Classroom Brainwashing (Sowell)

Government schooling needs to be eliminated! Gone! Abolished! wrecked! disintegrated! etc.

Well, I have to admit that you have a good argument. I think that if we overhaul the public education system and forbid teachers unions of any type, color, or shape and base their pay on performance, we have a good chance of achieving the results we need. In addition, the entire method of education must be changed starting at about the 5th grade. I have long been a proponent of "project-based" education (much like a business project), in which the students are given a project to accomplish by the end of the school year (for example, in a 5th grade class, they have to come up with a plan to improve farming methods and crop yields in Uganda). Such a project gives them experience and knowledge in things such as geography, climatology, science, math, economics, language, nutrition, etc. They kids would be responsible for the bulk of the research and developing the plan and the teacher serves as a facilitator and guide to keep the kids focused on the right track.

IMO, this type of education will be more beneficial and teach the kids substantially more, plus it will better prepare them to enter the business world after graduation. By the upper middle school and high school years, the project might even be a two-year project in which they might have to develop a new computer product, or other type of consumer or industry product.

If we can't/don't implement something like this as part of an educational overhaul, then I would be more amenable to side with you.

What this spineless school administration should have done the morning after the student released the teacher's rant was to administer the National Geography Test to his students. That would have revealed how much time he had spent teaching the subject for which he was being paid. No teacher should be free to indulge in political masturbation to make himself feel good, while his subject is neglected. What should upset the parents of Bennish's students is that only ONE had the backbone to object to this incompetents abuse of classroom ethics. Of course, this is CO, after all. I would hope that in Texas there might be more students with courage to challenge such indoctrination.

In addition, the entire method of education must be changed starting at about the 5th grade. I have long been a proponent of "project-based" education (much like a business project), in which the students are given a project to accomplish by the end of the school year

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Dusty,

This is you personal educational philosophy. What you want is for government to impose your philosophy on other people's children and get other citizens to pay for it. Do you really want to do this?

Remember that is what government schools are. Government school curriculum and policies are the product of which political bully grabs control. The biggest political bully then gets impose its worldview ( with religious, political, and cultural consequences) on other people's children. AND....they can make other people pay for it!

Government schools involve police threat. For those students who have no alternative, if they do not cooperate with the political bullies in charge, these parents and children will soon have armed police, and foster care workers at the door. The same is true for the taxpayer forced to pay for the political bully's religious, cultural, and political agenda.

Finally, I think you idea would be great for a private school. In my former area, within 1 hour of my home we had a military boarding school, a Montessori school, a few traditional secular schools, a private school dedicated to children with reading disabilities, two Catholic, and a few protestant religious schools.

All of the above were orderly, clean, seemed to produce successful graduates, and had been in business for several decades, at the minimum. I concluded that their success was do to having parents, teachers, principals, and board of directors committed to a coherent and consistent educational philosophy. The actual philosophy didn't seem to be the important factor. It was consistency among the adults that made the difference.

In a compulsory government system, where attendance and funding is through police threat, there will NEVER be complete support of all the parents, all the teachers, principals, or voters. This is true even if the school district were as small as the cul de sac of suburban subdivision.

By the way,,,,my homeschooled kids were in college by the age of 13, 12, and 13. Two had B.S. degrees in math by the age of 18. One of these has just finished a masters degree in math at the age of 20. The oldest is highly accomplished in other ways. Would you use police FORCE to push your philosophy on my children. Do you advocate that I pay for under threat of police action?

Dusty,,,,the solution is to begin the process of privatizing universal education and getting government OUT of the business.

Education involves freedom of conscience. When government is involved conscience gets step on.

Wow!!! Talk about taking things out of context. Yes, I put forth an educational philosophy that I believe will be more effective, allow our kids to succeed and put America back in a position to be a world leader. From that approach to education, you have made an incredible leap into a philosophy of indoctrination. There was NOTHING, ZERO, ZIP, NADA about indoctrinating the kids in either a political or personal ideology or even suggested in my post; nor did I suggest that the government or any other entity should impose "my" will on others to FORCE them (FORCE, mind you) to get better educated than they are through today's mindless rote memorization approach; did you even read it or understand it? The entire post is predicated on the notion that the system is overhauled to eliminate any form, fashion, or version of a teacher's union and replaces the current pay scheme to one based on performance. Did you read that part?

Inherent in the philosophy is the underlying policy that the current practice of teachers to inject THEIR personal and political philosophies into the classroom are gone. Given the approach I am recommending, the teachers had better be doing a ton of studying and research to provide guidance and insight that will aid the students in developing their plans. There won't be any opportunities for them to corrupt young skulls full of mush with dreck.

I am well aware that a lot of people (including you, apparently) won't like the plan initially because it's different and we have demonized things that are different. I believe that, over time, this approach to education will provide us with high school graduates whose knowledge and skills will exceed the knowledge and skills of today's 4 year college graduates. What is it about that part that you object to?

I am well aware that a lot of people (including you, apparently) won't like the plan initially because it's different and we have demonized things that are different.

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Dusty, I LIKE your plan. If you were running a private school, I very well may have enrolled my children. In the private market of ideas, I believe you would have success.I could even imagine franchises all over the nation.

BUT....to have a government system of schools based on this? Sorry! No!

Parents need to choose your educational philosophy freely, in a free market, not by force.

The solution is to begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education. If you would like to see most children learning under the system you recommend, this is really your best chance.

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