G. Alston–I at least understand now where you are coming from. We disagree on the fundamental diagnosis. You read the situation in terms of smart versus non-smart children and addressing their needs. That is not what is most crucially wrong with our education in my opinion, and doesn’t explain why our schools produce ever worsening results. I don’t believe human beings on the average are different in their abilities fundamentally than they used to be, and you have not proposed any sort of solution to the real problem, which is an educational philosophy as well as a model of a human being which is completely at odds with reality, and intends to “fix” society by molding children to their own ideas as opposed to educating them.
Having experienced several different school systems, I can see exactly where the problems are, and they have nothing to do with children of different “needs”. And I do not regard school as just a place to crank out someone to achieve a fat salary either.
Vouchers do one thing at the least, which would be to allow parents to spend the money which the state is going to spend anyway in the type of school system of their choice, whether the local public school or a private school. The education establishment has exclusive rights over children except those of the privileged.
Furthermore, since public schools will not and cannot sufficiently discipline students, their only threat is to chuck offenders out of the school, and generally they cannot do this. As long as the current system is in place, and the college education system for training teachers adheres to the same philosophy they’ve used for at least 60 years, nothing will improve. It doesn’t matter how much money you throw into the schools.
Essentially however, there is too much diversity of opinion now as to what constitutes a good education. I daresay you and I do not agree at all, which is why we each should have the choice. Parents disagree widely as to the extent and mode of discipline, to note one small example. Some parents want their children to be free of all restraints, and don’t care what their kids wear, how they behave, etc.
As far as addressing children of different learning styles is concerned, home-schooling is the easiest solution, but guess who is adamantly opposed to this? Anyone affiliated with the teachers unions. One out of every 7 delegates at the Democratic convention is a member of the Education Association. The teachers unions are permitted to use tax dollars to do their extensive lobbying for each and every left-wing cause imagined. They are a monopoly on the brains of the nation, and have exerted themselves in this direction ever since at least my father’s day back in the 1930s.
The educational establishment regards itself as THE authority over our children, and has no compunction about experimenting with them whenever someone comes up with a new theory which involved having to purchase a whole new curriculum. After all, it’s only the taxpayers money. Every study I’ve seen shows that the average SAT score for students entering college who then major in Education is lower than for any single other discipline. These are the people who whine about their salaries, go on strike, yet have tenure, retirement, and health insurance as well as extremely generous vacation time that few people in other fields have. The unions do what unions always do, try to force every teacher to join, and they have nearly always been successful up until just a few years ago. Our textbooks have been dumbed down bit by bit over the years and, according to actual scientists and historians, are full of misinformation.
So, there really is no point in continuing this particular subject since we have no agreement whatsoever about what is wrong with schools in the first place, even though you don’t really have a solution for what you believe is the problem either.
