# Why do we tolerate bad schools in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 16, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781 "2017-05-16T19:11:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![RedAntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d6d6ee/32.png) [@RedAntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedAntz)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781/102 "2017-05-27T02:17:02Z")
We tolerate bad schools because we don’t want to pay for better schools. Those who matter don’t care because they don’t send their children there and those who matter aren’t smart enough to care. The only basis of fact in this premise is that our schools everywhere do not receive the same funding and they don’t teach the same subjects and why wouldn’t they if they were really concerned with the results? ---
**Author:** ![psikeyhackr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@psikeyhackr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psikeyhackr)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781/103 "2017-05-27T16:51:49Z")
It is probably impossible to get rid of what some people regard as “bad schools” in the next 30 years. Too many people involved, too many ideologies and conflicts of interests. But why can’t we create a National Recommended Reading List, about 10,000 books K-12, with explanations of why each book is in the list. My mother taught me to read before I started kindergarten, but she did not suggest any books after that and I had no idea what to try. So how many kids would learn a lot on their own regardless of the schools with a little direction and encouragement? How many smart kids with poor parents could blow away students at better schools with merely direction to good information. Face it, computer tablets today are better than the mainframes that major universities had in the 70s and 80s. psik ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781/104 "2017-05-27T21:30:53Z")
Davida03801 wrote: “Because Democrats and Progressives have a vested interest to keep a large % of the population ignorant. Therefore they really don’t want to fix the schools.” These days it seems to be the Republicans that are benefiting from stupidity. QED. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781/105 "2017-06-01T21:40:48Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Oh, some stats: [3.4 percent of kids in Norway live in poverty](https://borgenproject.org/look-poverty-norway/), and it’s defined as living in a family with less than half the median income for the country. But even that’s misleading, since Norway’s social safety net is so much more robust than ours. It’d be interesting, for example, to investigate Norway’s equivalent of the McKinney-Vento law (a federal law that ensures homeless children have access to educational services)–do they even have such a law, or do they think the need for such a law is monstrous? I don’t believe we have any equivalent. “Homeless” in Norway is defined as someone who does not own or pay for their own dwelling. They get somewhere to stay provided. So all families with kids will have an address and be covered by the same laws on education as everyone else. The climate does not encourage sleeping rough. If someone does, they are normally transients from eastern Europe come to beg during the summer. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781/106 "2017-06-02T10:58:41Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > I don’t believe we have any equivalent. “Homeless” in Norway is defined as someone who does not own or pay for their own dwelling. They get somewhere to stay provided. So all families with kids will have an address and be covered by the same laws on education as everyone else. Sort of what I figured. We don’t have a law in the US to provide for teaching children to write whose hands have been chopped off as punishment for theft, for much the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781/107 "2017-06-02T11:02:49Z")
> [@psikeyhackr](#): > > It is probably impossible to get rid of what some people regard as “bad schools” in the next 30 years. Too many people involved, too many ideologies and conflicts of interests. > > But why can’t we create a National Recommended Reading List, about 10,000 books K-12, with explanations of why each book is in the list. My mother taught me to read before I started kindergarten, but she did not suggest any books after that and I had no idea what to try. > > So how many kids would learn a lot on their own regardless of the schools with a little direction and encouragement? > > How many smart kids with poor parents could blow away students at better schools with merely direction to good information. Face it, computer tablets today are better than the mainframes that major universities had in the 70s and 80s. > > psik This is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure how super-necessary it is. First, there are lots of recommended reading lists out there, both prestigious ([Newbery](http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal) and [Caldecott](http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal)winners and nominees) and niche ([10 books to help children understand mental illness](https://www.parent.co/10-books-to-help-children-understand-mental-illness/)). Second, if a kid is gonna get a book, they’re gonna need a library (or, I guess, a book store, but libraries are likelier), which means there’s a librarian there who can make recommendations. Between all the reading lists out there, and librarians, I’m not sure a massive official reading list is necessary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-tolerate-bad-schools-in-the-us/786781.md?page=5)