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jets5ever · 10-23-2003, 02:57 PM

Privatize it...take education out of the government's hands. Let schools and teachers compete like other companies and employees do. If some schools are "ravaged", let them shut down, what's the loss there? New schools would pop up because there would be a demand. The government can participate in this free market, but should not dictate anything, their schools should merely be another option or, at worst, a fail-safe. You can't ensure that all schools have enrollment, and many of them should not, since they are failing. No teacher is "stuck" anywhere - everyone is free to leave. How has Bush's NCLB been any more of a joke that what had been going on? What's the great and obvious solution that others champion that he missed the boat on?

How are schools going to compete for funding and projects when they have no say over the caliber of students they enroll and no incentive to produce quality instructors? How is the government going to pay for these grants if they lower education taxes for a lot of people?

Vouchers haven't even been tried on a large scale, and yet the "bogeyman" arguments are out in full force. It's all union propaganda. 'The schools suck, we need drastic reform?" Well, what about vouchers? "No way, if we use those, the schools would suck! Just throw us more money, even though that hasn't worked!" round and round we go. Are vouchers the answer? I don't know. Could they be? Maybe.

The problem is far more pervasive than any [i]one[/i] grand scheme that people want to champion. Maybe my ideas will work, maybe they won't. Parents, teachers and yes, the kids all need to shape up. A lot of parents don't care and many of those parents are single parents and possibly poor parents. Are there married, affluent parents who are apathetic? Of course there are and they are a big part of the problem. But I'd be willing to bet that the children of married couples perform a hellofalot better and take school more seriously than single-parent children. Consider that elitist or hateful if that helps you, but you damn well know its true, regardless of the implications.

It's also funny to me that you bring up abortion as a contributing factor into this problem, even though the problem hasn't gotten better since Roe, rather, it has gotten worse. People are allowed to and do have abortions, yet still we find many parents who suck and kids who are born into a sh*tty situations. Less kids is no proposed solution to education problems. Why not just gen eng designer babies, or, divine which ones are dimwits before birth and just get rid of them. And if parents can't score above 90 on an IQ test, they should be forced to abort. (kidding)

Tenured teachers, powerful unions, pandering politicians, a pervasive lowering of standards, a litigious society, economic fluctuations, a total loss of incentives for young teachers to care, beauracratic nonsense, unfit parents, rationalistic clap-trap like ADD or ADHD, entitlement mentality, quickie divorce, day-care 'empowerment', and victimization-complexes all harm education. It all ties in. You may laugh at me, but I think the problem is unfixable and that things are really getting this bad. They aren't there yet, but we are getting there quickly.

The government can TRY to come up with plans to improve things, but it's up to the individual family unit to make sure its kids are educated properly. Be active in PTA, remove incompetent people, stay abreast of issues, punish your kid, make him do his homework, etc. Don't sue or attack a teacher every time he fails your kid or says that your kid is acting like a jerk in class.

You may not agree and everyone laughed at Dan Quayle when he said it all those years ago, but the destruction of the family unit and family values is hurting education more than any 'program' like Head Start or Bush's NCLB that you can point to. There are some who want to erode so-called traditional values for the sake of tolerance, diversity, 'fairness', "women's rights" "separation of church and state" or whatever other grouping of syllables is most soothing to the contemporary ear. You can think that religious people or conservatives are heartless or simpletons for wanting to preserve tradition and the family, but just keep it in mind when you analyze why things are the way they are these days. I am just like any other kid - I didn't care about school, or at least, I didn't see what the big deal was. My parents kicked my ass if I got bad grades and I learned to get good grades just to stop the groundings and spankings. I went to church every week because I had to and was respectful to elders because I'd be dead meat if I wasn't. Who knows how I would have turned out if not for my parents' constant vigilance? I am sure as sh*t that no government "program" could have replaced that immediacy.

[url=http://www.townhall.com/bookclub/thernstrom.html]http://www.townhall.com/bookclub/thernstrom.html[/url]

10-23-2003, 02:57 PM	#14
jets5ever Hall Of Fame Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Boston Posts: 11,692	Privatize it...take education out of the government's hands. Let schools and teachers compete like other companies and employees do. If some schools are "ravaged", let them shut down, what's the loss there? New schools would pop up because there would be a demand. The government can participate in this free market, but should not dictate anything, their schools should merely be another option or, at worst, a fail-safe. You can't ensure that all schools have enrollment, and many of them should not, since they are failing. No teacher is "stuck" anywhere - everyone is free to leave. How has Bush's NCLB been any more of a joke that what had been going on? What's the great and obvious solution that others champion that he missed the boat on? How are schools going to compete for funding and projects when they have no say over the caliber of students they enroll and no incentive to produce quality instructors? How is the government going to pay for these grants if they lower education taxes for a lot of people? Vouchers haven't even been tried on a large scale, and yet the "bogeyman" arguments are out in full force. It's all union propaganda. 'The schools suck, we need drastic reform?" Well, what about vouchers? "No way, if we use those, the schools would suck! Just throw us more money, even though that hasn't worked!" round and round we go. Are vouchers the answer? I don't know. Could they be? Maybe. The problem is far more pervasive than any [i]one[/i] grand scheme that people want to champion. Maybe my ideas will work, maybe they won't. Parents, teachers and yes, the kids all need to shape up. A lot of parents don't care and many of those parents are single parents and possibly poor parents. Are there married, affluent parents who are apathetic? Of course there are and they are a big part of the problem. But I'd be willing to bet that the children of married couples perform a hellofalot better and take school more seriously than single-parent children. Consider that elitist or hateful if that helps you, but you damn well know its true, regardless of the implications. It's also funny to me that you bring up abortion as a contributing factor into this problem, even though the problem hasn't gotten better since Roe, rather, it has gotten worse. People are allowed to and do have abortions, yet still we find many parents who suck and kids who are born into a shtty situations. Less kids is no proposed solution to education problems. Why not just gen eng designer babies, or, divine which ones are dimwits before birth and just get rid of them. And if parents can't score above 90 on an IQ test, they should be forced to abort. (kidding) Tenured teachers, powerful unions, pandering politicians, a pervasive lowering of standards, a litigious society, economic fluctuations, a total loss of incentives for young teachers to care, beauracratic nonsense, unfit parents, rationalistic clap-trap like ADD or ADHD, entitlement mentality, quickie divorce, day-care 'empowerment', and victimization-complexes all harm education. It all ties in. You may laugh at me, but I think the problem is unfixable and that things are really getting this bad. They aren't there yet, but we are getting there quickly. The government can TRY to come up with plans to improve things, but it's up to the individual family unit to make sure its kids are educated properly. Be active in PTA, remove incompetent people, stay abreast of issues, punish your kid, make him do his homework, etc. Don't sue or attack a teacher every time he fails your kid or says that your kid is acting like a jerk in class. You may not agree and everyone laughed at Dan Quayle when he said it all those years ago, but the destruction of the family unit and family values is hurting education more than any 'program' like Head Start or Bush's NCLB that you can point to. There are some who want to erode so-called traditional values for the sake of tolerance, diversity, 'fairness', "women's rights" "separation of church and state" or whatever other grouping of syllables is most soothing to the contemporary ear. You can think that religious people or conservatives are heartless or simpletons for wanting to preserve tradition and the family, but just keep it in mind when you analyze why things are the way they are these days. I am just like any other kid - I didn't care about school, or at least, I didn't see what the big deal was. My parents kicked my ass if I got bad grades and I learned to get good grades just to stop the groundings and spankings. I went to church every week because I had to and was respectful to elders because I'd be dead meat if I wasn't. Who knows how I would have turned out if not for my parents' constant vigilance? I am sure as sht that no government "program" could have replaced that immediacy. [url=http://www.townhall.com/bookclub/thernstrom.html]http://www.townhall.com/bookclub/thernstrom.html[/url]