This would solve a lot of the problems in public schools. Abolish the Federal Department of School Board and you'd solve quite a bit more. Throw in decent parents who help their kids with their homework, and you're well on the way to creating a productive and smart generation.
If you want to go the rest of the way, kill off or imprison anyone who has ever appeared on E! Entertainment Television.
There's virtually nothing that can make this stage of life easier; it just comes with the territory.
I hated those years in school, they were the worst in my life.
Class size doesn't matter as much as class makeup. They need to put the smart kids with the smart kids. That way, you aren't dragging down the achievers with the underachievers. Don't place ceilings on achievement. Put the bad kids with the bad kids so they don't drag down the other kids.
Absolutely
Teachers are needed that actually want to teach, not having it as a fall-back. Although Mr. Holland's Opus shows that some people may not initially have the desire to teach.
TS
Semi-joking, i think.
13-year olds should not be on a campus with 1st and 2nd graders. The physical size difference is very intimidating for the little ones.
I have an idea. How about letting parents make that decision? After all, parents are their children's natural guardians and educators.
Give them vouchers and let them make the decision. Leave the bureaucrats out of it. Are we a free country or what?
Middle schools are some of the absolutely stupidiest educational concepts every unleashed.
k-8 and then 9-12, period.
To put 6-8 in their own little nonsensical world is idiotic.
Just at a time when they should be stepping up to play a leadership role and mentoring role to younger students, we put them in a world where its just a bunch of confused kids just like themselves every day.
No incentive to "grow up", no one "looking up" to them.. .no new responsibilities to undertake... etc etc etc.
Foolishness
What goes around comes around.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Bring back Junior High School.
Homeschooling BUMP!!!
YEP....Bill Gates is TRYING to get school districts to have SMALLER schools also....instead of the gigantic ones they have built.....but they are fighting him. Interesting tidbid some may not know.....Seattle School District LOST its funding from the GATES Foundation because they failed to live up to the requirements! (Last year or the year before....can't remember.)
Should the nurturing cocoon of elementary school be extended for another three years, shielding 11-year-olds from the abrupt transition to a new school, with new students and teachers, at one of the most volatile times in their lives? Paul Vallas, chief executive of the Philadelphia school system, thinks so, and he has closed 17 traditional middle schools since 2002, ( from, the Article) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Parents are in the best position to know if their own children should be in a middle school or grade school setting. Parents know better than any Philadelphia bureaucrat what is best for their child.
Solution: Begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education. Let these decisions be made privately by parents, teachers, and principals in private settings in private schools!
Re: The Institutionalization of Children
It is my opinion that institutionalizing of children in factory-like schools is unnatural and unhealthy ( both physically and emotionally) for children. That people are debating over grade school or middle school settings is merely trying to decide which poison is less damaging.
Homeschooling is the most natural and healthy way to raise a child. Yes, it is unfortunate that many children can not be homeschooled. Yes, it is a shame that some parents are so poor, or dysfunctional, or were so poorly educated by the government that they are incapable of teaching their children. These children will need to be institutionalized. If institutionalization is necessary, then parents should be determining if it is middle school or grade school.
Yes, some children will need to be institutionalized for their education. We need orphanages too but no one is arguing that orphanages are the best way to raise a child.
Well hell the NYTimes in a recent frontpage story, included 15 year olds as never been married putting them in the same bracket as 20 and 30 year olds.
I went to Junior High (7th through 9th grades), it was fun beating up 7th graders as a 9th grader....
The Intermediate School and Middle School concept seem to work better (here).
Deja vu all over again.