What's going on with education in the United States?

What is holding us Back?
1) Unions
2) Progressives
3) Mutliculturalism at the expense of Math, Science, History, English,
4) Agendized teaching plans
5) No school vouchers, kids can't escape a failing school and parents can't always move to a good school district.
6) Tenure, you just can't get rid of a bad teacher

Poliwonk, please articulate your vision for a first rate educational system.

The real problem? The damned beancounters who think they know better than the teacher that's actually in the classroom. Not all teaching have agendas, Poli and not all unions are evil. There are four high schools in Macon that were ordered to change principals because of low test scores. They're now on the watch list. Fortunately, my alma mater and the high school I help out with their athletic programs are not on that list. It actually starts at home, as Leo said. It starts with the parents or guardians constantly reminding the kids that the adults are in charge. For every one kid I write up and send to the office, there are three or four that have my back and tell me that. Education isn't perfect and it was never the intent. Yes, you're going to have those one or two bad apples but you're going to have those teachers that are willing to go that extra mile to make sure Susie understands what Hamlet was talking about when he says "To be or not to be." It is not easy and while I'm not going to say that it is, I actually live for the day when teachers once again have total and absolute autonomy in the classroom. Then and ONLY then will we see changes. Is it going to happen overnight? NO. Just remember, Rome wasn't built in a day and the problems Poli mentioned didn't happen yesterday. They took place over time because someone was too scared to say no, we're in the front lines and we know the lay of the land and you don't.

Poliwonk, I totally disagree. I am a retired teacher.

Good parents make good students. Require a one-semester parenting class during the last two years of school. Begin with "Never shake a baby" and progress through "Positives work. Negatives do not."

(In a store I watched as a mother said to her small son, "You are just like your father. You can't ever do anything right!" Imagine the effect on you if a parent had said such to you. "You'll never amount to anything." Poor, unfortunate child with one of those ignorant mothers.)

1. Get parents involved. Parents are so exhausted from work and daily distractions of a modern society that they do not take the time to guide their children, make sure that homework is done, etc.

2. Educate parents to be strict in certain areas like school success.

3. Educate teachers better.

4. Pay teachers more to attract better teachers. Cut administration and give the money to teachers, who do all the real work.

5. Adequate funding is necessary for a school to function optimally.

Leo, I totally agree. My experience is mostly in higher education, but I've had extensive experience working as an visiting artist in K-12 schools. There is definitely the day to day task of making sure the child's homework is done, but even more than that, there is something to be said for sowing and nurturing the seeds of curiosity, imagination, and wonder. Never underestimate the value of joy and fun in learning.

That said, students also need to know that not all learning is fun, but much of it very useful, and can open doors to experiences and vocations that are rewarding, fun, adventurous, and important. Students often need help is seeing the whole path or arc that solid education can provide. When they do see it, they are often motivated to apply themselves.

A learning environment is very important too.

thanks for sharing

Want to contribute an idea?

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Multiple_Intelligences_and_Learning_Styles

Gardner's work is well known in creative and artistic areas. It is interesting to find which ways work in teaching dance to individuals that are not naturally kinesthetically inclined.

I don't know the answers.
I hear a lot of blaming
These kids can't learn
They have rotten home lives
%The parents intefere with our teaching methods/styles/material
The teachers are bad
well you know all this. In California, we have the crazy insane, funds last year, but cut by 35% this, pass a proposition, to stablize funding, still cuts are made.
It must be hard to plan with such up and down funding. . .

I hear it too, Cena. Yet, I know from experience that kids can learn virtually anything they desire to learn. I know full well that this idea is not a solution to education as a national problem, but it should make us stop and wonder (1) if we as a society really value education, or just the promised results, (2) what kinds of environments or teaching motivates students, (3) to how propagate successful learning models from one similar district to another, (4) how to fund education in a way that reflects its real significance to our society and nation and (5) what kind of parental involvement is really helpful in not only making sure the child's homework is done, but how to reward good effort in a way the truly motivates each individual child.

It is indeed a complicated issue, but I agree with the premise that parental invlovement is essential. That being said, in today's ecomomy, with both parents having to work (If they're lucky enough) the former concept of a learning environment at home is difficult for many parents; also parents who just don't give a damn. Then there is the problem in many inner city schools of students being ridiculed by their peers for wanting to learn. The teachers are left with being parent substitutes as to discipline & special needs, etc. The schools reflect the status of the community as a whole & poverty is a big factor. There should be no tunure for elementary teachers; they should be held to standards, and be paid more when they perform well, according to the important job that they perform. In too many instances, teachers are made the scapegoat in a far more complex problem.

This goes back to how much we truly value and prioritize education. Cities have many demands for funding. That's normal. It would be great if every school district had everything they needed, but often they do not. There are many people who will defend the inequities in funding from one district to another, as I mentioned above. Given that fact, how can poor systems overcome or at least compensate for their lower level of funding? Is it right to ask them to do so?

In my experience, people who complain about funding education are usually the ones who need it the most. To make matters even worse, they are also the people I see often spreading false information and making fun of people who are educated.

We are in a sad position today, when adults make fun of other adults for caring about facts, grammar, truth, and critical thinking - and when they suggest that anyone who requests facts and honest debate is unhappy(?) and a loser. No matter how we fund and regulate education, children who have to suffer these adults at home and on the internet are bound to be confused by the mixed messages.

(William, I did not post my suggestions because they won't fit here. I'm working on the book ---> over there in another window.)

Sandy, I agree. It is amazing to me to witness the "championing of ignorance" and the distrust of the educated I keep hearing around the country. Listen to unedited comments from some of the people at tea party rallies, and you'll soon realize they have no idea what they are talking about or how government works. It is the blind, leading the stupid, funded by the devious and joined by the ignorant. Not all, mind you, but many.

Take a look at private schools and you'll find the solution. For one thing, private schools know what to teach, and they don't have to teach stupid subjects that their state accreditors tell them to, like New Mexico History and Health where I am. Private schools have more control of what they can do, so changes that are for the better can be made without waiting for the school board to say it's ok. I've gone to private schools since 7th grade, and I've learned more in those years than I learned in the same amount of time in a public elementary school (which even became a charter school while I went there).

So, in my opinion, the way to fix up the school system is to look at what the private schools are doing.

There are always arguments over what to teach. It is true that the fewer people a school is accountable to, the easy it is to make changes. Being nimble can be an advantage when refining a curriculum, but then school can focus on a mission and then choose students and a curriculum that fit their goal and priorities. Public education may share some of those goals, but is likely to have much broader ones, given both their clientele and mission goals.

Private schools can do well, but they also have the money to do so. Not everyone can afford private school. While private school may be the best solution for a particular family, it is not the solution for the country. Nor will the private school model or curriculum necessarily fit nationwide.

An institutional focus is necessary, but so is a student focus. This is a great (IMHO) untapped resource for dramatic improvement. The question is how to do it.

The way to get students to focus is to allow them to do something they are genuinely interested in in school. This can be difficult, I know. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to cater to every student. The reason I like private schools is that they are MUCH more flexible. At no other school would I have been allowed to get my language credit a year early so that now I can take a different language at the local community college. At no other school do the students have a say over what their electives are, which allows us to get classes that WE like - not what the school says we're allowed to take.

You want student's to focus, then listen to me; I am one: you have to give them something they really, truly have a passion for in school. Even if it's just one subject, it makes a world of difference.

I know what are saying is true. I have taught students all over the country. You'll get no argument from me. That is one part of the equation. There is still the thorny problem of access and affordability. You still need a good faculty and for that you need financial support.

One size still does not fit all.

Good point. Very good point.

I know that Europe's got a good educational system - to the point where in Italy you can walk into a college class and take it, just like that. Perhaps we need to take a leaf out of their books? I wouldn't know, because I'm not an educational expert. I've got the student's point of view, and not the teacher's or the school board member's. Maybe they should get a big convention together of all parties concerned and brainstorm?

One more cog in the works. Schools are local or regional control. No one wants anyone else telling them what to do. The education of the students should come first, but often you'll get into a pissing contest about who should have control over what. (Just an observation)

That's why it is so important to find and establish common goals and common ground.

True. I think it might work better (again, like private schools), it school's didn't have as many people telling them what to do from other parts of the country. What works in Kentucky won't necessarily work in Alaska. For that reason, I think each state should have individual control of it's own school system. It will have to meet certain educational standards and whatnot, but otherwise has total control of the way its schools work. AND every school also gets a much bigger say in all matters concerning it (like a private school).

That way, the US get's good educational systems that work everywhere, and the schools don't have to deal with retarded bills like NCLB etc.

Interesting discussion...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22887392#35458319