Rhode Island School fires all teachers

[Soreali]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/rhode. ... tml?hpt=T2

Thoughts?

[Boogahz]

basically happens yearly here...except they just shut down the schools themselves.

[masteen]

The entire public education system in this country is going to collapse under the weight of the bullshit unfunded federal mandates that have been rolling out of DC for over 30 years now.

The creation of the US Dept. of Education has resulted in cuts to vocational programs, enrichment and cultural programs, and ever increasing emphasis on standardized tests.

Combine that with a legal system that has constantly undermined the authority of teachers and administrators to get the shitheads out of school and you have a situation we're in now: guns and drugs on every campus, declining effective literacy rates, and classrooms filled to the brim with kids who don't give a fuck about learning stuffed in with kids who do, but now cannot because the teacher is too busy keeping Jose DeLenquintana from setting his desk on fire.

[Kaldaur]

Masteen said it better than I could. We spend four weeks of the year doing tests for the state, national, and local standards. One ninth of our school year we are assessing in southern Illinois based on standards devised in a board room in Chicago or DC. While the Dept. of Education could be used for good, right now it is just a behemoth tearing through the streets, knocking over anything that gets in its way. No Child Left Behind? Not anymore. Now we have another mandate from the government, but this time if we want the money we have to agree to adhere to certain regulations as passed by Washington. It's enough to make this band director vomit. My program isn't even on their list, and with my district 2mill in the hole, I guarantee my job is axed in a few days. Why keep it when the mandate doesn't recognize your department or field as a viable educational strategy for students? They need to read gooder.

Ugh, it's a sad day to be in the education field. And this is one of the fields that's growing, folks! Get in now, and shovel the shit of those who don't have a fucking clue about education or students.

[Kilmoll the Sexy]

but big government is good!

[Kaldaur]

Both parties are big government, sorry. The problem is systemic, it's far bigger than Republican or Democrat. The only difference in parties are the details in the plan; the fact that there is a single plan (more standardized tests, more trackable results, higher numbers in third grade reading scores, etc.) is what's wrong.

[masteen]

Think about this: How many ads for vocational schools do you see during the average day? Those didn't exist 20 years ago. Know why? Because we used to teach kids how to fix engines IN PUBLIC SCHOOL. So those kids who weren't good at math and reading would still come out as productive members of society.

Instead of adapting and modernizing old votech programs, we just cut them. We could very easily be teaching kids how to work at a help desk same as we used to train kids how to weld. But instead, we've gotten lost trying to teach every kids exactly the same material in exactly the same way. The only kids who get customized educational plans now days are the retards in special ed programs. Great use of limited resources there.

[Jice Virago]

A big part of it (aside from the whole "No Child Left Behind" Orwellian schenanigans) is how education has been turned into a "for proffit" industry, even at the public college level. There is no incentive to make public schools productive when the real money is made post high school. The fact that the rich Honkyville High districts have the capacity to just hand out macbooks to people while Redneck and Brownskin High struggle to even get books in the kids hands doesn't exactly help the concept of nationwide standardization, either.

[Ashur]

That's what happens when property taxes fund local schools.

Home values are buoyed by a good school systems, and so Mr I. Canaffordit votes for the big ass levy and they hand out macbooks while poor Mr I. Ambroke votes it down in his already poor neighborhood and then they get half-days in already failing systems. Any attempts to take Mr. I Canaffordit's LOCAL tax money and give it to Mr. I. Ambroke's schools will cause massive pissed off voters.

Solutions? Tax everyone and have the fed fund all local education (i.e. Don't give people a say in whether they want to give their kids schools any money, because it's "unfair"), which would see a sharp incline in private schools. Curious what people think the right answer is.

[Hesten]

Well, schools in denmark are paid from our taxes...which means that everyone get a fair chance for an education, no matter their parents income.

There ARE private schools, you can pay to get your kid in a school so the rich peoples kids dont need to ever see a person with a non-white skin colour, but its pretty uncommon, and to be honest, not really better teachers, its a social status thing only.

And i will any day prefer to pay 42% in taxes to get free healthcare, free educations for everyone, and so on. Hell, i got though a 3½ year comp science education after college, having a total debt of around 2000$, that i had to get because i didnt have time for a part time job the last 3 months, and which were paid off in around 3 months of being unemployed.

[Zaelath]

I thought the local funding votes were the silliest thing I'd ever heard of, until I heard the schools pay for sport (uniforms, buses, etc)

[Ashur]

It's a pretty fucked up system, Z. If you have kids, where you live is very important if you want them to get a good education.

[Sirton]