End government schools

[vyo476]

Ah yes! Here in Florida it's called the FCAT. Students can take it over and over again until they pass and move to the next grade level. I remember either spending vacation in summer school or repeating the grade you failed. By today's standards, you are considered "talented" if you complete your homework and actually study for tests. I was always under the impression that it was a requirement if you wished to excel in your studies.

While I think all schools could do with being a bit more stringent about requiring students to complete all of their assignments, I also think teachers should reevaluate exactly what it is they're assigning - if it's unnecessary then it shouldn't be given out. When I was in high school it seemed like I was endlessly doing make-work (as a senior I had a Marine Biology class that consisted of coloring twice a week - and I was an Honors student).

There is still a distinction between excelling and passing, though.

I'm not sure whether to be jealous or concerned that my son has it so easy.

-Castle

If it were me, I'd only be truly concerned if I thought my son wasn't getting the basics - reading comprehension, writing, basic math, American and World History, Health/Wellness, and some science. The way the curriculum's were set up at my high school, a person could earn a bare 60 in the class and still get all the basics down pat.

 

[Burning Giraffe]

Any reasonable person will admit that the government school system overall has been a failure. The whole system should be privatized, with ideally parents paying their own education bills. The education costs of poor or handicapped children can be paid for with taxes.

You'd have to drastically cut taxes in order for Americans to afford their own education.

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Yeah. Great idea. Instead of fixing it, just give up. Just subscribe to some right wing nonsense about how schools can't possibly be fixed. Horse****. As if they don't have some other agenda. Like using our tax money to support religious schools under the guise of giving people more educational options.

 

[Burning Giraffe]

Yeah. Great idea. Instead of fixing it, just give up. Just subscribe to some right wing nonsense about how schools can't possibly be fixed. Horse****. As if they don't have some other agenda. Like using our tax money to support religious schools under the guise of giving people more educational options.

The Education system can't be fixed as long as the Teacher's Union and the myriad mini-bureaucracies are in charge, not to mention the Department of Education. We need an ambitious school system driven by competition, which is what private schools offer. The problem is, the average American can't afford private school and, without providing a way for that to happen, I don't see how we can get rid of public education. So, perhaps some wide overhaul or reform would do the trick. Give students more options by offering liberal arts and technical schools: High Schools designed to teach students how to work on machines, or computer technology, advanced mathematics, art, literature, journalism, video and audio technology, dance, business classes, advanced economics... Give students and families a wider choice and let the students be more involved in their own education.

 

[JavaBlack]

...

The Academy model is the modeal that shows the most promise, specifically because it has more individual teaching. Students' curriculi are more customized to their learning ability and the schools work early to figure out the kid's talents and interests. Problem in public schools now, which I can say have affected me heavily, is the fact that even a well ahead student can be without the necessary forethought to plan for a later curriculum in college or a career.
Problem is that academies require smaller class sizes, meaning that we need more teachers.

 

[mustardayonnaise]

Going to chime in here with my two cents and an outsider's perspective. While I don't have first-hand knowledge of the American public school system, I gather it's quite different to the system I went through in Ireland.
I gather that most people don't think very highly of the current system, the standard of teaching or department of education. What I don't get is how privatisation is supposed to solve this. Surely the public system can be fixed in order to continue to provide education to all - private schools will necessarily reject less capable students in order to keep standards up, but where will these students go to be educated? Is not the point of a public school system to ensure that everyone is given a certain standard of education, regardless of background or means? How would an entirely private system ensure this, and who would set the standards?

 

[ilikeboobs]

Any reasonable person will admit that the government school system overall has been a failure. The whole system should be privatized, with ideally parents paying their own education bills. The education costs of poor or handicapped children can be paid for with taxes.

I concur. No matter how much money they throw at it, student achievement has yet to increase. Also, show me in the constitution where the federal government has the responsibility to pay for schools. That's something each state should fund, not the feds.

And for you "progressives" out there - how is it progressive to want to leave the current system the way it is? What's progressive about that? Sounds regressive to me, not to mention wasteful.

What is wrong with vouchers? It solves two problems - reduces class sizes in public schools, and increases the number of children who actually learn things (private schools get better results).

 

[USMC the Almighty]

Going to chime in here with my two cents and an outsider's perspective. While I don't have first-hand knowledge of the American public school system, I gather it's quite different to the system I went through in Ireland.
I gather that most people don't think very highly of the current system, the standard of teaching or department of education. What I don't get is how privatisation is supposed to solve this. Surely the public system can be fixed in order to continue to provide education to all - private schools will necessarily reject less capable students in order to keep standards up, but where will these students go to be educated? Is not the point of a public school system to ensure that everyone is given a certain standard of education, regardless of background or means? How would an entirely private system ensure this, and who would set the standards?

I don't know anyone who wants privatization. What I am advocating is removing education from the federal gov't hands and putting it back into the states' hands.

 

[mustardayonnaise]

I don't know anyone who wants privatization. What I am advocating is removing education from the federal gov't hands and putting it back into the states' hands.

Eminently more sensible.

 

[USMC the Almighty]

Eminently more sensible.

Right. Federal bureacurats hundreds of miles away controlling anything is bound to become slow, inefficient, ineffective, and expensive.

and people want to have nationalized healthcare...

 

[9sublime]

How about localised healthcare in each state payed for by taxes for everyone?

 

[USMC the Almighty]

How about localised healthcare in each state payed for by taxes for everyone?

Taxes by everyone in that state or the whole country?

 

[Segep]

I don't know anyone who wants privatization. What I am advocating is removing education from the federal gov't hands and putting it back into the states' hands.

Here, here! Unfortunately, I think the feds consider this a matter of interstate commerce somehow. Actually, I'm not quite sure where they get the authority to control States' education policies. Does anyone know?

 

[9sublime]

Taxes by everyone in that state or the whole country?

People being taxed for their state by their state alone would be easier, but dividing it equally between each state from everyones taxes in the country is fairer, even if the healthcare itself remains localised state by state.

 

[invest07]

Growth Vouchers

In most areas of the country, school systems are scramblig to build new schools to handle increasing population. A sizeable percentage of my local school system's budget goes to build new schools.

Growth costs the school system money each year. It is true that each new student brings in dollars to the school system but this does not cover the cost of new construction. If new construction could be eliminated from a local system's budget, there would be more dollars per student to spend on existing students.

My proposal is to freeze enrollment in public schools. New and old students would be offered vouchers to pay for private schools. The idea is to offer enough vouchers so that enrollement does not increase or decrease.

The amount of the voucher offered to parents would be 90% of the state's reimbursement to the local school system on a per student basis.

The local school system would get an immediate windfall of money by not having to build new schools. They would also get a gradual influx of new money by recieving a 10% override on the voucher students.

Parents would have choice of schools: Free public schools or partly paid private schools. The public schools would recieve more money per student.

It looks to me like everybody wins with growth vouchers.