If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can’t, thank a Teachers Union.
Thanks for posting this. I had missed it. Well worth watching.
Bump!!
Another Reason to Homeschool
5,000 parents showed up for the lottery on 100 seats. Watching that and the long, long line around the block just broke my heart.
Marked for later, Thanks!
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Thank you for posting the links to those videos. I’d missed the program, and I’m glad I was able to watch it.
ping
BFL. Stossel is the last real investigative reporter alive.
John Stossel has been beating this drum for a long time. There are major problems with his work.
His Belgium stats are cooked. He left out the fact public schools in the US beat them out in other grade levels. He leaves out this information to suit his argument, just like the New York Times.
We also educate all students, Europe and the rest of the world doesn’t. They get to use trade schools for those that don’t want or qualify for pre-college study. We get sued for “tracking”. Again, he is leaving out inconvenient facts for the sake of his argument.
Our education money is also attached to the student in their district so Stossel’s argument is not totally factual. Funding is determined by attendance, federal monies are determined at the beginning of the year. If student populations change so does the funding.
Also remember Belgium is a FEDERAL system. We have schools primarily funded by local taxes. In order to attach money to the child all education monies would have to be collected by the federal government. Cities and states don’t let you take the tax dollars over the border.
The argument about education spending per student is so misleading. We are required by law to provide so many services that go beyond education. I’m sure they don’t have asbestos abetment laws in Kazakhstan. How did those pesky building codes work out in Haiti? Also, Europe (and everyone else) has socialized health care so that part of the teacher’s salary is not counted as “education funding”. Lots of ways to cook the books on this stat.
Flat test scores are what you get when you import 8 million kids that don’t speak English and have a third grade education going into middle school. Not to mention internet, gaming consuls, cell phone texting, and 500 cable channels. Math is way more fun than those lame things.
Two indicators that a student will do well, autonomy and choice? Please, it’s a two parent household that raises their children with some level of self-discipline. After that autonomy and choice are great.
That women’s daughter is in 6th grade and can’t spell girl. Assuming everything is biologically ok with the kid, how does that happen? Did public school have to teach her to wipe her rear end as well? Let’s see this child’s attendance records, how much homework she turned in, how often in the school year she moved, did she get kicked out of class a lot. Stossel doesn’t even acknowledge that there might be other reasons than bad teachers. What a hack.
D.C. Public schools are a mess no question. However saying a lottery is a random selection of the D.C. student body shows Stossel didn’t take enough science in school. The parents self selected. These are the parents that care what happens and are smart enough to know a long school day will help, even if the kid objects.
Head Start is nothing but a babysitting program for inner city families. An ax would be well applied to this program.
I love it “the money just disappears”. “It goes to assistant principals” wow great reporting there John, AP’s run our school and work 70+ hours a week.
When money is wasted I can tell you where to look. Misappropriation by superintendents and board members, massively over paid consultants, local business that overcharge for products and services, (I’ve been told not to use Amazon or Wal-mart because we must support local business at 2x the price.)
The rubber room in New York is the most misrepresented “union” problem in education today. The New York discipline committee only meets twice a month. One teacher was sent there for saying the word “damn” to a student. Swearing at a child in NY is considered child abuse, I kid you not. The “dangerous” teachers should be charged with a crime. It’s easy to get fired when you get arrested. Is it too much to call 911?
There are many legitimate criticisms of the public education system. Ignoring the main problems of students not studying, parents not taking an interest in their kids’ education, and popular culture reinforcing an anti-education mentality aren’t going to make the problem go away.