40% of the population of Detroit is illiterate, and a large percentage of those kids who you think are compelled to attend school are not even graduating from high school, while those who do graduate are nevertheless illiterate. How's that compulsory government education working out for you? Given that you don't want to do anything different, you must be happy with that.
Ken, Why no to force (U$S 1,000 fines) the parents to send the kids to school? Why the system pass them w/o attending classes or attending only the last period of each semester? Why an student caught carrying a gun in the school / dealing drugs in the school / physically hurting a teacher.... is not incarcerated? Because, although the standards (on paper) are very high, the government doesn't want the kids to be educated...Because, knowledge is power, because is a lot easier to fool an ignorant than to fool an educated person. Most of the kids who come out "with knowledge" from HS are the ones BRAND NEW IN THE COUNTRY. Ask yourself "why".
Now we all know which side you are on. That's sad for us to know. Going along with the system, implies not knowing what is really going on.
?? That is so strange to say, it seems. The nazis enforced their "education", and said likewise that it was best and good and necessary.... evil though it was....
No, since there is not comfort in being told what to do...I used to enter my AP classes and say "I told I was an ignorant because my accent." The debate my students created on the subjects of "ignorance / accents / immigration / prejudice..." could have made the Congress very jealous. In another instance I said "A friend's daughter wants to have an abortion." Again another debate. Did I want the kids to think as I do? Nope. I only wanted them to reason, to explain their way of thinking. They spent the semester debating / researching / exchanging opinions (yes / no) among themselves / suggesting solutions. The system told me what to teach but I found the way to do so "My way" (Paul Anka).
It's good to remember that public education also includes reading, writing and arithmetic, so it's not all indoctrination, and indoctrination is not necessarily a given.
Again, if we wish to step into politics then how about the Obama admin’s insistence on Common Core? And for that matter, how about Michelle’s mandates (yes, mandate as in “signed”) for the government education school system’s lunch programs? Both were total failures. Those were not programs that could be argued. Government public schools were TOLD to teach conceptual learning to kids who hadn’t even learned their multiplication tables. At least under the present administration and the present secretary of education the states are able to do their own mandating without the Federal Government stepping in.
But that huge bloated Department of Education is still sucking money that could be used to help during covid--or anywhere else if it were shut down.
Oh, I’m all for allowing each state forming their own departments and getting rid of any ties to the government. The problem is that each state isn’t on board with that. They love those government subsidies.
Good afternoon to all- I have been on this forum for some time- it got boring reading some of the foolishness posted here. But when I read something like the string of posts on this forum- education- I can not let it pass without some clarification. I'm a teacher, don't you see? First, there is NO federal determination of curricula and materials taught in the basic general programs of public schools- NONE. The feds do require public schools to provide free and appropriate education to all students- and that includes special education programs. The feds kick in some money for special ed. services, but they put in NONE for general education. Each state writes its own specific guidelines and requirements. Next, the federal department of education can suggest curricula, but it is totally a state and local determination of what gets taught. There is no federal "Common Core" that is required to be taught- it's all state and local. Next, the feds have NO position in determining teacher qualification and training- it's all state, and believe me, since I'm certified in four states, each state has different and varying qualifications. Finally, each state has its own state board of education which sets standards, determines what is taught and when it is taught, Each state determines the composition of this board in its own fashion, but the feds have NO voice in this. The feds do not determine school policy, and if you think the feds kick in a whole lot of money for the general public school program, you are very, very much wrong. Public school funding comes from local and state moneys- not federal .And if you think public schools get "subsidies" from the feds- let me assure you, none of that "federal" money with strings attached ever came my way in almost 40 years of public school teaching. And that folks, is the truth. good evening to all- Ed
Thanks Ed; absolutely correct!!! I, too, am a teacher. I use the present tense even though I taught my last classes during the fall semester 2019, as adjunct professor at the local college. Before that were 22 years as a university professor and 16 as a high school teacher.. It's in my blood.
Hey James and Ed, here’s just one city who received massive subsidies for their schools. Imagine what I will find if I look a little harder. Maybe if I look for the data for 2012 when Obama was in office you guys might study a little more. https://www.cnsnews.com/news/articl...icago-schools-4-billion-4-years-10540-student