The Enemies Within Our Education system
Education Unions (the N.E.A.), School Administrators and Yes - Even Some Teachers
Posted on 09/12/2010 6:25:11 PM PDT by Starman417
Education is filled with problems today. Lax discipline, unions, lousy teachers, lousy parents, single-parent homes, drugs, and the sad spiritual state of our country.
So what do Democrats think we should do? Send more money to the schools and raise the standards. What do Republicans think we should do? Send less money to the schools and raise the standards.
Why doesn’t Congress pass a law for all SUV’s to be completely safe and get 50 miles per gallon? Why doesn’t Congress pass a law that all jobs must pay at least $75,000/year and mandate every state to have 100% employment? If fact, why does Congress outlaw death, in order to reduce medical costs? The reason is, these things cannot be mandated. Simply passing a law won’t make it so.
You cannot mandate that students have higher standards and that everyone maintain these higher standards. You cannot simply mandate that standards be raised and figure, standards will be raised. Here is what happens (and I can testify to this, as I was a teacher for 29 years): on the high school level, when I began teaching, 1 year of math was required and it could be a low, low level course. When I left teaching, all high school students had to take 3 years of math and they had to be tough courses, which included Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II.
At one time, Geometry marked out those who were going to college; and those who did not take Geometry, probably would not go to college (or, at least, not in any of the hard sciences). Now, let’s think about this for a moment. Nearly 40% of kids go off to college and complete their college education. Maybe another 10% go to college, but never complete a degree (these are rough numbers). So, now my school (as a result of Texas legislators) are requiring all kids to take a set college prep classes, and what do you think was the result? Our dropout rate increased and continues to increase. A 30–50% dropout rate is not unusual for any school district now (schools all over have done the same thing).
What else happened? The curriculum for all of these college-prep courses was watered down. You simply do not mandate from on high that all kids, no matter what their abilities, will take college prep courses. This was one of the worst changes in our system.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
I believe Maine requires all students to take the SAT as a requirement for graduation.
The answer:
Eliminate illegal immigration so drop-outs can slaughter cows, pluck chickens and dig ditches.
The problem is a government monopoly on education.
The problem is we indoctrinate our “children” in a 20th century German Socialist experiment, from 4 to 24 years of age.
The problem is teacher unions who care more about their money and power than about education and protect bad teachers.
The problem is a godless, secular school that tells young children about the most explicit sexual acts in the most shockingly graphic details.
The problem is ANYTHING BUT “high standards”. The list is much longer than these few examples.
The solution is simple: END The Government Monopoly. Bring real freedom, real competition, and cut the spending drastically.
Nearly 70% of the average state budget is spent on education. It should be 7% for the few schools needed to take on the truly needy who will not be able to find any other means.
hahahahaha ack gag... “high’ standards?
i agree
I'll be crazy-radical. No teacher should make more than $60,000 a year, no administrator more than $75,000. There should be no more extra teachers for tutoring, no more serving breakfast, no more federally mandated testing. The department of education should be abolished. Every student should take the same courses through grade 10, then there should be shop and other hands-on classes for those who aren't college bound. Students who take a foreign language should not be allowed for it to be Spanish. Any administrator who does not run a disciplined school should be fired, and get a principal who will get rid of the teachers who don't discipline kids. Recess activity should be mandatory....that would cut behavior special needs way down.
Does anyone think my reforms would lower the standards?
Raise? Having any kind of standards would be an improvement. Currently it’s hordes complaining about “right to an education” that immediately translates into “right to a certificate with the least possible effort”.
I don't think it's as much a matter of capability as much as it is a matter of mindset, kids who enter school with dysfunctional attitudes make dysfunctional students.
In the meantime ALL the kids are getting shortchanged by lowered expectations. A kid making a perfect GPA might not be getting a good education if the material isn't there and covered.
The best solution I see is to start running schools with strict, almost military discipline, and haul the habitual screwups off to vocational school or reform school.
We have to get over this notion that "every kid must go to college." Most jobs don't require a college education, and so many kids end up with a huge student loan (and in return they get a lot of useless courses.) It's wasted money, and wasted time.
If you have not already done so, consider reading The Well Trained Mind by Wise and Bauer. It’s about homeschooling and why it works. Here’s a hint: Homeschoolers use the good old fashioned classical method of educating. I teach American and British Lit. at a public high school, and I am going to homeschool my son.
Second, the Dutch system has the kids taking a placement test in 6th grade. The results of the test track kids into three groups: Trades, Middle Education professions, and University. Mechanic, Dental hygienist, and physician, if you want to look at it that way. That system works because the teachers are teaching kids that are all on the same level, not having to dumb down the subject for the slowest kid.
Third, you want educational reform? I'll give you educational reform: totally eliminate television before 6 pm every day. Block out youtube, xbox online, twitter, all the crap that gets in the way of kids learning. Big distractables, them. The reason the WWII generation was able to do such amazing things was that when they were being educated, it was in a language-rich, not visual-rich, environment. Radio, with its linguistic input, gave kids more words per day than kids today have, and it made a difference in other areas. The best 4.0 kid today would have to struggle to keep up if you parachuted him or her into a situation 70 years ago. Don't believe me? Look at the textbooks from back then. A 9th grade text from the 1920's has more grammar than a college text of today. Hm. That means a kid passing that class in the 1920's could breeze through a college level class today. And that's sad.
Of course, it'll never happen. "I want my MTV" and all that. It would cause a panic among the teens, and omg, we can't have a panic! Yeesh. No wonder that idiot got elected...
I figured Dems want to LOWER the standards, not raise 'em.....
But the other part about money I'd agree with you.
“A 30–50% dropout rate is not unusual for any school district now (schools all over have done the same thing). “
Some schools may have high dropout rates, but the HS graduation rate in Texas is about 80%.
In no particular order
1. Eliminate the law that requires teens to stay in school to keep their drivers licenses. All that law has done is to keep kids, many who are into drugs, gangs, and crime, in school who don’t want to be there.
2. Eliminate the US Dept of Education and all the regulations that go along with it so states can educate as they see fit.
3. Allow teachers and principals to do what is necessary to get their classrooms under control
4. Strictly forbid liberal indoctrination. Teach reading, math, geography, and English.
As long as the states and local boards ran the schools, everything was fine.”
Hardly. Things were only “fine” when there was no government school system and compulsory attendance laws.
The Enemies Within Our Education system
Education Unions (the N.E.A.), School Administrators and Yes - Even Some Teachers
Sorry, but 50% of the students in all high schools do not have IQ’s below 100: more affluent districts have on average much stronger students. Thus, unfortunately, there are a number of districts that balance that out with more than half their students being of below average intelligence.
At least the quality of education was somewhat better before schools had to deal with teacher unions.
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