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Education reform

Teh Internets

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Jun 13, 2010
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Location
Virginia, USA
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If you could reform the education system, how would you do it?(I would be very interested to get any teachers opions here.)

If I could reform the education system I would extend school days and enforce year round school. Then I would raise general standars for all students. After that I would change the method of teaching. I would make it so a student could focus on an area of intrest in school and doing what they are good at instead of being forced to absorb information which won't help them with their ideal career. I would try and start this type of ciriculum in middle shool. Basiclly with more focus on individual intrests instead of what the school wants kids to learn.
 
Can you be more specific?

allow parents to move their children to any accredited school they wish to, and have the funding follow the child. schools that refuse to educate their kids will die, systems that do a particularly good job will grow; all those folks who today have powerful incentives to fight reform and innovation will instead have incentives to lead those efforts.
 
If you could reform the education system, how would you do it?(I would be very interested to get any teachers opions here.)

If I could reform the education system I would extend school days and enforce year round school. Then I would raise general standars for all students. After that I would change the method of teaching. I would make it so a student could focus on an area of intrest in school and doing what they are good at instead of being forced to absorb information which won't help them with their ideal career. I would try and start this type of ciriculum in middle shool. Basiclly with more focus on individual intrests instead of what the school wants kids to learn.
No standards for teachers, I see. Not a member of a teachers union are you?
 
I think at the end of the day it really comes down to the teachers..I think you have to give them incentives to work their asses off. I'm two years removed from high school so I can attest to the poor quality teachers at my school. Some were very good, we had terrific math teachers so it was no wonder we had some of the highest math scores in the state but the school was lacking elsewhere. I had numerous teachers who just gave you a chapter to read then gave you a test, no teaching whatsoever. If the teacher genuinely teaches the class and tries then you will see improvements in the class. Getting a teacher to do that seems to be the problem.
 
allow parents to move their children to any accredited school they wish to, and have the funding follow the child. schools that refuse to educate their kids will die, systems that do a particularly good job will grow; all those folks who today have powerful incentives to fight reform and innovation will instead have incentives to lead those efforts.

The problem is, that only works if parents care about their kid's education. Lots don't, they treat school as a babysitter for their kids all day. If we have no standards to which everyone is held, the parents who care will move their kids to good schools and the rest won't disappear, they'll just become even bigger cesspools than they already are.
 
The problem is, that only works if parents care about their kid's education.

that is true, but any system is going to have the failing that it depends upon someone to actually give a crap about the kids' education. the parents are the group most likely to do so, and so power should be shifted back towards them and away from groups that have no incentive to do so.

If we have no standards to which everyone is held, the parents who care will move their kids to good schools and the rest won't disappear, they'll just become even bigger cesspools than they already are.

well i have no problem making accreditation (sp?) more difficult, or raising educational standards. less time spent on "feeling good about yourself", the reimposition of open competition, and more time spent on technology classes would be a definite plus.
 
allow parents to move their children to any accredited school they wish to, and have the funding follow the child. schools that refuse to educate their kids will die, systems that do a particularly good job will grow; all those folks who today have powerful incentives to fight reform and innovation will instead have incentives to lead those efforts.

Schools refuse to educate? Says who?
 
Honestly, this is the primary area where we need some significant reform. Public School funding is very unequitable. It's obvious, so obvious when you drive past rich suburban schools and you see brand new facilities and domed football stadiums. Then you head into the city and most of the schools look like they would be a prime location for a horror movie. It's sad. I don't know about other states but Minnesota's schools are largely financed by property taxes. That is the reason why suburban schools are so much better off than inner city schools (and rural schools for that matter). Suburban schools have the means to have quality education facilities because of the tax base which is much better off on average. So, yay, suburban schools are successful. But, kids in inner city shools and rural schools are part of our populace as well. This is why we are so much worse off than other industrialized nations when it comes to educational attainment. We are leaving a large group of our kids to fend for themselves in inadequate education systems. We will not continue to stay at the top regarding our clout and quality of life in this country if we continue to throw part of our citizens to the curb educationally. Let's face it, a strong back and the motivation to utilize that strong back doesn't get you very far in today's global economy. Well, it does get you somewhere, further behind.
 
cpwill said:
that is true, but any system is going to have the failing that it depends upon someone to actually give a crap about the kids' education. the parents are the group most likely to do so, and so power should be shifted back towards them and away from groups that have no incentive to do so.

You cannot generalize like that though. The only group of parents I'd say that are more likely to care about their kid's education is the middle class. The poor, the ones who need it the most, generally neither have the time or the parental education to begin with to care. The wealthy, while more apt to care than the poor, already know their kids are going to have money and therefore, a good education isn't essential. The problem is, the people who need it the most, the poor, are the ones who are least likely to give a damn and, in fact, the poor "culture" typically eschews anyone who tries to rise above their ghetto roots.

Leaving education in the hands of parents who don't care about education is like leaving drug rehabilitation in the hands of people who are addicted to drugs. Neither group has any real incentive to succeed.

well i have no problem making accreditation (sp?) more difficult, or raising educational standards. less time spent on "feeling good about yourself", the reimposition of open competition, and more time spent on technology classes would be a definite plus.

It's not about accreditation, it's about having basic standards that everyone needs to achieve. You already said we ought to let low-performing schools go under. So what replaces them? If 99% of the low-income schools go under, how can we expect low-income children to ever get an education and rise above their ghetto roots? I agree that we need to get rid of a lot of the liberal nonsense that goes on in modern schools, but when we're talking about schools where 50% or better of the kids drop out and a good percentage of those who graduate can't even read, something is seriously wrong.
 
If you could reform the education system, how would you do it?(I would be very interested to get any teachers opions here.)

If I could reform the education system I would extend school days and enforce year round school. Then I would raise general standars for all students. After that I would change the method of teaching. I would make it so a student could focus on an area of intrest in school and doing what they are good at instead of being forced to absorb information which won't help them with their ideal career. I would try and start this type of ciriculum in middle shool. Basiclly with more focus on individual intrests instead of what the school wants kids to learn.

1) I would re-evaluate the criteria for getting elected to local school boards. The number of members on a school board must comprise of an equal number of:
A) Parents who currently have children in elementary or high school
B) Seniors or juniors currently in high school
C) Teachers currently employed
D) Education administrators currently employed
If one does not fulfill any of these criteria, they may not run for office in the local school board. This will help keep career politicians who have nothing involved in the actual education system from politicizing issues regarding the school system.

2) I would make the school year go year round. I would also institute later days. However, I wold give students more "free time" in school to pursue their own interests.

3) I would make it a requirement that however much a school invests in it's athletics programs they must also invest an equal amount into their arts programs. However, I would encourage schools to put on school concerts and to sell anthologies of stories written by students in order to help make those programs pay for itself.

4) I would cut all aspects of the education budget, including the salaries of teachers and administrators, by 10% and then use that money to start a fund to pay students based on the grades they get. So far, we have spent money for students on everything except by paying the students themselves. It's about time we paid students for the labor of them doing well in their education.

5) I would make internships mandatory for all high schoolers. They could either go in the afternoons or on the weekends. Also, a student can't go in the same industry as he did in a previous year. This will help them acquire a number of skills. Any business who joins this internship program will get some tax breaks for participating.
 
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