Posted on 05/01/2011 9:11:39 AM PDT by Lexluthor69
bump for later
It is colleges of education, not the Federal Dept. of Education, not the teachers' unions, that are the source of all the bizarre, dilatorious enthusisasms that sweep through eduction, like "whole language" as a substitute for phonics, "discovery learning" as a substitute for drill in arithmetic (as a mathematician, I think discovery learning in mathematics would be a wonderful supplement to drill in the basics, but you'd need mathematically competent teachers to oversee it), "socially conscious" (i.e. left-wing indoctrination) curricula, the extirpation of classical language education, and the like.
Of course, removing the state-granted monopolies (which even apply to private schools except in a few states, mostly in the Northeast, where old private schools defended their right to hire the kind of faculty my father's public high-school had back c. 1940) will be opposed by the teachers' unions, because it would increase the supply of teachers and tend to keep wage rates down.
It is colleges of education, not the Federal Dept. of Education, not the teachers’ unions, that are the source of all the bizarre, dilatorious enthusisasms that sweep through eduction, like “whole language” as a substitute for phonics, “discovery learning” as a substitute for drill in arithmetic (as a mathematician, I think discovery learning in mathematics would be a wonderful supplement to drill in the basics, but you’d need mathematically competent teachers to oversee it), “socially conscious” (i.e. left-wing indoctrination) curricula, the extirpation of classical language education, and the like.”
No, it is all of them, but the author should have mentioned the Ed fever swamp. By the way, Ed schools were part of the original design of the system, beginning in MA under Horace Mann.
Not all public schools are bad. We home schooled for seven years but then decided to go the public school route. We find the schools in our rural area to have teachers that genuinely seem to care and the kids are at or near the top of their classes. To broad brush all public schools as re-education camps is just silly.
I did not argue that the U.S. Dept. of Ed and the teachers’ unions have not contributed to the decline in K-12 education, only that the culprits to be blamed for the strange notions of how to educate children, which are the biggest contributor to the decline, are the colleges of education. If sound educational techniques were the norm, even the useless Federal interference in K-12 education and the seniority system for K-12 education would not make things anywhere near as bad as they are.
Good for you! I absolutely believe that public schools are indoctrination centers. We have to take back control of our children’s education if we want to see our country remain free.
At my son’s rural public school, they would sometimes lock students into small windowless rooms and pipe loud Polka music in as a form of punishment. I found out about this when I went to sign my son out for a dentist visit.
Sorry if my broad-brush offends you.
No offense taken; but Polka music? The horror!
What scares me is all the disappearing book stores. I mean, then they can control what you get over the net and we’re all brainwashed.
Seems no one is addressing this.
Home schooling our kids is one of the best decisions my wife and I have ever made.
Same here. My wife and I had to go into serious disagreement with the status quo to do it, and we had to become self-sufficient business owners to pull it off, but somehow or another, we did it.
After some ten years of trodding that road, we know that we made the right choice. It hasn't always been easy, and we know that we made some sacrifices to keep our kids out of the clutches of the left, but I wouldn't choose any other way. Our children's freedom is worth any sacrifice or burden to us.
There, that's fixed...
Regards,
GtG
Cheers!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.