Like everything else government touches, our education system is in complete decay

[P@triot]

Considering our education system has been run by the idiot liberal for about 50 years now, it's no surprise our education system has become a complete disaster. It's time we fix it...

• Like everything else in life, education will drastically improve with competition. Competition significantly increases work ethic, innovation, processes, and more. And by extension of all of this, efficiency. You get a better product at a lower cost.
  
  
• After elementary school, damn near everything taught is useless. How many people can honestly say that dissecting a frog is a useful skill set in their career? Or that a knowledge of photosynthesis is? It's time we start preparing students for the real world. We need to eliminate the liberal insanity and replace it with extensive technology skills, resume building, public speaking, finance (to end this national crisis of mismanaging money resulting in bankruptcy), and other critical real world skills.
  
  
• The classroom is not for everybody. Some people prefer to work with their hands (mechanics, carpenters, etc.). Furthermore, some people cannot motivate themselves. They respond much better to a rigid structure and discipline. Lets move those "problem" students into military academies and other such institutions to stop the disruptions they create.
  
  
• With the exception of specific careers where it is absolutely vital, such as physicians, scientists, etc. - college is a tremendous waste of both time and money (and yes, I'm speaking from experience - I have a college degree). I've seen quite a few consulting firms from all sectors who are now taking students right out of high school and training them. These kids are getting exponentially better hard skills (the actual skills of their trade) and soft skills (communication, corporate culture, etc.) than could ever be ascertained at a university. And they are doing it while making money, instead of while accumulating significant debt. We need to expand these programs. Like the suggestions listed above, this better prepares are youth for their careers. And it does it at nearly no cost (certainly none to the government or our youth).

School Choice Students Graduate at Higher Rates
For example, students who participate in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP)—a private school voucher program for low-income K-12 students—graduate at significantly higher rates than their peers, according to the results of a “gold standard” (randomized, control group) study. More than 90 percent of DCOSP students graduate high school, compared to just 70 percent of their peers.

Similarly, research reveals that students who participate in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP)—the nation’s longest running school choice program—for all four of their high school years had a 94 percent graduation rate, compared to a 75 percent graduation rate for their peers who attended four years of public high school.

School Choice Means Academic Gains
Research also shows that students who participate in school choice programs do better in school. In a review of all the “gold standard” evaluations of school choice programs in the United States, researchers found that nine of the 10 studies revealed positive, albeit generally modest, academic improvement for school choice students.

National School Choice Week, January 2013

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

All part of the master plan... destroy the education system and effectively turn it into a baby-sitting service whereby kids spend the day being indoctrinated into the benefits of homosexuality, single parent households and the evils of capitalism.

And it appears to be working....

 

[psikeyhackr]

Yeah, CURIOSITY is Irrelevant!!!

A National Recommended Reading List would not be of any use.

Don't try to solve the problem, bitch about the government.

The Tyranny of Words (1938) by Stuart Chase
Anxiety Culture: Tyranny of Words - excerpt
The tyranny of words : Chase, Stuart, 1888-1985 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9H1StY1nU8]"The Tyranny of Words" - YouTube[/ame]

A Short History of the World (1922) by H. G. Wells (not sci-fi but an SF writer's perspective)
Wells, H.G. 1922. A Short History of the World

Thinking as a Science (1916) by Henry Hazlitt
Henry Hazlitt - Thinking as a Science
LibriVox » Thinking as a Science by Henry Hazlitt

Omnilingual (Feb 1957) by H. Beam Piper
Scientific Language: H. Beam Piper?s ?Omnilingual? | Tor.com
Omnilingual - Henry Beam Piper | Feedbooks
LibriVox » Omnilingual by H Beam Piper

Badge of Infamy (Jun 1957) by Lester del Rey
LibriVox » Badge of Infamy by Lester Del Rey
Badge of Infamy by Lester Del Rey - Books Should Be Free

1957 was the year of Sputnik, but it was launched in October. Both of these stories were published before the Sputnik launch. It was not until 1958 that the van Allen belts were discovered and 1965 that a probe sent to Mars discovered that the planet had no magnetic field and only one percent of Earth's atmospheric pressure. So this information changed our thinking about the chances of life developing on the planet and Mars stories from before 1965 would most likely have significant inaccuracies. But these are both decent and interesting stories nonetheless.

But SF has changed since the 50s

Science fiction as a factor in science education - Gross - 2006 - Science Education - Wiley Online Library

http://www.imamu.edu.sa/Scientific_...cs/THE USES AND ABUSES OF SCIENCE FICTION.pdf

The Fourth R (1959) by George O. Smith
DigiLibraries.com - eBook: "The Fourth "R"" by Smith, George O. (George Oliver)

psik

 

[Katzndogz]

All part of the master plan... destroy the education system and effectively turn it into a baby-sitting service whereby kids spend the day being indoctrinated into the benefits of homosexuality, single parent households and the evils of capitalism.

And it appears to be working....

Teaching a course in how to have a better orgasm will surely help the educational system in the US compete technologically with the rest of the world.

Public univ plans event to help female students achieve orgasm

Teaching porn appreciation will no doubt give us better scientists.

Why College Kids Need a Course on Porn - National - The Atlantic Wire

 

[Jimmy_Jam]

I don't know, the rankings of IQ by country below are revealing. It would suggest that higher IQ's tend to come from more collectivist countries with heavily state-run education systems. Not that our education system isn't horribly broken, however, but educational choice does not necessarily = better education.

That said, it's not quite so simple for us Americans. Most other countries have the advantage of being more culturally homogeneous than the U.S. It makes things easier. Let's not forget that we have ALWAYS been more culturally diverse when compared to other countries, even from the start. My point is that the blanket concept that "gubmint" schools is to blame simply doesn't address the problem, as IQ's by country will easily demonstrate. School choice may be the best option, but not because state-run schools are inherently a bad thing. They work in other countries. Our problems are our own, and that is how we must address them.


1 Singapore 108
2 South Korea 106
3 Japan 105
4 Italy 102
5 Iceland 101
5 Mongolia 101
6 Switzerland 101
7 Austria 100
7 China 100
7 Luxembourg 100
7 Netherlands 100
7 Norway 100
7 United Kingdom 100
8 Belgium 99
8 Canada 99
8 Estonia 99
8 Finland 99
8 Germany 99
8 New Zealand 99
8 Poland 99
8 Sweden 99
9 Andorra 98
9 Australia 98
9 Czech Republic 98
9 Denmark 98
9 France 98
9 Hungary 98
9 Latvia 98
9 Spain 98
9 United States 98

 

[P@triot]

All part of the master plan... destroy the education system and effectively turn it into a baby-sitting service whereby kids spend the day being indoctrinated into the benefits of homosexuality, single parent households and the evils of capitalism.

And it appears to be working....

Teaching a course in how to have a better orgasm will surely help the educational system in the US compete technologically with the rest of the world.

Public univ plans event to help female students achieve orgasm

Teaching porn appreciation will no doubt give us better scientists.

Why College Kids Need a Course on Porn - National - The Atlantic Wire

This is the exact kind of useless trash that liberals give the world. They are literally a cancer destroying everything they touch.

 

[P@triot]

I don't know, the rankings of IQ by country below are revealing. It would suggest that higher IQ's tend to come from more collectivist countries with heavily state-run education systems. Not that our education system isn't horribly broken, however, but educational choice does not necessarily = better education.

That said, it's not quite so simple for us Americans. Most other countries have the advantage of being more culturally homogeneous than the U.S. It makes things easier. Let's not forget that we have ALWAYS been more culturally diverse when compared to other countries, even from the start. My point is that the blanket concept that "gubmint" schools is to blame simply doesn't address the problem, as IQ's by country will easily demonstrate. School choice may be the best option, but not because state-run schools are inherently a bad thing. They work in other countries. Our problems are our own, and that is how we must address them.

You're not making any sense. We're talking about the United States. If Zimbabwe has quality "state-run" schools, how does that change anything for us? The fact is, in this country, the liberals have decimated our education system.

I never made a case about "state-run" system and I couldn't give a damn about other nations. I only care about the United States.

 

[Jimmy_Jam]

I don't know, the rankings of IQ by country below are revealing. It would suggest that higher IQ's tend to come from more collectivist countries with heavily state-run education systems. Not that our education system isn't horribly broken, however, but educational choice does not necessarily = better education.

That said, it's not quite so simple for us Americans. Most other countries have the advantage of being more culturally homogeneous than the U.S. It makes things easier. Let's not forget that we have ALWAYS been more culturally diverse when compared to other countries, even from the start. My point is that the blanket concept that "gubmint" schools is to blame simply doesn't address the problem, as IQ's by country will easily demonstrate. School choice may be the best option, but not because state-run schools are inherently a bad thing. They work in other countries. Our problems are our own, and that is how we must address them.

You're not making any sense. We're talking about the United States. If Zimbabwe has quality "state-run" schools, how does that change anything for us? The fact is, in this country, the liberals have decimated our education system.

I never made a case about "state-run" system and I couldn't give a damn about other nations. I only care about the United States.

My comment is regarding the general concept suggested in the title: "Like everything else government touches, our education system is in complete decay."

We shouldn't give a damn what other countries do. That was my point, which you are basically reiterating. My issue is with the blanket notion that the title suggests, that the issue is as simple as "it's the gubmint, so go figure." Many of the countries that have government-run education systems and are also exceptionally high in average intelligence would negate that notion immediately.

The issue is a cultural one, not a governmental one. If our culture valued the same educational needs as South Korea, for example, then our government-run education system would at least roughly reflect that. South Korea's educational system is centrally run and is considered crucial to the competitive strength of the country, and focuses on things like mathematics, science, language, and social studies. Consequently, their national average IQ is a full 8 points higher than the U.S. Yet, what works for South Korea will not work for the U.S., and the reason is cultural. It has nothing to do with it being state-run.

So, again, I will repeat, viewing this as a problem because it is government run does not address the problem. It is partly a "liberal" problem, but mostly it is a general problem with what parents want for their children, which these days tends to follow polarized party lines. Instead of valuing mathematics, language, science, and social studies, the values are placed in things like whether or not our kids are getting sex education or whether or not the curriculum teaches about God, neither of which benefits the national I.Q. It also does not help that our family structures are horribly damaged. It doesn't much matter how much money we throw at our schools or how many teachers we have or what they teach if our families are broken. Immigrants that have come to this country and done well tend to have strong family and cultural structures and conformity. Their families and cultures are strongly involved, and this is reflected in the success of their subsequent generations, yet their children are faced with the same educational options as any other American. The reason? Cultural, not governmental.

 

[thanatos144]

i dont think they went out of their way to make a communist mind washing industry I just think the communists used the door opened for them by the progressives to make more malleable voters.

 

[Nika2013]

So...everyone grows up to be a corporate warrior or stock broker? What happens to our world where art, music, writing and the humanities and social sciences are important? What happens to well-rounded people with knowledge of many subjects? One cannot be a scientist (as you stated) without an understanding of chemistry and photosynthesis (something you said students should not learn)

I would not like to live in your world where everything becomes militarized in shades of gray. You have described Orwell's 1984.

I have three degrees and I loved every minute of college.

If American students and adults are non-competitive why do we have the highest GDP and advanced technology in the world?