Four Important Lessons About School Reform

[MrGidgid4u]

get off of it CHOICE IS FOR ALL and Charters do not accept all students so these parents do not have a CHOICE... RIGHT???

Watch this to educate yourself:

Search for "public school reform' and lclick on VIDEO to watch Diane Ravitch, former assistant education secretary under G W Bush

[TheRealArchAngel]

Bulk of the cost of Education is the Collective Barganing power of the Teachers Unions that don't care about the Students or even the Teachers they are supposed to represent...they just want dues.

I learn to read from my Mom and Family took excursions to Liabraries State wide to read so that I had to share 1 Social Studies book from 1963 in 1977 with 5 other students didn't really bother me cause I already learned most of the stuff at home

Classrooms were old and worn out

[adotoa]

Public schools are not dysfunctional because they are public, they're dysfunctional because of overreaching programs like geography based funding which leaves little money for poor neighborhoods and standardized testing which tries to teach every student the same thing the same way. Many other nations have successful public school systems, so public is clearly not the problem.

[justaproducer]

I agree with that in part, it is agendas from the NEA and entrenched liberal bureaucrats that have left us with a bad taste in our mouths. I don't advocate running to vouchers... it reinforces a cut-and-run attitude. We need to reclaim our schools with truth and clarity.

[isaaccontractor]

@adotoa PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE DYSFUNCTIONAL BECAUSE THE STUDENTS ARE NOT WELL DISCIPLINED AND ARE LAZY, HAVE NO RESPECT FOR THEIR TEACHERS THATS WHY OTHER COUNTRISE ARE EXELLING BECAUSE THEY USE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

[justaproducer]

If we just do those 10 things, we will go a long way in restoring the one thing these so-called progressives have been trying to chase out of the schools... accountability, and decency. It's not their school system nor is it their money.

[justaproducer]

Sorry about the double post... It took forever to post so I thought it didn't make it so I re-added it. So, continued:

7) Ratify a national right to work act so the right teaches get into the schools.

8) No more unjustified educational spending! Let them use what they have. We'll find out real quick what money is important to them when the cash flow is limited, and audited.

9) Make schools accountable for errant teachers.

10) Ban sex education on campus

[justaproducer]

1) Ban tenure we only contribute when we

 insulate the worse behavior.

2) Eliminate spending on excessive liberal arts curriculum.

3) Mandate a unified standard minimum curriculum across the board that challenges not indoctrinates.

4) Limit the influence of the school board over parent groups.

5) Make sure our school books aren't revising history or data.

6) Re-institute the pledge of allegiance in grade school.

[justaproducer]

These 10 critical steps are paramount in regaining control of our schools, which are:

1) Ban tenure, we see the worse behavior when it is insulated?

2) Mandate a reduction in the curriculum of needless liberal arts studies.

3) Reduce the influence school boards have taken from parent groups.

4) Mandate unified credentials, and  background checks.

5) Don't ask don't tell won't cut in schools, we need to know if gay or lesbian teachers are in our gym classes.

[justaproducer]

After listening to the young fellow, he really didn't make points more than he made an over arching premise for change. There are 10 critical acts that need to be acquitted to before we see any change at all, because the far left has used [to a great extent] public resources in the name of "education" to administer more of its own social agenda...and we are now seeing that played out now in our school, and then we have the nerve to jaws agape wondering what happened!

[TheRealArchAngel]

heh,heh, so many things to reform schools, none dealing with the foremost problem...wasting the children's time for 14 years with shit their unlikey to remember or need

Pick an Age...lets say 11

First Year:: 6 months: Reading, 6 months Writing

Second Year : Math

3rd Year: Elective (can be Academic like Histoy or Sacial studies or Trade/Carrer training)

4th year: Elective

5th year: Optinal (same as elective but with work permit child can Apprentice/work)

6th year: Optional

[PhoenixAngel429]

Public schools today have been really "How to take a standardized test" class. Not a lot of real effort is put in except "this is how you fill in a bubble." And we also should have vocational programs in high schools and have more technical high schools. I go to one and you are really prepared for the job market.

[getplaning]

Government provides public services for the benefit of all members of society. Taxpayers may not choose which of these services their tax dollars will support, and be reimbursed for their decision to boycott others. Taxpayers who buy books should not receive a tax rebate for not using the public library. Taxpayers who don't send their children to public school should not be rewarded with tax refunds for private school tuition.

[jjrglobal]

It would be of great benefit for local companies to contribute more to education and demand that there contributions go directly to teacher pay. Think of the people a community would attract if their teachers were making 200k+ a year. Their education would be second to none and would attract the best and brightest from all over the country, along with the parents of the best and brightest, thus enhancing the workforce immediately

[araeshkigal]

Actually Shaker Heights Cleveland paid their teachers pretty close to that and *still* had teen pregnancy, drugs, violence, and piss poor academic performance - MONEY IS NOT NOW AND NEVER WILL BE THE PROBLEM

[jjrglobal]

They paid their high school teachers two hundred thousand a year in Cleveland?

[dtaijo174]

I do partially agree with you, but when unions are in place it is very difficult to remove poor performing teachers. the result is high paid, poor performing teacher. You can easily counter this by disolving all teachers unions. State employees wages are set by the tax payers. Unions can break the backs of the system they work in. A company just goes bankrupt, a state can't. If the union gets too greedy, they will force millions of citizens in the state to suffer. Shutting down the entire school

[jjrglobal]

I am not talking about unions, I'm talking about treating teachers as professionals. Like they do in Germany or Japan. Make it a difficult job to attain. Up the pay, but also up the requirements for hiring.Instead of teachers have professors.Maybe if we park all the cop cars out harassing law abiding citizens it could go towards education. I never have understood that. Firemen don't ride around looking for fires, so why do cops ride around looking for crime? Just wait till your called cop.

[jjrglobal]

It seems like the problems in education are a direct result of the quality of teachers. If teaching was a highly respected job that paid well (instead of a fall back job that pays poverty level wages), then we would see positive changes.You get what you pay for in any employee. I am not knocking all teachers because there are some that teach because they love teaching and want to help kids succeed, but sadly they are the minority.

[dtaijo174]

It amazes me to see all the illogical socialist comments... In an advanced society, government would not force parents to send their children to the school of governments choice. Political rhetoric, propaganda, socialism, or plain ol' collectivism is being forced down childrens throats. Parents should have the right to send their children to schools not saturated with this slime. Libs & socialists teachers union stand in the way of the mid & low class children from seeing untainted edu.

[justaproducer]

Your comment is illogical, a government that espouses individual God given freedoms works against itself by making mandates it cannot enforce. Wisdom dictates that simple legislative clarity, removing insulates environments that are conducive to obstruction, and withholding funding for non compliance would go farther than throwing money at a situation that we know is undeminding our values. Lastly, acting like the gains that are being made are even significant - they are lowered expectations.

[dtaijo174]

what? try again without the runs on sentences that get really annoying because you loose sense of what the author was trying to say in the first place, but maybe he could've just kept typing about nothing, never truly know if he/she actually had a thought to begin with :)

[justaproducer]

Well, despite your hack methodologies in grammar instruction [to which are baseless]. We [still] fundamentally agree, however I just find no purpose in your personal attacks. Parents should have that right to withdraw their children if they wish, but overall it could be argued that it is a cut-and-run tactic on the behalf of parents that wish to pull their children out. Rather than simply taking back their schools, they run off.

[justaproducer]

It has been long known that education has been the slush fund of social engineers and misfit deviants with anti-social bents. Do we run from them? No, I said what I did because we need to stand, something you may not understand.

[dtaijo174]

Do we run for them? YES! You will never change the thug mentality of teachers unions. Open education up to the free markets and just watch. Competition gives the consumer the highest quality product for lowest expense. I'm a believer in freedom, and public schools are a perfect example of tyranny. Running from government schools and embracing free market schools is the true perfect form of democracy.

[jjrglobal]

How would a free market education work? I think that in order for education to be private, they would need to turn a profit. How could this be accomplished without minorities screaming about inequality?

[dtaijo174]

A competitive free market edu. system could be run many ways. Vouchers or no state/federal funding at all. I prefer vouchers. The school could indeed turn a profit and there is nothing wrong with that. They could hire the best teachers & pay them what they are worth. If you don't like the way that school runs, pick up & go elsewhere. Anyone who complains about inequality would have to look at the reduction in cost, improvement in quality, & the reduction of crime in their system.

[jjrglobal]

How does the voucher system work?

[dtaijo174]

Very simply put, its like a state funded ticket to go to school anywhere. If a school district is failing and others are doing well you can pull your child out of the bad and put them in the good. Currently, most states don't offer it. so if your kid is in a bad school your choice is to either pay extra to go to private or stick with the bad school. Vouchers put schools in direct competition with each other. The better the school performs, the more kids go there.

[getplaning]

Vouchers have been a subsidy for the wealthy. Few working-class families can afford to pay tuition up front, and then wait for a tax credit equal to half the payments. Every study done on school vouchers shows that they do not help poorer students move from public to private schools, but instead primarily help families whose children already attend private school.

[getplaning]

Open education up to the free markets and just watch. Competition gives the consumer the highest quality product for lowest expense. Right, just like they did with healthcare in America. We will pay the most for our children's education and have the stupidest people on the planet. Good idea.

[jjrglobal]

You think health care is a free market system? It's not. The largest payer of health care services is the US Gov., by a long way. There is no competition in health care, that's the problem. Government has screwed it up just like it does everything it puts it's hands in,

[ogeskimo]

Exactly getplaning. If you strip away all the baggage and buzzwords and moral imperatives from the Republican party base all you're left with is a shrill voice screaming "Lower taxes ! Lower taxes !" All the other stuff is just a vehicle to get there.

Their day is over when a guy like McCain, who they all loathe, is their candidate.

[getplaning]

"School Choice" is the code word for the politically motivated movement to privatize public education in the USA. Vouchers and tax credits are the main thrust of the school privatization movement and represent a government subsidy to the wealthy that diverts tax money from public education to private and parochial schools. In an advanced society, should quality education be reserved only for those who can afford to pay for it, or should it offer an equal opportunity to all its children?