The Demise of Public Education (Cathryn Crawford)

Washington Dispatch ^ | September 26, 2003 | Cathryn Crawford

[not-an-ostrich]

Not many families capable of homeschooling since majority have both parents working. Homeschooling has to be a rare occurence.

[Amelia]

I entered the education field because I believe in the power of education to improve an individual's life. The more young Americans we prepare for a productive life of service, innovation, and worthy contributions to society, the better our country will be for our own children--and for the children of disadvantaged, uneducated children.

I agree with you totally on this, and most of the rest of what you said. You really should have toned down the 8th paragraph, however: it's bad form for the newbie on the block to start throwing mud at the old-timers.

You are correct that many conservatives (and many liberals as well, I'm sure) are insular. Perhaps it's human nature to prefer to only associate with people who are like us, and either pretend the "others" don't exist, or think the "others" are inherently inferior in some way (intellectually, morally, ethically) - but in a country like ours, the "others" will not go away.

Many people on this board have a hard time understanding that not all parents are caring, educated, moral people as they are.

I think the picture of father going to work and mother staying home and educating the children is a nice one, but what does it have to do with the 16 year old mentally retarded girl I taught, who had 2 children out of wedlock and an extended family on approximately her intellectual level? Do you think that girl, or anyone in her home, is capable of effectively homeschooling those children, if indeed they are capable of learning?

I could go on & on, but I don't have time this morning.

[Cathryn Crawford]

I admire both of you for what you do and I realize that your arguments are true, but at least I tried to offer a solution within my column for the problem - and if you'll notice, the solution had nothing to do with punishing teachers, and everything to do with taking education out of the hands of the government.

What is your solution?

[KC_for_Freedom]

Yes, math is what I love, what I taught, and wish I could teach again.

I was a science major math minor (BSEE, MSEE, MBA). I am still baffled that they laid me off from a job I loved, (the only job I ha real affection for). But I only had ten years senority. (I would have needed 12) I taught one schence course, but the science department was very hard to crack, since teachers never left. So I taught bonehead math and geometry and trig. (Also coached and led clubs). Even after my success in aerospace, if I went back to work, it would be tutoring or teaching.

I believe in public education in one sense, but it is terribly politicized at least in CA where I worked. If they had their way, my son would be a socialist, and would have dropped out of math along the way to calculas. I would like to see the plan I posted to let teachers compete for higher salaries, (I received a 20% raise to go back into aerospace from teaching.) If I could not have direct salary negotiation, then I would allow the voucher system to come in and let the chips fall where they may.

You don't say why your not in teaching, but I suspect some parallels to my story. I am currently in retirement.

[KC_for_Freedom]

IMO, paying for (and promoting by) only seniority, whether in schools, factories, whereever, leads to mediocrity and less productivity.

Absolutly correct. I worked in two fields, aerosapce, as an electrical engineer and teaching, as a math teacher and coach. I took a pay cut to teach, and after a period of declining enrollment was laid off and went back to my old aerospace job. Got a pay raise of 20% to go back. But you know what? I met many engineers who envied me my time at teaching. If they could have received a comparable salary, they too would go into teaching. (And the schools/kids would be the winners.)

PS, when my aerospace company found out I could teach, they made it possible for me to break from my line job from time to time to teach our engineering style to the new engineers in the company. I also lead many week long seminars teaching management how to solve problems and make decisions. I found that in industry, teachers are paid very well, and the teachers who can do it, should break from the union. The first step is to change laws to bring "right to work rules" to those states that are mired in union backwaters.

[SLB]

As I read through the posts to this thread and most others seeing the spelling and grammar errors, it is no wonder the public school system is having the problems it currently has. Just amazing that FReepers who claim to be educated well beyond high school cannot spell or compose simple sentences. It only takes a few minutes to proof read what they post; yet they do not take this time.

This post scored 75.3 on the Flesch Reading Ease score which rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.

[TomSmedley]

What would that mean? Closing all public schools? Ending all public financing of schools?

Do you believe in compulsory education laws?

Public education is a "good" so bad that its vendors can't even give it away. The "beneficiaries" must be forced to partake at gunpoint.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

I haven't read this thread yet, but I will tell you that I am also dismayed by the poor grammar and spelling I see all over the Internet. Free Republic does seem to be better than most sites I go to, though. Many people claim that they can't be bothered with writing correctly when posting on the Internet, but I can't bring myself to put my words out there without making sure they’re all correct. I make typos all the time, but when I see them, I cringe.

I feel your pain, SLB.

Candi (Home schooling mom for 13+ years…two years behind you!)

[Amelia]

at least I tried to offer a solution within my column for the problem - and if you'll notice, the solution had nothing to do with punishing teachers, and everything to do with taking education out of the hands of the government.

What is your solution?

I'm not sure the problem will be completely solved without another cultural revolution. How do you put broken families back together again? How do you make parents raise children as they used to? How do you make the majority of people embrace the same values social conservatives do? How do you make all families and all cultural subgroups value education? How do you force them to be willing to work at obtaining knowledge?

I do know that some of the things people in more liberal areas complain about in their public schools are not problems in more conservative areas, but public schools could use improvement in most areas of the country.

I think the part of the "No child left behind" act which forbids promoting students unless they can pass certain tests is a good start, but I think there are loopholes to that. I know that it doesn't take effect soon enough, and I would be much happier if local school districts had taken the initiative to do this without the Federal government needing to get involved.

[mathluv]

I went to work for, as it turns out, several publishers - math/science consultant. It was for the money. TX teachers don't get paid well if they stay in the classroom, and I have no desire to be in administration. I was injured in a fall obn the job (tripped over a cart and landed on my head). I am on disability, but do some subbing when I can. I really miss teaching. Math and history were my fields.

I have called on schools in nearly every state. I was amazed of how few teachers were in their area. One district had their science curriculum written by a supervisor, who was not a science person.

I have met a few administrators who are truly competent in their field of eeducation. Many are empty suits.

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, administrate.

One of the best professors I ever had in environmental science, had come from industry, and really knew the applications. So many other profs are just able to write grants and bring in money - teaching is a side line.