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How in the world am I being defensive? Strange... This is a debate site, after all. I tire of hearing ignorant people say stupid things... don't you?
Bodhisattva said:Who is saying that the education system can't and shouldn't change? Perhaps instead of thinking that I have a chip on my shoulder, you should look to yourself and see why you are making such ridiculous assumptions like "nothing needs to be changed". In fact, the education system, mainly how teachers manage lessons, what to teach and how to teach it, is reviewed and reflected upon many many times over the course of the year in staff meetings, department meetings, with PD and more...
The issue here is not that.
Bodhisattva said:The issue is that people blindly and ignorantly attack teachers and the education system.
Bodhisattva said:I counter it and state that many of the points being brought up against teachers and education are really society and parenting... and what happens?
Your last sentence should answer the question you posed in your first sentence.
Actually that's exactly what the issue is. The topic of this thread is "what would improve education in the United States." And the quality of parenting is not something that can easily be changed through better educational policies.
The issue here is that some teachers view any attempt to improve the educational system as an attack on them personally, thus things don't change as quickly as they should. The fact that you viewed a thread on policies to improve our schools as "blind and ignorantly attacking teachers" shows how defensive and out of touch you are, as though a school's main function was to provide YOU with employment rather than to educate students as well as possible. Your attitude is a perfect example of why education reform is so slow in coming.
Teachers and education = Things we can actually change via policy, and therefore relevant to the topic of this thread and the forum in general.
Society and parenting = Things that cannot be changed via policy (at least not easily or predictably), and therefore not relevant to the topic of this thread or the forum in general.
Saying "parents need to do a better job" is meaningless, as there is nothing you can do about the quality of parenting. It's just a cop-out to avoid examining the flaws of our education system, or thinking about how things could be done better.
What do you guys think about the idea of online education, to reduce the need for so many teachers and brick-and-mortar schools? It would be easy to produce lessons that could be reused for several years at no additional cost, and one teacher could easily handle classes of 100+ students since there wouldn't be an issue with class disruption or being stuck in the back of a crowded auditorium. This will free up a lot more taxpayer money to be invested in other aspects of education, and it will free students from the stranglehold of their school district so that students will no longer be doomed by their geography. Furthermore, it would allow students to work at their own pace, so the smart kids aren't bored and the remedial kids aren't forgotten.
I realize that online education is probably not quite good enough yet to compete with the best schools in the country...but I can't help but think that it would be a MAJOR improvement for the millions of kids trapped in inner-city schools where teachers don't teach and students fear for their safety, or poor rural schools where the curriculum is severely limited by lack of funding and lack of interest.
You left a few things out. Higher standards that don't involve a bubble multiple choice test.
I like this idea, but I'm not sure how to implement it in practice. Maybe standardized tests aren't the best way, but I think there needs to be SOME kind of empirical measurement. How do you suggest holding teachers to higher standards?
I agree with everything DittoheadNot wrote and want to add one more thing. One advantage this country has over most others is invention and entrepreneurship. This tradition should be preserved as a part of our education.
This means teach children how to teach themselves, problem solving, invention, and calculated risk taking. This means less of a focus on things like rote memorization of math problems or meeting whatever testing criteria and not actually understanding anything.
This country should lead. We should be the ones inventing Ipods, not necessarily the ones mass producing pairs of pants.
Exactly, but how do you measure that on a standardized test?
Our test driven curriculum is a large part of the problem.
You don't. But standarized tests are easy to grade and give politicians amunition.
Private education via some kind of voucher system seems to me like it could work if there were enough oversight/standards to prevent the abuses you mention.yes, which they then shoot at our "failed government schools", the evil teachers unions, the need for more "prayer in schools" and other absurd targets.
There is a (hopefully small) percentage of the population that would gladly do away with public education and substitute it with private schools they could use to indoctrinate children in their way of thinking. Ammunition is very important to them.
Exactly, but how do you measure that on a standardized test?
Our test driven curriculum is a large part of the problem.
You can't. Thats the problem, short sighted people who think tests mean more than they mean.
I think the foremost thing that could improve the education system would be investment. I graduated 3 years ago, and I think the only computers my school had were mac's in the library. In todays world, there are millions of careers out their that primarily use computers. Even if you don't use one, that is how you can get your foot in the door. Most office jobs like interns work exclusively on a computer until they can move farther up in the company. Public schools are behind when it comes to teaching students new technologies. Also, I think there should be more investment in things like the school library,textbooks, and other important materials.
There are lots of proposals for education reform in the US, not all of which can work together. What do you think are the most important things that can be done to improve education?
yes, which they then shoot at our "failed government schools", the evil teacher's unions, the need for more "prayer in schools" and other absurd targets.
There is a (hopefully small) percentage of the population that would gladly do away with public education and substitute it with private schools they could use to indoctrinate children in their way of thinking. Ammunition is very important to them.
My biggest gripe with education right now is the method honestly. Its became wholey a system of memorization and mimicry rather than teaching kids HOW to learn. The ability to grasp the benefits of hard work, reason, and how to understand things are more important than any individual fact you end up learning in school. With the more and more schools have been slaves to a singular cirriculum that determines how good or bad they're rated, the more and more we shift from teaching people how to THINK and more teaching them how to memorize. To me, that's a problem.
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