drove his car around until 3:00 in the morning advertising school. >> see that number? that's my cell phone. >> he had to advertise. students had to choose to go there. they didn't get sent there because they lived nearby. >> we're putting these up everywhere. >> he even went to houses to recruit. >> living in new orleans, fwhefr had that. >> her son reggie goes to sci academy. >> he came out, interviewed, talked to me and talked to reggie and was explaining to him about the hours and academics and stuff. >> when the school opened only a third of the students were proficient on state tests. >> i know half of them didn't know how to read.

>> now sci academy's test results are among the best in the city even though the school itself is a bunch of trailers. >> there's plan in my mind to have a permanent build being u if you walk into a building and complain about the facilities their focus is probably not on the right things. >> how did sci academy do it? >> teachers have to perform because the principal can fire at will. >> yeah, yeah. we have at-will contracts at the school. >> sharon williams also has a charter school. she, too, fires teachers. >> i call it freeing up a person's school. >> the law also allows parents to fire a school. if they don't like this school, they can send their kid to another. sharon has to work hard because she worries about losing her charter. >> yes, every day, sir. >> good morning class of 2013. >> good morning. >> that competition drives schools to try different things like this morning ritual at sci academy. >> who are you? >> a scholar.

my education is my future and the future is now. >> why are you here? >> this seem little cult-like and some kids didn't take it seriously, but something worked. >> it is a major difference. since he's been here, he's become more responsible, i thinking. >> even though i didn't like the school at first, as i went to school, i started to want to go to college more because i saw how important it was. >> now reggie's mother is getting ready to start college, so reggie tutored her for a test using skills he learned at sci. >> this is how it should have been before katrina. >> so this chart 'eers grown from one employee into another school that's so popular it holds a lottery to decide who gets in. >> we are going to have a waiting list of about 200 students long. >> this is our first choice by far. >> as you saw in harlem, nervous

kids and relatives sit anxiously, hoping their name will be called. some go away happy. most do not. >> it just goes to show this kind of school is badly, badly needed in the city and this kind of education is exactly what we need to be offering to every single kid. >> today most kids in new orleans attend charter schools and test scores across the city are better. >> many of the greatest cities in the world have been reborn amid crisis. the chicago fire resulted in a greater chicago being built. the san francisco earthquake resulted in a much more dynamic safer city emerging. the fire of london resulted in a much greater capital emerging. well, you know, people in new orleans are rebilling tuilding for the better. the school of choice situation is here to stay. it will never go back. >> and next, some more good news. this time from the internet.

the blob should be worried. look how excited these kids are about math. [ male announcer ] e was born to help people clean. so it was no surprise when he set out to give the world the hardest-working, best-smelling cleaners he could. like mr. clean with the scent of gain. that combines irresistible scent and powerful cleaning. and his lemon-scented anti-bacterial spray that kills 99.9% of bacteria. people sure loved having something that smelled as great as it cleaned. that's why when it comes to clean, there's only one mr.

do your kids have a good teacher? how do you know? mayb do your kids have a good teacher? how do you know? maybe the teacher next door is better. maybe there's a better teacher in another state. maybe there's a world's best teacher or several. wouldn't it be a great if your kids could have that teacher? well, today, yes, you can. >> yeah, i got it. >> whoo! >> yeah. >> these kids are this excited about a math website. >> it's amazing. >> negative 4, minus 4, and we are done.

>> it taught me a lot of things. >> five years ago hedge fund analyst sal kahn created a website to tutor a cousin. >> that worked out well. i kept doing the lecture over and over again. he said, hey, sal, why don't you put some of your lectures on a website. >> soon thousands watched his lectures. >> i started getting letters from people. they're not like, hey, i think this kind of might have helped on my math exam. i got -- i failed calculus the first time. i started watching the videos. now i'm acing the class. >> the youtube numbers kept rising. he got letters from the middle east and africa. now kahn is sponsored by bill gates and he offers web lectures to everything from history,

lectures and history and science. it's reaches millions of students. >> not only is it reaching millions of students but god forbid i got hit by a bus, it would still reach billions of students. >> do you happen to be good at teaching? >> i'll take it as a compliment. >> it is great compliment. he's a great teacher. >> i hope that helps. see you in the next video. >> it's exciting that he gets kids so exciting about math. >> in most parts of life, things have gotten much better. cars, computers, cell phone. education, so much. >> right. if you rewind 80, 950, 100 year, if you had the local bilparty, band might be the only one in town. but you take the best musician, actor, historian and put it out

on radio and records or whatever and i think in thee that could have happened with education before. >> but it has. . even for basic math, multiplication tables, i thought they'd be using video games. why not? >> there's a huge bureaucracy, most of which wants to say no to changing the system. >> the blob as people call it. >> it is. i think what's fun from our point of view is we're able to reach students outside of the blob. >> this california school district started using kahn's videos in fifth grade classrooms. the teachers were skeptical but now they're impressed with the kids. >> they're happy to walk in. they're excited about math. it's not, oh, we're doing math. it's oh, gosh, we're doing math. >> we assume most people on their own don't want to learn or get engaged in mathematics. >> yeah. i get that. >> i think most are frustrated. most are in classrooms that are

not catering to them. >> at first teachers were worried that the online instruction would replace them. >> i think it's so wrong when teachers say they've taught more math than they've ever taught before. >> now teachers can tutor kids one on one. >> i noticed you were having some issues with fractions. >> you can go at your own pace. >> and because kids can go at their own pace -- >> i've got students still working on easy multiplication and some working on high school math. >> some study kahn's lectures so much, they're doing studying at home. >> some are spending hours when i ask for 15 minutes. >> i log on and it's way more fun to do math. >> so finally after all these years of kids being bored in school and not learning math, that's over? >> i think it might be. >> hope so. if it happens it will be thanks to those online classes or the charter schools or other experiments that break of the union dominated government

monopoly. let a thousand flowers bloom. it's competition that's given us better medicine, transportation, technology. everything. don't our kids deserve that too? that's our show. i'm john stossel. thanks for watching. [ male announcer ] when you wear dentures you may not know it, but your mouth is under attack. food particles infiltrate and bacteria proliferate. ♪ protect your mouth, with fixodent. the adhesive helps create a food seal defense for a clean mouth and kills bacteria for fresh breath. ♪ fixodent, and forget it. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+.

with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. we're new to town.ells. welcome to monroe. so you can move more effortlessly... we want to open a new account: checking and savings. well we can help with that. we tend to do a lot of banking online. you play? yeah discover a mobile app that lets you bank more freely... and feel at home more quickly. chase. so you can. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones.

now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪ at&t mobile share for business. [ male announcer ] may your lights always be green. [ tires screech ] ♪ and your favorite songs always playing. [ beeping ] ♪ may you never be stuck behind a stinky truck. [ beeping ] ♪ may things always go your way. but it's good to be prepared... just in case they don't. let's go places, safely. it's been a happy union. he does laundry, and i do the cleaning. there's only two of us... how much dirt can we manufacture? more than you think. very little. [ doorbell rings ] [ lee ] let's have a look, morty. it's a sweeper. what's this? what's that? well we'll find out. we'll find out.

[ lee ] it goes under all the way to the back wall. i came in under the assumption that it was clean. i've been living in a fool's paradise! oh boy... there you go... morty just summed it up. the next 44 years we'll be fine. coast, red eye. >> tonight, on huckabee. tonight on "huckabee" -- >> we should be doing everything we can as a tonight on "huckabee" -- >> we should be doing everything we can as a country to create more good jobs that pay good wages, period. >> the president talks a good talk, but what's the truth about today's job market? >> i have been long term employed four years. >> i have never been unemployed. this is the first time. >> i work two jobs. they're both part time. >> it is depressing, defeating, humiliating. >> the real unemployment numbers and the real stories behind them.