A very simple and straightforward question that will hopefully become a Great Debate: if you were made Education Tsar, what would you do to repair/reform/refurbish American education (from pre-school to grad-school)? While “give more money to education” is the obvious beginning answer, please be specific.
‘More money’ has nothing to do with it.
In no particular order, I would:
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Bring discipline back into the classrooms. This includes uniform dresscodes, and giving teachers a broader hand (a smacking one if needed!) in dealing with disciplinary problem-children.
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Return to the basics. Schools K-12 would focus on providing a ‘classical’ education. No fuzzy-stupid courses or wastes of a students time. Kids do need to learn, at the very least, English grammar and composition, Mathematics, Science, and History. Kids do not need to waste their time learning about the plight of the Ecuadorian Tree Slug.
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If you can’t read, you can’t graduate. Also, if you cannot perform certain basic math, explain certain historical events, etc.
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Mandatory drug testing. Not just for sports, either. I would go with a madatory test once or twice per year, along with random testing. Dopers belong here, not in high school.
Among other things, which I will add as I think of them. But ‘more money’ is not one of them. My cousin is in a Catholic high school. (I was in Jesuit-run schooling most of my life, but not in America, so the comparison would be less valid, fiscally). His parents pay ~3,700.00 per year in tuition. That is all the school gets, as there are no state funds provided, obviously.
But the average per-student funding in our public schools is mandated at ~6,500.00 per student, and they churn out an incredible amount of illiterates.
I realise that some kids just don’t have what it takes, but given that Detroit high schools have one of the highest drop-out rates in the country, coupled with the pathetic testing averages to be found here, goes to show, IMHO, that money means squat, past a certain level.
The first thing I would do is eliminate the department. Then I’d go find a real job, one that produces something.
realise that american children know very little about anything other than American history, geography, politics religions etc etc.
if you want to produce intelligent people with educated views on global affairs you have to widen the scope of your teaching.
get them in school at 5 and don’t let them leave til 16, at least.
5 days a week, 6 hours a day in a classroom.
teach them to read sentences before they turn 5.
encourage dissident thought and discussion rather than indoctrination.
make it so that tertiary level education requires good grades and not just the ability to pay fees.
ensure that all students leave with at LEAST a basic knowledge of science, literature, geography, history, one other language, maths and ethics.
reform the SAT into something more than a multiple choice IQ test.
Add chess to the curriculum in elementary schools, from grades 6 through 12. Several pilot programs have shown that children who have three classes in chess a week dramatically increase their math and science scores, with smaller improvements in other areas. Their parents also typically report that the kids are more interested in school generally.
The problem facing teachers is making school interesting for children, and fostering real enthusiasm in their own education. This is one way to do it without getting into silly, touchy-feely variations like “self-esteem hour”.
There is no formal learning in Denmark (and Sweden, I think) until age seven, and the children suffer no drop in intelligence.
The same is going to be applied in the UK soon (2005) - Enrichment Curriculum where children “learn through play” rather than formal classes. Although it will only be applicable to Primary 1 classes to begin with, I believe.
I have little knowledge of the education system in the US, so no comment on the OP, except the focus should be on challenging and applying knowledge, not on rote learning of facts which will be instantly forgettable once the exam is over.
I do hope you see the discrepancy here… I do agree that 5 days a week min of 6hrs but no more than 8hrs a day is right though. (Studies indicate that more than 45hrs a week for more than 3-4 weeks causes productivity to take a nose dive, I’ll try to find the cite for this if desired.)
Agreed.
Yes and no. I’ve known too many people who have just squeeked by at a lower level, then excelled at the higher. i.e. my father barely passed getting his BA, but managed something like a 3.7 average getting his masters.
Agreed, though the arguement here would be what is the basic knowledge level. In maths, Calc or just Algebra for instance. Peer promotion is a bad idea, and self-esteem issues should be taken out behind the school playground and buried.
I believe that is starting to occur, this year the SAT will have an essay portion, if I remember the news correctly.
More money is definitly not the answer. Wash DC spends more money per child than any other school district in the nation, yet is dead last in performance. Atlanta spends far more than most, and it isn’t much better. A large part is the lack of competition and competency in the schools, another large part is that the schools are over burdened with adminstration.
Agree with Libertarian.
The first and only thing an Education Tsar should do is dispand all pretense of national control over education, returning all control to the state and local governement, then fire themselves.
Agree with Libertarian.
The first and only thing an Education Tsar should do is dispand all pretense of national control over education, returning all control to the state and local governement, then fire themselves.
Eliminate the Department of Education, and distribute the entire budget as vouchers, to be used by the custodial parent for any accredited school.
Eliminate tenure for teachers.
Pack the Supreme Court with strict-interpretationists, so all this will be upheld during the snowstorm of inevitable lawsuits.
Abandon any hope that any of this will be presented in a positive or neutral way in any of the news media.
Regards,
Shodan
Lobby for more money towards education, -for things that COUNT. Not for new stadium lights or fancy gyms. I’m talking about things like up to date maps and text books.
Start a nation-wide study on bullying.
Start putting more emphasis on how education is so important-that it IS everyone’s responsibility, because these are the people who are going to be in charge when we get old.
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Make it easier for problem children to be removed from schools.
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Make it easier for people who don’t want to be in school to leave, allowing teachers and students to focus on learning and not on dealing with the individuals who just don’t care.
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Create and emphasize non-collegiate forms of higher education (technology and vocational schools, etc.). College has become the default activity after high school, and college degrees required for most desirable jobs, because of the idea that going there is necessarily good. College shouldn’t be viewed as automatically superior to other options, nor should it be responsible for every form of post-secondary education.
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Somehow try to eliminate American anti-intellectualism. We like to claim that we value educational and learning, but our actions routinely show that we don’t.
I have infinite power? I can reshape the educational system any way I choose? OK, great, this is what I do:
Privatize everything. Make every school a private entity, which receives tuition from the parents of the children who attend it rather than taxpayer support. Schools would then be competing for students, so they would have an incentive to provide the best possible education possible. They would want good teachers, in order to gain a competitive advantage over other schools, so they would pay the good teachers well and fire the bad teachers (in Frank’s world, tenure does not exist), This, I think, would be more equitable and effective than the present system, where good teachers are treated in exactly the same way and paid the same as teacher’s who couldn’t care less about educating their charges.
You could regulate the heck out of the whole thing, to make sure that every school was held to a basic minimum standard, but no school would want to be known as a “Minimum School,” because why would you send your kids there when you could send them to a school that far exceeds state mandated effectiveness? In the end, the system I envision would be exactly like the current system of higher education in the US.
There’s more, but that’s my position in a nutshell.
- Frank
The question is what reasonable things would one do if one really had the office, or what would one do if one were virtually a dictator? If the first, then one probably would do 80% of the things the previous person did – for the same political reasons. Not because they wanted to, because they had to.
If I could change anything, and not be subject to being thrown out of office?
Double teacher’s salaries. Attract talent that knows how to cope with the workaday world.
Work on firing or reassigning about 1/2 the existing teachers. (E.g., you can stay, if you want to be a substitute teacher, or teach children 6 grades lower.) Grounds for disqualification would be: ignorance of basic elements of any of the following: math, economics, history, geography, computers, English, philosophy, psychology, religion, politics, sports, ecology, biology, botany, current events, engineering, graphic art, music.
Monitor children who come into the classroom without having been given a proper breakfast, or who have been beaten, etc. Send the police to child’s home that day, with a warning to desist.
Ignore competitive sports, except a few purposely non-commercialized ones. Those sports should emphasize fitness, teamwork, and fair competition.
Rotate teachers in grammar school, so that children don’t get stuck with “duds” or people they don’t identify with for an entire school year.
Allow only a very limited number of library or schoolbooks that have been published in the last 5 years, so schools aren’t at the whim of huge publishing companies, and transitory fads in education.
Test students regularly, with a variety of test types. Give special classes for children who do poorly on tests to explain how to take tests.
Allow teachers to extend the hours allotted to “special subjects” to which the class has developed a particular fondness.
Teach basic economics: explain how to compare goods, how to earn money, how to save money. Start in the first grade.
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Eliminate extracurricular sports. Those should be set up by the community and funded by the players; education money should be used for education.
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Set minimum standards for sex education. Everyone should know where babies and disease come from, and how to prevent both from occurring, given the reality that abstinence is not going to happen.
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Mandatory computer education. Everyone should know how to use a word processor.
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Mandatory logic and critical thinking education. Everyone should be able to protect themselves from frauds and cults.
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Certain subjects should take more of a “general knowledge” approach - for example, memorizing dates in history class is meaningless when the dates will be forgotten within a year. Memorizing the Krebs cycle in biology class is equally useless for the majority of students who won’t pursue a medical career. These subjects should focus on teaching what will actually be useful for making decisions and planning one’s life.
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Allow students to test out of any class in middle school or high school. The test should not be just a copy of the final exam, but one that would test the knowledge of someone who took an equivalent class at another school (e.g. the student may have read different literature for the same English class at another school).
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Higher standards for teachers, with a corresponding raise in pay. Actively investigate reports of bias or unfair grading. Make it easier to fire bad teachers.
Get rid of standardized testing all together. Teaching to the test has eliminated the ability of good teachers to use creative methods to inspire a thirst for knowledge in their students.
Get rid of Accelerated reader programs. All this program does is encourage kids to read books they don’t really care about to earn enough points to get rewards. Let kids read really good books, not this dumbed down stuff that passes for children’s literature these days. Let kids read books that excite them and inspire them for the love of reading a good book. Points and stars and little rewards should have nothing to do with it. Comprehension suffers when all kids care about is passing a test with a 75 so they can move on to the next book.
Get rid of the idea that all teachers need to be certified. Some of the most talented teachers, or those who could be teachers, may not even be degreed. If someone has passion for a subject and life experience to share with students, then let them. Open up teaching to retirees and others who want to do it.
Delay mandatory school entrance until the age of 8. Boys, especially, are often not ready for formal instruction at such a young age. Wait until they are ready and they will learn at an amazing rate. Many behavior problems are nothing but the unrealistic expectations we adults place on a young, energetic child to sit at a desk and study before maturity allows one to do so.
Teach kids to think and reason and make wise decisions. The actual facts taught matter little. Teach kids how to learn.
Get rid of teachers’ unions. Privatize schools. Stop all this insane testing which amounts to a nation of good test takers and nothing else.
As a former educator in a non-traditional setting, I’ve got some major issues with the public school system as it stands. If one were to make sweeping reforms, there are a few ideals I’d like to see put into place:
-Smaller class sizes. Learning is not a mass process, and a teacher cannot provide the necessary individual attention to 30 or 40 students. Ideally, class sizes should be fewer than 20. Students have a much harder time sleeping through class or not paying attention when they aren’t lost in a crowd. Most of my classes have had between 10 and 18 students, and I think that is about as many as a person can handle effectively.
-Multiple educators. Teaching becomes much more effective when the educator has one or two qualified assistants. A higher teacher/student ratio means teachers can provide more individual attention to students. Assistants are able to step in and take over, providing a break in monotony for both teacher and students. Two or more educators are able to perform two or more tasks at once, helping the classroom operate much more efficiently. I always had the luxury of one or two assistants, who were indispensable. They bring added expertise to the classroom and prevent the kind of mistakes which can be made by one person acting independently (from sloppiness and boredom to sexual harassment or abuse).
-Professional status. Teachers are highly trained professionals, yet they make a very low wage. Some teachers are idealistic and feel compensated by what they are doing, but many of our young, talented teachers quickly burn out and move into other fields. Many teachers are not fully qualified but are hired out of desperation to fill positions. By paying teachers a fair wage (starting in the neighborhood of $50k, imo) and expecting high credentials, we could generate a highly trained and competent force of educators for our public schools. In order to increase teacher/student ratios, a significant number of new teachers would be required. It would be nearly impossible to recruit enough new teachers given current conditions.
-Continuing credentials. Incentives should be considered to encourage teachers to continue their training. Doctors must keep abreast of the latest technology and technique, and keep their skills sharp. We should expect no less from educators. Education is a dynamic field, and techniques change through time.
-Improved course options. Core curriculum (i.e. english, social studies, science, and math) has its place, but by high school age, most kids have a general idea about what fields interest them (i.e., maths/sciences, liberal arts, trades/vocations, etc.). Some basic courses should be required, but high school students need more flexibility in choosing classes relevant to them. Courses in more specialized or advanced topics should be considered, possibly in the vein of an “AP” class for college credit. This change would go hand in hand with the goal of reducing class sizes.
-Higher funding. Throwing money into the schools is not a solution given current strategies. However, any significant reform in our educational institutions will require funding. Most of the previously mentioned changes would require substantial funding. Given the importance of raising well-educated and well-prepared young people, the additional funding seems reasonable.
-Life skills. Many students leave high school unable to balance a checkbook or to read at an adult level. Students require essential life skills. Courses such as personal accounting, nutrition, and remedial reading should be common.
-Active learning. Many educators follow a “pitcher and glasses” philosophy. Students are not “empty vessels” into whom the educator “pours” knowledge. Learning is an ACTIVE process, not a passive one. Classes should be held in a variety of settings, including outdoors when appropriate. “Field trips” are an essential part of learning and should be regular events. They become more feasible with smaller class sizes and sufficient funding, and afford students an opportunity to learn in real-world situations. Desks are suitable when students are writing, but should not be used to confine students all day long.
I’m sure there are many other changes that would be beneficial, but these are a good starting place. Once again, these changes would represent significant reform. It’s unlikely to happen in the forseeable future. Nonetheless, current attempts to address problems in our schools are merely cosmetic, stopgap and frankly, negligent. Problems such as violence, dropout rates, and graduates lacking basic knowledge and skills, are endemic to the current paradigm and therefore cannot be ministered through traditional methods. I suspect a continuing decline will correlate with any continued increase in class sizes and school populations and any continued losses of qualified instructors.
These activities are an important part of school climate. Competitve sports offer great opportunities for students to learn essential life lessons. I believe that there are some coaches and programs that do not have the proper priorities. Most programs provide positive experiences for participants.
Half? I think there are some incomptents out there but I disagree with this estimation. According to this criteria, I would be out of a job. I know nothing about engineering. I can’t read music…how does that go…every good boy does fine always? Current events…hmm. During basketball season, I frequently work 70 hour work weeks. If the current event does not take place at school, I wouldn’t know about it. 
Seems too elitist. I think it is best for society to realize that public education benefits society.
I would like to see smaller classes. I think teachers should be given more time during the school day to plan and prepare. If teachers had smaller classes and more time within the work day to evaluate student work and give meaningful feedback, students would produce higher quality work.
I would love to be able to show up for work one day and tell someone what I need to have done. The current system is set up in a way that is unbelievably inefficient. I work for a very large district. We have hundreds of people that show up every day and create work for others so they can justify their position. They create work but they add no value. They need to go.
I would like to see a major intervention process implemented when students fail in grades 1 thru 5. This is not to say that failure at any point is acceptable. It is crucial for students to get off to a good start in the lower grades
. :eek:
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Mandatory “common sense” testing for teachers and adnimistrators, so that they know when “zero tolerance” is a good policy to apply, and when it’s just plain stupid.
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Less emphasis on computers, or at least the idea that having computers in the schools automatically makes kids smarter. Sure, give them classes in word processing. Give them a course that allows them to separate quality from junk on the Internet. But don’t waste money putting computers on every desk under the false assumption that grades will magically improve. Spend that money on a good physics / chemistry lab instead, and let the teachers do the teaching.
[sub]::takes off funky Cliff Stoll wig::[/sub]