FTFA: "The problem facing education in America isn't the ethnic diversity of the population but the economic inequality of society, and this is precisely the problem that Finnish education reform addressed. More equity at home might just be what America needs to be more competitive abroad."

Educating our populace is the duty of our society. Not a privilege.

It is necessary to our common defense, it is necessary for the common good.

The sooner that folks figure that out, the better.

Get rid of teacher unions that keep bad teachers in jobs when they're ineffective.
Stop blaming everyone but the teachers for bad teaching. Require teachers to be able to address their subject better than the students who pass the tests on it.
Hold teachers responsible for doing their farking jobs.
Hold administrators responsible or making sure teachers do their jobs.
And of fark's sake get rid of standardized tests.

Benevolent Misanthrope: Get rid of teacher unions that keep bad teachers in jobs when they're ineffective.
Stop blaming everyone but the teachers for bad teaching. Require teachers to be able to address their subject better than the students who pass the tests on it.
Hold teachers responsible for doing their farking jobs.
Hold administrators responsible or making sure teachers do their jobs.
And of fark's sake get rid of standardized tests.


So from what you said above it's clear you're a big fan of increasing governmental regulation...

Benevolent Misanthrope:

Did you read the linked article?

Frankly Finland is the hottest nation on the planet.

Nobody can beat Finland because Finland is farking fantastic.

//king conan

Get gangs out schools and kids out of gang families.

The problems in schools only reflect the problems in families that send their kids to schools.

Kick Texas out of the Union

Finland =



right now

I don't buy fraction of immigrants as a good measure of whatever it is the author is trying to measure. American inner city slums are awful for native born slum dwellers, and their schools are bad.

There's also this problem:



/Helicopter parents are the biggest reason I quit teaching
//Spineless bureaucrats who bend to every helicopter parent's whim are another.

2wolves: FTFA: "The problem facing education in America isn't the ethnic diversity of the population but the economic inequality of society, and this is precisely the problem that Finnish education reform addressed. More equity at home might just be what America needs to be more competitive abroad."

I would love to see this happen, but America seems determined not only to keep income as unequal as possible, but also to revel in our inequality - out of some archaic and false belief that everyone has an equal chance of making it in the U.S. and those who can't are ignorant, lazy, or somehow defective.

I keep hoping to see our government do something to rectify the income inequality in this country (like Eisenhower's huge tax rate on the wealthy - which caused the wealthiest Americans to invest their wealth back into the economy, instead of their own self-perpetuating investments that we're seeing the wealthy invest in now). Of course, anytime it's suggested that something be done, the right screams socialism/communism/facism and nothing is done. It's sad and pathetic, and a testament to our education system that creates exactly what the politicians and the wealthy want - uneducated, naive and frightened followers who can be manipulated out of their best interests or the greater good.

It's a really depressing time to be a teacher.

brigid_fitch: There's also this problem:

[1.bp.blogspot.com image 640x404]

/Helicopter parents are the biggest reason I quit teaching
//Spineless bureaucrats who bend to every helicopter parent's whim are another.

Pffft..I SO fail. I knew the pic I was looking for so grabbed it without realizing it was in Spanish. The text should read, "Explain these bad grades".

Coastalgrl: Excellent article. Refreshing to see. Looks like this thread is over in 5. Agree with above. I graduated HS just over a decade ago and I'm shocked to see how swiftly the US education has changed and changed for the worse.

Ultimately. I think we've lost common sense. This stretches across a lit of different ilk in the US I feel.

You would be horrified, then, at how things have rotted away since I graduated in 1981. As soon as schools:

1. Started caring about kids' "self-esteem" and "holistic growth";
2. Started comparing the US to the world in terms of
2a. Standardized tests and
2b. Scores in math and hard science;
3. Gave kids civil rights and due process in schools, then took it away, then gave it back, then...;
4. Allowed legislators and public opinion to drive curriculum instead of teachers;
5. Allowed parents free access to student-teacher interaction;

then schools gradually began eroding, and it's only accelerated in the last two decades. It's been a process, not something that happened all at once.

Example: The whole "self-esteem" movement began in the 1960's as a completely logical outgrowth of the Civil Rights Movement, when black educators took on the task of rooting overt racism out of textbooks, and very reasonably demanded that black contributors to America be inserted into American history. The theory was that black students couldn't feel part of American society if blacks were systematically excluded from education. This became the basis for a whole plethora of untested drivel that students needed to feel good about themselves during the next 30 years.

In 1980, "A Nation At Risk" scared legislators and parents alike by discovering that US students lagged behind the rest of the world on standardized testing. The landmark study never bothered to examine WHY this might be true (it is) but only that it was true. Researchers and lawmakers discovered that it took only a few research papers and a lobbyist to get their pet theory turned into the basis for a new classroom doctrine and that teachers had no way to challenge it. This was when classroom discipline, grading in red pens, grading at all, and other norms dissolved.

It's insane. But we can continue to blame it on bad teachers and their evil unions. I'm sure we will

brigid_fitch: There's also this problem:



/Helicopter parents are the biggest reason I quit teaching
//Spineless bureaucrats who bend to every helicopter parent's whim are another.

THIS.

The Boston Globe had a story recently about a school that doesn't do standardized tests. They are only required for public schools. Students do projects instead.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-12-29/west/30564158_1_students-scien ce -class-grade

I like the concept of standarized tests, but once you give Americans numbers they stop caring about reality and start caring about numbers.