Stop doing the wrong things in education

Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople

Sweet Jane
Finally, a common sense, evidence based approach to improving public education. Not undermining it.

In the early years of the twenty-first century, a bipartisan consensus arose about educational policy in the United States. Right and left, Democrats and Republicans, the leading members of our political class and our media elite seemed to agree: Public education is broken. Our students are not learning enough. Public schools are bad and getting worse. We are being beaten by other nations with higher test scores. Our abysmal public schools threaten not only the performance of our economy but our national security, our very survival as a nation. This crisis is so profound that half measures and tweaks will not suffice. Schools must be closed and large numbers of teachers fired. Anyone who doubts this is unaware of the dimensions of the crisis or has a vested interest in defending the status quo.

more at:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/stop-doing-wrong-things-in-education
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Ravitch



Writings and statements on education[edit]

Ravitch critiqued the punitive uses of accountability to fire teachers and close schools, as well as replacing public schools with charter schools and relying on superstar teachers, in The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Undermine Education (2010). In the book Ravitch sharply broke with policies she had formerly espoused[9] and the book became a surprise best seller a month after its release. One reviewer wrote "Ravitch exhibits an interesting mix of support for public education and the rights of teachers to bargain collectively with a tough-mindedness that some on the pedagogical left lack."[10]

While she originally supported No Child Left Behind and charter schools, Ravitch later became "disillusioned," and wrote, "I no longer believe that either approach will produce the quantum improvement in American education that we all hope for." In the major national evaluation, 17% of charters got higher scores, 46% were no different, and 37% were significantly worse than public schools, she said. High-stakes testing, "utopian" goals, "draconian" penalties, school closings, privatization, and charter schools didn't work, she concluded. "The best predictor of low academic performance is poverty—not bad teachers."[11]

Ravitch said that the charter school and testing reform movement was started by "right wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation," for the purpose of destroying public education and teachers' unions.[12] She reviewed the documentary Waiting for Superman, directed by Davis Guggenheim, as "propagandistic" (pro-charter schools and anti-public schools), studded with "myths" and at least one "flatly wrong" claim.[13] Of Education Secretary Arne Duncan's Race to the Top program, Ravitch said in a 2011 interview it "is an extension of No Child Left Behind ...[,] all bad ideas." She concluded "We are destroying our education system, blowing it up by these stupid policies. And handing the schools in low-income neighborhoods over to private entrepreneurs does not, in itself, improve them. There's plenty of evidence by now that the kids in those schools do no better, and it's simply a way of avoiding their - the public responsibility to provide good education."[14
 
making educating our future tax payers and workers is the ONLY smart thing to do at this point in history.

anything else will be folly.


I never want to hear again the fucking idiot phrase " throwing money at the problem".
 
The Dude said:
Bullshit
Click to expand...



the article actually goes on to say just that...


It is a compelling narrative, one that gives us easy villains and ready-made solutions. It appeals to values Americans have traditionally cherished—choice, freedom, optimism, and a latent distrust of government.

There is only one problem with this narrative.

It is wrong.

---

Public education is not broken. It is not failing or declining. The diagnosis is wrong, and the solutions of the corporate reformers are wrong. Our urban schools are in trouble because of concentrated poverty and racial segregation. But public education as such is not “broken.”

I have no silver bullets—because none exist—but I have proposals based on evidence and experience.

We know what works. What works are the very opportunities that advantaged families provide for their children. In homes with adequate resources, children get advantages that enable them to arrive in school healthy and ready to learn.

...

There is a solid research base for my recommendations. If you want a society organized to promote the survival of the fittest and the triumph of the most advantaged, then you will prefer the current course of action, where children and teachers and schools are “racing to the top.” But if you believe the goal of our society should be equality of opportunity for all children and that we should seek to reduce the alarming inequalities children now experience, then my program should win your support.

My premise is straightforward: you can’t do the right things until you stop doing the wrong things. If you insist on driving that train right over the cliff, you will never reach your hoped-for destination of excellence for all. Instead, you will inflict harm on millions of children and reduce the quality of their educations. You will squander billions of dollars on failed schemes that should have been spent on realistic, evidence-based ways of improving our public schools, our society, and the lives of children.

Stop doing the wrong things.
Click to expand...
 
This is the typical emotional touchy feely essay containing not one ounce of substance and a LOT of hyperbole.

We currently spend an inordinate amount of public money for well intentioned leftist educational purposes. We build new schools in poor urban/suburban areas that give the appearance of a prison, run by teachers in a union devoted to ensuring the status quo and which protects and defends mediocrity and seniority. Schools where the safest part of the students day is after they arrive in their prison like environs, and before they leave them. Schools where the adults have multiple babies from various baby daddies and where well meaning Liberal programs ensure continued malaise and dependency.

This essays premise is typical of any well written educated Liberal essay; the problem is funding...feeding and caring for children...but not by responsible parents, but the Liberal State. It doesn't work, never will work and continues to not work.

The problems with our educational systems in poor urban environments is not about money, it is about a corrupt teachers union that is more vested in protecting its members than its students, a moral decay in the family and the corrupt political class that believes that the State is the best arbiter of what is good and fair and argues that the State can insure that children be fed, cared for and protected.

But it cannot. Children who have to dodge bullets, gangs and drugs to and from school and go home to poverty, drugs and alchohol can seldom be healthier or educated, and it is hard to make the argument that education will make their lives better and escape these "war" zones when so many who are close to them die young from drugs, dispair and crime.

If you want REAL reform, stop throwing money at the problem and making children wards of the State. Start by ending the monopoly unions have over teaching. Next, stop the welfare mentality that rewards bad behavior and ensures a permanent dependency. Allow responsible parents to be the "deciders" of where they want to educate their children through a voucher system and with more choices. End the monopoly of the Department of Education by disbanding and defunding it and putting that responsibility back into the communities. and most importantly, stop LOWERING expectations and requirements.

This essay is about the typical touchy feely emotional Liberal poppycock that has gotten us to the current pathetic state.
 
Truth Detector said:
This is the typical emotional touchy feely essay containing not one ounce of substance and a LOT of hyperbole.

We currently spend an inordinate amount of public money for well intentioned leftist educational purposes. We build new schools in poor urban/suburban areas that give the appearance of a prison, run by teachers in a union devoted to ensuring the status quo and which protects and defends mediocrity and seniority. Schools where the safest part of the students day is after they arrive in their prison like environs, and before they leave them. Schools where the adults have multiple babies from various baby daddies and where well meaning Liberal programs ensure continued malaise and dependency.

This essays premise is typical of any well written educated Liberal essay; the problem is funding...feeding and caring for children...but not by responsible parents, but the Liberal State. It doesn't work, never will work and continues to not work.

The problems with our educational systems in poor urban environments is not about money, it is about a corrupt teachers union that is more vested in protecting its members than its students, a moral decay in the family and the corrupt political class that believes that the State is the best arbiter of what is good and fair and argues that the State can insure that children be fed, cared for and protected.

But it cannot. Children who have to dodge bullets, gangs and drugs to and from school and go home to poverty, drugs and alchohol can seldom be healthier or educated, and it is hard to make the argument that education will make their lives better and escape these "war" zones when so many who are close to them die young from drugs, dispair and crime.

If you want REAL reform, stop throwing money at the problem and making children wards of the State. Start by ending the monopoly unions have over teaching. Next, stop the welfare mentality that rewards bad behavior and ensures a permanent dependency. Allow parents to be the "deciders" of where they want to educate their children through a voucher system and with more choices. End the monopoly of the Department of Education by disbanding and defunding it and putting that responsibility back into the communities. and most importantly, stop LOWERING expectations and requirements.

This essay is about the typical touchy feely emotional Liberal poppycock that has gotten us to the current pathetic state.
Click to expand...
Yea right...and do it on the taxpayers back so privelaged families can have working class tax payers subsidize private education for the wealthy while their kids get the shaft. Brilliant idea...absolutely brilliant! :rolleyes:
 
Val said:
the article actually goes on to say just that...
Click to expand...

The author misses the point entirely; why there are "advantaged" families. It is idiot speak from Liberals. These families aren't "advantaged", they made BETTER choices in life. They didn't engage in promiscuous behavior, drugs or crime. They didn't expect handouts and valued an education. How does anyone achieve advantage abusing drugs and alchohol while giving birth to multiple children with different daddies?

There are poor communities all over the US in suburban environs that provide safe schools and a good education. Because RESPONSIBILITY does not require funding; it requires effort and good moral upbringing.

Advantage is something you EARN by doing the RIGHT things.

Ask yourself this question; what are the common traits for those living in poverty in inner cities? It isn't a lack of Liberal caring or throwing money at them.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Yea right...and do it on the taxpayers back so privelaged families can have working class tax payers subsidize private education for the wealthy while their kids get the shaft. Brilliant idea...absolutely brilliant! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

This is nothing more than unthinking Marxist rhetoric in a vacuum of anything I posted. But then, you're an economic dimwit invested in the failed ideological view that what people earn and own is part of the collective and only through more political theft can the collective ensure better outcomes.

It's a dimwitted uneducated view that ignores this nations history and how we became the most educated, prosperous and free society in the world.

So by all means; continue doing what hasn't worked so you Liberals can pat yourselves on the back thinking you care more than anyone else on the planet.

Clue for the clueless; the wealthy are paying the lions share of the poor's education in this country, unfortunately the teachers union and vested Liberal political interests work hard to ensure no one gets their money's worth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top