Posted on 12/27/2006 5:59:04 PM PST by wintertime
I thought you were a Libertarian, not a socialist.
I know what mandatory means. I know what compulsory means. I challenge you to find where I said I approved.
What I DID say was:
IF graduation or the equivalent were to be made mandatory, I would see a need for something along the line of "graduation centers" for students who needed remediation or extra assistance to achieve that goal.
In other words, if you're going to mandate a skill, you ought to help people achieve that skill.
I never said the skill should be mandated.
In this case, the students would be attending the community colleges instead of the high schools. Would that be an acceptable alternative to you? Why or why not?
***Yes, this is an acceptable alternative to me. Because the credits earned by the student would be applicable towards a college degree. A 16 year old with an AA degree is far better off than a kid who just spent 2 years in some greybox high school.
I have no problem with homeschooling. But for students from dysfunctional families, who have somehow failed to get the help they need, do you think programs to help them succeed might be of value?
***Same here, I have no problem with homeschooling. For students who were not born under the right star and had families that look the other way when the subject of education arises, I am a proponent of skipping those 4 years of wasted time known as high school by taking a GED and moving on to the community college as soon as they are able to do so, whether that's at 12 years or 17 years of age.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts
The government has NO right to regulate how a peaceful living 19 to 21 year old lives his life! Period! NO exceptions!
***Good point, Wintertime. I favor "alternatives" for folks who want to get an education, but making it mandatory is an over-the-top power grab.
One approach I would favor is like a voucher program wherein the money is set aside for that student and it is available for him/her to use it for higher education, getting a GED, trade school, or any other activity covered in a 529 fund. If the person does not take advantage of the program by, say 24 years of age, the money escheats back to a fund for other students to use.
Yes, it's a good idea to find some kind of alternatives to help people get a diploma. The point at which it becomes mandatory is where I lose interest in such a program.
E-40,creator of such masterpieces as Tell Me When To Go,Its Going Down in the Town and Sprinkle Me.
He's from Vallejo and got his name from all the 40 Oz malt liquor he used to drink.Used to be a drug dealer in Vallejo till he found the rap game.Now lives in the almost all white community of Blackhawk in suburban Danville.
That was a wonderful summation of the whole case for taking out the cancer to western society otherwise known as "public schools".
I find it amazing as a naturalized citizen who did go to the indoctrination centers here in the states, that other Americans are comfortable with the encroachment of tyranny and the loss a freedom that it threatens. Freedom is so essential to western societies. At least my mom told me about how much better the schools were where she grew up. But we were very poor and had no choice at all for schooling. By high school I wanted to get out, to get away from the dumbing down that was obvious to me even then. I was allowed to attend college before I graduated high school. At least I got out. But my experience has made me wary of public schools ever since. It is a shame that comfort is more important to some than this nation's future.
As far as the accusations of hate, it is they that have spent years on this forum trying their hardest to limit public discussion of the extent of the failure of public schools. Even Thomas Sowell's book "Inside American Education" asserts that the whole system can not be reformed, that it must be torn down, that it is bankrupt. If this nation can not do even that to save itself, what else won't it do to save itself? (WOT?)
For purposes of accuracy, my statement was: The "alternative schools" proposal was just window dressing intended to make them look open minded.
Mandatory and compulsory doesn't sound "open minded" to me either.
I think you may be right. As long as these graduation centers aren't mandatory or compulsory, I'm mostly ok with the idea. I think these kind of things already exist, at least here in California, with various euphemisms such as Adult Education Centers.
You're absolutely right that not everyone can fit into the mold. The public school's are one trick ponies. Anyone who doesn't fit in must be dysfunctional in some way. It never dawns on them that there could be any problems at their end. It's never their fault. All that is necessary is more teachers and more and more and more money.
Money solves every problem. Character is inconsequential.
There are similar suggestions in the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce report discussed (sort of) here. The entire report is available in book form from Amazon, but you can read the executive summary online. I posted a link at post #51 of the thread.
As part of a range of options for helping students achieve, I think they are a good idea.
I do share the concerns of others about making the diploma or equivalent mandatory - besides the legal ramifications, I'm not sure we could do that and still have the diploma maintain any value whatsoever.
Since that will never happen, all this is pipe smoke of the getting high kind.
Government schools should be abolished.
Hopefully, enough parents will remove their kids from these indoctrination camps that the entire government school system will collapse like the Berlin Wall.
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