So what's the best way to improve our childrens' education?

[Deja Q]

First of all, let the kids think there's going to be a fuckin' future in this country, if not the world. x(

* Huge debt
* Good jobs that require an education going bye-bye due to more readily exploitable people overseas, with those jobs replaced with Wal-waffler and McFlipper nonsense
* A divided country
* Peak oil
* When the baby boomers retire and Social Security implodes.
* Global warming
* The latest threat of terror
* Global cooling, what the hell?
* Another near-miss asteroid
* More wars brought about by the needless ones and the one * allowed to take place on his watch.
* Whining that Canadian drugs are dangerous while saying we can turn to Canada for flu vaccine as trial lawyers make our top-of-the-world medical industry so expensive. (Uh, ahem, *, last I recall, we're nowhere near the top of the list of best country in terms of medical care.)

People nowadays have a RIGHT to feel doomed. Those we put into power have been screwing us for something like 24 years.

Are you mad?

I am too, Dubya.

[freetobegay]

1. FIRE BUSH!

[skooooo]

2. make them sit down and read

[Heddi]

3. Hmmm

Firstly, I think, give them a REASON to want to succeed. When was the last time you heard someone tell a kid (or a kid say on their own for that matter) "You can do anything you put your mind to". Kids don't want to be astronauts or Dr's anymore. They wanna be pimps and playas and divas. Why? Because what else is there? There's three futures in America:
Extreme Wealth
Extreme Poverty
The dwindling middle class that isn't too far above Poverty as it stands

Let's take a few..just a few...billion (or hundreds of million) out of the pentagon budget. THat should fund, like, everything, for like, ever....

1)FREE education for EVERYONE---children, adults, parents. From pre-school to grad school. Including texbooks. Including supplies. I was in elementary school in the 80's and we had to 'rent' our books---usually about $25-40 a year. Plus buy this dictionary (which is so much different from the one from last year), 17 boxes of Kleenex (?? I still don't get that one), pipe cleaners (we never used them), a box of 100 straws (never used that either), a bag of elbow maccaroni (ended up eating it before it was used)....and that was just for elementary school.

I'm in community college now---$800 for f/t tuition, another $400 on books, $200 on supplies (stethoscope, pen light, lab coat, scrubs, shoes, name pin, etc etc)--PER QUARTER.

Let's give kids the things they need to learn, down to the pencils even. No child's education should be compromised because of their parent's low income or bad budgeting or lack of prioritization.

2) FREE healthcare for everyone--children, adults, parents. How can a child learn when they have to go to school sick because mom or dad can't afford to take the day off to stay with them? How can a child focus on school when mom or dad are too sick to go to work, and therefore loose a day, or three worth of pay (and believe me---kids know the realities of poverty. They know when the bills are due because stress like that affects EVERYONE in the household. I lived many nights without having electricity because mom couldn't afford to pay that AND the water AND the rent AND the car insurance. It ain't fun, and no one told me I was poor but damn if I was ignorant of the fact.

3) Government incentives for choosing to be educated and employed in high-demand jobs, like Nursing, Teaching, etc. Since school would be free, there's no need to pay back student loans (which the govt does now under certain circumstances). Let's say you agree to be a teacher in a high-need area for 3 years, the government allows you to live tax free for those three years, or gives you extra tax benefits for those three years, or something. SOME incentive to do well and to be the best you can and help other people out in the process.

Also, I think that adults who choose to attend school later in life should be given temporary aid if they have to quit their jobs to attend school. Welfare benefits, food stamps---anything to make it easier for people to make the transition from working to school, from two incomes to one (or from one income to none).

4) TEACH children the realities and skills that they will need to succeed in life. Home Economics shouldn't be for the kids who are one step away from dropping out or being kicked out (as it was when I was in school). Seriously, the only kids who took home ec were the kids from really religious families who took those classes and were exempt from such evils as biology, or the 'high risk' kids who just floated through the school system until they got bored and left, or were there long enough to get a "certificate of attendance" for High School. FUCK THAT> EVERYONE should know how to sew a button. Teach kids how to fill out job applications---ALL OF THE KIDS---honors AND general-level kids. Teach them the realities of credit cards, checking accounts, credit, and debt. I can't tell you how many people I know who had no idea how a checking account worked. Then, they get hit with 4 bounced checks in a week and think the bank messed up. They were never taught---Obviously all parents aren't teaching---either out of lazyness or just the parent's lack of knowledge---the school should pick up the slack.

I also think that ALLLL students should be required to take a parenting class before being allowed to graduate. Why? Hear me out:

In High School, not everone is expected to go to college. Someone with a high-school level command of English and Math has the basic skills needed to get by in the world. Maybe you go to college, maybe you don't, but at least you know English and Math, and these are skills that you take with you and hopefully build upon throughout your life.

Parenting should be looked at the same way. Not everyone is going to have a child right after highschool, and not everyone is going to have a child at all. But MOST people do, and we are NOT preparing the youth of today for the realities of parenting in the future. It's a basic skill, much like writing sentences or doing basic math is. It should be taught----how do you change a diaper? what changes do babies bring with them? We offer parenting classes to people who are already bad parents, or who are so predisposed to being so---why not give people the education BEFORE they have the kid? BEFORE they realize that maybe they're not ready, or don't know how to behave in certain situations?

To me, it seems logical. It's preventative medicine.

[camero]

5. I would only add one thing

A horticulture course should be a graduation requirement. Learning how to grow a garden can come in handy during times of recession.

[Heddi]

6. Good point...and not just because of recession

we have a very low number of people in this country that could be self sufficient to a greater degree than we (as a country) already are.

Button fall off a shirt? Why, just buy a new one!!!
Love the taste of tomatoes? Why, pay $1.50 a pound for them at the store!
Wish you had new curtains in your house? Just mosey on down to Walmart and pick yourself up a pair
Leaky sink? Hire a plumber
Wanna know how to make really good home-made bread? Better hope your mom knows, b/c that's the only way you're gonna learn....better yet, why not just run down to Safeway and pick up a loaf that someone else made...

etc

People need to know how to do basic things....how to sew, how to grow, how to do basic repairs. But kids aren't taught that. Shop classes have been cut...home ec is for the bad kids....We live in the age of convenience where cooking is something that Grandma does on Thanksgiving and only homely girls know how to sew. We are so reliant on others to provide the basics in life that our whole society would seize in a second if someone were to interrupt the basic supply of socks and underwear that are imported into this country (sarcasm).

My hubby and I just moved into a rental house (our first! we're apartment dewllers) and just planted some garlic for next summer, and already have two strawberry bushes that produced a hefty load of TWO, count 'em TWO berries this season! We're taking a basic sewing class next month so that we can learn how to make stuff we want--pillows, drapes, clothes. I know how to knit, and want to learn more about gardening. I went to culinary school so can pretty much cook whatever I want from scratch. *I* know what's in the bread I'm baking---I can't say that for Safeway bread.

It's a nice feeling to be somewhat self-reliant. To have tomatoes in the yard and not have to pay outrageous prices for them. To repair a blouse and not have to buy a new one. To darn a sock that's perfectly good except for the hole.

WE're too instant-gratification driven, and too disposable of a society. We should give our children the SKILLS they need to survive life and to make life a little bit more fun, you know. But I'm sure nintendo and Sega would loose alot of money if kids *gasp* started weeding the garden on saturday afternoons rather than sitting around and filling their mind with televised and computerized garbage. And god knows we can't have that :eyes:

[Eye and Monkey]

10. Go to it! that garden's likely to grow on ya -

pun intended.

[Padme Amidala]

4. Fire Bush. Also, give up on schools. They turn out Republicans.

Homeschool. Kids get to learn at their own pace rather than being held back because of age discrimination.

[walldude]

8. Thats a cop-out

I have a kid in kindergarten a 3rd grader and a 5th grader. The teachers at their school are very liberal and are working very hard for low pay under shitty conditions. The system needs to be revamped but giving up on it is unrealistic. This day and age it takes most families 2 incomes just to make ends meet. You expect them to do that and home school their childern? Not going to happen. The school system needs to be carefully looked at and then totally revamped. We are using a 19th century teaching ideal to prepare kids for life in the 21st century. There shouldn't be a desk in any school anywhere without a computer on it.

[AnnInLa]

7. Absolutely repeal "No Child Left Behind"

The act sounds good on its surface. "Accountability" turns into a political buzz-word which the public just eats up. They love to blame the schools and teachers for their undereducated children, yet they do not make learning a priority in their homes/families. Teachers no longer have time to teach content....they spend all of their time teaching to the numberous and various tests--tests to ensure "accountability". In-depth content is no longer taught, just bits and pieces of info that allow students to pass whatever high-stakes test that is scheduled for that year. We are a nation that is obsessed with standardized tests, in order to prove----what? I, as a teacher, am sick of being blamed for what is wrong with education in this country. The things that are wrong with education in the USA are the same things that are wrong in society. Each school is a little society, with the same problems that we see all around us.

Sex education should be taught extensively---not just abstinence, but methods of birth control and disease prevention. I teach high school math, in a rural town, and let me tell you, these kids are having sex just as easily as we shake hands. The nicest kids, sweetest kids, smartest kids, kids from the "best" families....they are having sex.

As important as I think a good foundation in math is, a good foundation in American History and civics/government is a necessity today. People in other countries know much more about how our government operates than we do.

Just some ideas and rants.

[ladybugg33]

9. And get back to basics!

Throw away the calculators.
Get out those add, subtract, divide, and multiplication tables.
Spelling flash cards.
Teach sentence diagraming
Literature (modern, classics)(good way to learn writing skills)
Weekly Readers (current events print by grade level)
Teach civics, home ec, shop, and typing.
Computer science.
Critical Thinking
Debating
And throw out the SATs and stuff, stop teaching to a test.

Turn off the TV except for one hour after homework.
Require the reading of one book per month with a written summary.

Let the kids go wild on Saturdays and back to hard work during the week days.

That's my remedy!
Oh, yeah, bring back comic books. Great for encouraging reading and the classical comic books were great for teaching literature.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Well there's always

paying for it.

I have taught for 25 years and schools have NEVER in all that time been adequately funded.

Kind of an old fashioned remedy, but we haven't really tried it yet, have we?

And remember how that saying goes - you get what you pay for?

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

13. That's exactly right.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

12. Pay the teachers more and give them better benefits

so that the really good ones will want to stay, and the ones that aren't so good will have a reason to strive to do better. My husband is an excellent teacher. He has no behavioral problems in his classes, and he works at a large urban school with class sizes around 30. Many students and parents rave about his classes. They are all excited about the material he teaches and the projects the kids do. Tonight five kids stayed after school until 7pm working on projects for his class. Lots of kids say he is their favorite teacher. However, the job doesn't pay enough. We just barely get by on his income. The raises are not good either. It would take him probably 20 years or more to finally make $50,000 a year. He can't even afford the group health insurance plan offered through his job for my son and I because he doesn't make enough money. My husband is too smart and has too many skills to continue to accept such low pay. Our family deserves better and that is why he will eventually leave the teaching profession.