Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

ACPlayer, one of the most ardent liberals

funnily enough, i dont consider myself particularly liberal. Go figure.

Of course, I am now quite worried about what exactly you liked about what I said. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

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funnily enough, i dont consider myself particularly liberal. Go figure.

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Understood, nonetheless you more often come down on what I consider the liberal side. Sometimes generalizations are useful for the purpose of illustration. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Of course, I am now quite worried about what exactly you liked about what I said.

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Dont worry. Basically you are the only one that has even really touched at the societal issues at play here. Specifically the discussion of parental involvement.

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

Federal funding and control of education

Is there any federal funding for education? I thought it was all local. Would like to know.

Federal control of educatin should be banished, as should the dept of education. Let NYC fund and control the quality and content of the school curriculum.

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

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Federal funding and control of education

Is there any federal funding for education? I thought it was all local. Would like to know.

Federal control of educatin should be banished, as should the dept of education. Let NYC fund and control the quality and content of the school curriculum.

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Bush '06 Budget Cuts Education Funding

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

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Federal control of educatin should be banished, as should the dept of education. Let NYC fund and control the quality and content of the school curriculum.

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Why? Properly managed there is nothing wrong with centralised budgeting. Shouldn't education be equal for all? I agree with nearly all bholdr points but if it was left up to localised authorities to put it into action then education would become even more polarised than it already is. People move based on the local education standards and the middle class live in areas with better schools, it's sorta like the chicken and egg. At least a federally controlled budget would keep the playing field somewhat level.

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

The problem with federal funding (of anything) is that this then concentrates money flow out of one place (washington DC for example). This then means that in order to effect the money flow the lobbyists can concentrate their efforts in one arena (the congress). Therefore the flow of money is now impacted by which lobbyists have the most say, clout and expense accounts, rather than what is necessarily best for the communities.

With local control, the national lobbyists have to diffuse their efforts and local communities have to get more involved. The lobbyists cannot force the feds to pass mandates to be followed by the local districts.

So, in general, federal control of anything is undesirable.

THis is specially true of education, where I would be quite worried if, for example, red states values crept into our blue state schools via federal rules and mandates and poison the young minds.

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

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Some parents may not want their child to attend a school that has sports programs and some may feel that school isn't school without sports programs.

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I would argue that parents are one of the biggest problems with children getting a decent education. (The reverse of this is true as well, great parents will make some excel.)

I think parents who want to dictate what they think is important regardless of whether it is vital to the child's education... will interfere and hinder their child's competitiveness.

I think most parents are completely absent from their children's education... those children will suffer. I recently watched a documentary on the national spelling bee. They followed a half dozen or so finalists as they made their way to the national finals. The majority of the finalists had heavy parental involvement in their learning. They discussed with their children what they were learning, helped them with drills, attended functions with their children, etc.

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Online education, both structured and self-directed, is honestly going to revolutionize how we approach education in this country.


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I find this unlikely. I don't think online courses are interactive enough nor compelling enough to keep a teenager engaged.

I'm inclined to think bholdr is on the right track.

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

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The problem with federal funding (of anything) is that this then concentrates money flow out of one place (washington DC for example).

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This should save money. Wal Mart et al do it for this reason.

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This then means that in order to effect the money flow the lobbyists can concentrate their efforts in one arena (the congress). Therefore the flow of money is now impacted by which lobbyists have the most say, clout and expense accounts, rather than what is necessarily best for the communities.

With local control, the national lobbyists have to diffuse their efforts and local communities have to get more involved. The lobbyists cannot force the feds to pass mandates to be followed by the local districts.

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I don't see how local authorities would get round this. Where are they buying their books, pens, computers, furniture, food etc? The lobbyists work for the suppliers who have head offices who take the supply orders from the local schools/authorities if I read you correctly.

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So, in general, federal control of anything is undesirable.


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It depends IMO

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His is specially true of education, where I would be quite worried if, for example, red states values crept into our blue state schools via federal rules and mandates and poison the young minds.

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Except this is not what would happen. Schools would not converge to a medium they would grow farther and farther apart between rich and poor areas.

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

I would argue that parents are one of the biggest problems with children getting a decent education. (The reverse of this is true as well, great parents will make some excel.)

I think parents who want to dictate what they think is important regardless of whether it is vital to the child's education... will interfere and hinder their child's competitiveness.

First, let me note that the state has done a fine job already of dictating what they think is important regardless of whether it is vital to the child's education.

You either respect parents' choices or you don't. If you think the state should be allowed to overrule the parents' decisions about their child's education, then there's no way we'll agree.

The answer to the biggest problems we have in education right now can be easily solved by simply giving parents the choice of schools.

natedogg

Re: Education in the United States, problems and solutions (long)
 

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Federal funding and control of education

Is there any federal funding for education? I thought it was all local. Would like to know.

Federal control of educatin should be banished, as should the dept of education. Let NYC fund and control the quality and content of the school curriculum.

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Of course, this means that states would be free to explore any solution, including eliminating public education alltogether. I'm all in favor of allowing the states to do whatever they like but be sure you are ready to live with the consequences.

natedogg