Text 7707, 83 rader
Skriven 2006-09-05 22:18:00 av Robert E Starr JR (8204.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Orion CEV...Apollo St
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Carl wrote:
> To assume that educational problems will be solved by throwing more money at
> them is just buying into a mentality that the government can cure all things
> if we spend enough.  That's just wrong.  The answer isn't just raising
> budgets or assuming that if you pay teachers more that they'll be better
> teachers.

I agree.  It isnt' "just" raising budgets and assuring better pay for
teachers.

Just wait a few years, folks.  The baby boomer generation is just
retiring.  We will be facing a teacher shortage if something doesn't
attract qualified people to those jobs.

> What do we learn from the schools that are doing better?  We learn to
> demonize them.  We lie about them and say that private schools do better
> because they can cherry pick their students, when statistics indicate that
> seldom happens (less than 2%).  We have classes that slow down to suit the
> slower students and make the brighter students get bored out of their minds
> waiting for everyone to catch up.

They CAN throw trouble students out a lot easier than public schools
can.  That's the nature of private school.

>
> We have a system in which the existing institution resists any change, any
> accountability, and demands more and more money without producing any
> results.

If you think "accountability" isn't an issue that's being seriously
addressed, you haven't been to my state's schools lately.  I don't know
if their proposed test will end up working or not (pass the test or
don't graduate).  But there is definitely a movement for accountability
that isn't going to go away.  You may or may not agree with how they
are "accounting", but that's another day's debate, it's getting late.
LOL



> Few parents are willing to sacrifice part of their kids education,
> particularly on a school system that has shown no ability to improve itself.

If they are showing no improvement, they'll be taken over by the state
then.

What I see as a college instructor is a widening gap in education.  The
students entering in the "upper-level" classes are maybe sometimes a
bit better or a bit worse than the last year, but for the most part
they stay the same.

The "developmental" classes seem to have more and more students in
them, who know less and less.

The middle almost doesn't exist anymore.  You're entering
college/university in the top tier or the bottom, period.  And trust
me, this is NOT how it was in 1989 when I first started teaching full
time, college mathematics.

I have no magic answers for public education, but I do have one
"mantra".  I sincerely believe we need to segregate students by ability
more.  I know "segregation" and "education" are really uncomfy mixes,
but you simply have to teach students differently, depending on their
need and their level.

I'm lucky, when I get a class that has people who can't multiply or
subtract signed numbers (integers) in algebra, I can fail 60% of them,
no one will blink an eye.

It's college now.  It's actually almost expected.  But public school
teachers can't do that.

I simply don't know how they cope.  And as the teacher shortage gets
more and more desperate, I don't know how we are going to cope.
                              
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