Posted on 06/18/2006 5:50:31 AM PDT by Valin
I didn't say that actually. Some other guy did.
You know I teach in a neighborhood school, but I am seeking the input of some parents. I have been able to do a lot of things in my own classroom and I plan on applying it on a wider scale now. It may take a few years, but I think some great things will happen here.
Nice idea by the way.
I did not, as I think your reply indicates, advocate any sort of central planning of curriculum on a national level. I also didn't even address whether or not it is appropriate for the states to operate public schools. What I did say was that schools must have standards. Seems clear enough that without them, education doesn't happen.
I don't disagree that having schools in the hands of government carries the danger that they will become servants to whatever distortion of our ideals, such as political correctness, may be adopted by the state. The PC and leftist distortion, though, has more been adopted by the educational establishment than the states, with the result that it's prevalent in private schools as well.
I believe some of our founding fathers, at least Jefferson and Adams, were great advocates of education, as they understood that the citizens needed to understand the ideals on which the nation was founded. Adams certainly thought the states should encourage it, though I couldn't say if he believed they should actually operate schools to which children were required to go.
One thing is for sure, the founding fathers certainly didn't anticipate that the school system would devote itself to destroying the ideals that they had fought for.
I tend to agree it is a misnomer to think a teacher is only working while teaching. Much goes on behind the scenes with planning, grading, and towing the bureaucratic line.
Decades ago, teaching was where the smarter women went, because other careers were not open to them. These days, the ones who enter into teaching are, on average, from the bottom of the IQ barrel,
In 2001, the National Center for Education Statistics reported the average SAT score for intended education majors to be 481 math and 483 verbal. Only those interested in vocational school, home economics and public affairs scored lower.If anyone disputes the basic numbers, take a look at this spreadsheet from nsf.gov. SAT scores for Ed majors has varied over the years, ranging as low as 813 in 1982. And these are AVERAGES, indicating that people with even lower scores got in (and are likely to be the ones shoved into the inner city schools)But while the SAT is considered to be a generally reliable intelligence test, the 2001 SAT is not the same SAT that many of us took prior to attending university. Those 2001 scores on the 1996 SAT, which was replaced this year by the New SAT 2005, are equivalent to pre-1996 SAT scores of 451 math and 403 verbal. In case any education majors are reading this, 451 plus 403 equals a cumulative score of 854.
Examining an SAT-to-IQ conversion chart calculated from Mensa entrance criteria, a combined 854 indicates that the average IQ of those pursuing an education major is 91, nine points lower than the average IQ of 100. In other words, those who can't read teach whole language.
Yes, I think homeschoolers do have standards, it's just that their standards are a lot higher than the ones used by public schools, which is why homeschoolers beat the socks off the public school kids. What you mean is that homeschoolers don't have standards that are set by some state agency.
The reason privates schools and homeschoolers are so much better than public is precisely because they do have standards, and high ones at that.
Simple values, yeah. Life may be complicated at times, but don't you hate all the false sophistry of the Left? It's surely intended to confuse.
I'm a homeschooler. The main reason one homeschools is because you are passionate about your kid's education. Homeschooling allows the kid to proceed at the kid's maximum sustainable pace in each area
There are many more average private schools than "elite" private schools. The average private school whips any public school, hands down.
There was no insult in my last post. You are a typical public school employee with a self righteous attitide, and a thin skin, who refuses to acknowledge the obvious. Obtuse people like you are one reason why private schools are better than public schools.
Dr. Thomas Sowell was accurate when he stated that the bottom 20% of college grads were "education majors". Enough said, case closed.
But continue to bash those that dedicate their lives to education, instead of playing at 'college teaching'. It's quite apparent it's the 'conservative' thing to do...
I don't know, that seems like a recipe for high standards to me.
My wife and I bought a home in an area that had award winning public schools and started our kids out in those schools. Everything was great until they got to junior high - then we noticed they weren't learning much anymore, so we paid the price and transferred them to private schools. The difference was night and day.
Anyhow, we were always very involved in the kids' education, wife was PTA, we always made it our business to know the teachers personally, participated in all activities, etc. I noticed that most of the kids doing poorly came from families where the parents did not participate.
Beyond that, we loved our children so much that we always did everything together with them, travel, fish, everything. Not because we read that that's what families are supposed to do - we just couldn't help ourselves.
In any case, I have met quite a few Freepers who are homeschoolers, I think well of all of them, and though we did not tread that path, consider homeschooling to be a good solution. The facts prove it.
Oh, boy! You're MALE TOO!! Looks like three strikes to me!
I have greying hair; but it used to be blond. I'm a woman, though; so you can't touch me.
;-)
Excellent article....
If I understand you correctly, you're invoking the "Everybody's Doing It" defense.
Though I spent a long time in school, did well, and acquired a nice collection of letters after my name, I am no fan of classroom education. The many years I spent in classrooms were mostly wasted. The vast majority of what I learned, I learned by studying, outside of class.
And sometimes people who are the most educated aren't very good at explaining things...they can't get down to the other guy's level. There's a balance in there somewhere.
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