Dept of Education, R U 4 or against it?

[Salt Jones]

I'm for the Dept of Ed. They are the only thing keeping Arizona form having the worse schools in the nation.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The current crop of repub POTUS candidates including Cain want to see the DOE to be combusted, like "Down the Freakin Road"(DFR). Do you support the idea of giving control of education back to the 50 individual states???
Libertarian minded congressman Ron Paul seems the most aggressive of the current repub candidates on touching off the DOE. Ron prefers to get all government at all levels out of education & going back to strictly private education(non tax funded). I've heard both the pros & cons on this topic from many concerned individuals including those that support home schooling & also the voucher system.
Should we keep the status quo or move on to strictly private education? Your input is appreciated!

Yes. I do. The DOE is a tremendous waste of money and has accomplished nothing but the continued degradation of education in this country.

But that's EXACTLY how is was supposed to work. You have to give Progressives credit for totally sabotaging our educational system

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I'm for the Dept of Ed. They are the only thing keeping Arizona form having the worse schools in the nation.

I feel so sorry for you

 

[Gadawg73]

What is it the right expects to get out of school anyway? They think teachers are overpaid and don't teach anything worth learning. They think a college degree is "just a piece of paper". They don't like intellectuals. They think the occult can be part of science. Many get pregnant and drop out. I think they simply want to destroy another institution they know nothing about. Like what they've done with the economy.

My neighbor is 45 years old, teaches high school and has a PHD in history.
She teaches 4 classes a day and is done at 1:30 pm.
She makes 90K a year plus benefits.
6 weeks of vacation during the school year, Sept. week break, Thanksgiving break, 2 weeks for Christmas break, February week break and spring week break.
6 weeks of vacation during the summer.
12 weeks of vacation every year.
With a benefit package to die for.
If that is not overpaid then what is?

 

[random3434]

What is it the right expects to get out of school anyway? They think teachers are overpaid and don't teach anything worth learning. They think a college degree is "just a piece of paper". They don't like intellectuals. They think the occult can be part of science. Many get pregnant and drop out. I think they simply want to destroy another institution they know nothing about. Like what they've done with the economy.

My neighbor is 45 years old, teaches high school and has a PHD in history.
She teaches 4 classes a day and is done at 1:30 pm.
She makes 90K a year plus benefits.
6 weeks of vacation during the school year, Sept. week break, Thanksgiving break, 2 weeks for Christmas break, February week break and spring week break.
6 weeks of vacation during the summer.
12 weeks of vacation every year.
With a benefit package to die for.
If that is not overpaid then what is?

She has a PHD in History and teaches High School? Hmmmm......

If it's true she makes 90K a year, it must be because of her PHD. Just as here (In Indiana) you get paid more if you have your Masters, I bet her pay is so high because she has a PHD.

 

[psikeyhackr]

How much would the creation of a National Recommended Reading List be compared to the DOE?

100 books for kindergarten, 200 for 1st grade, 300 for 2nd grade,...fewer then 10,000 by 12th grade.

The trouble is a lot of publishers would not like it, unless they have a lot of books on the list.

How much would the DOE cost if all it did was create and update the list? Kids have the same amount of time to grow up as they did 50 years ago. How much of what should be put into that time? What do kids need and how do they find what they like?

psik

 

[tonystewart1]

Education that only pertains to regional needs is not a good answer. If you are in a county that only produces agriculture you should not be forced into an education system that caters to that particular field. We are not in a country where the state you reside in is the state that you are doomed to live in. Many people end up far from home and the education system should not be a block to your mobility. All public schools should teach each area to a minimum standard and if there are local needs then the particular school can and should raise the requirement in that subject. That does not negate the need for basic education all around.

I was not advocting the end of basic eduction but it makes no sense to me that a state that is heavily into industry no be able to concentrate on that area of education, not to the demise of basic skills.

No one said that they could not. Should there be no lower limit though, you would have situations where they would concentrate on specific areas of education at the demise of some basic educations. Minimum standards would not take the power away to individualize curriculums. It would limit the ability to individualize it to the point that it becomes a trade school rather than a basic education.

And why cant states be trusted to determine the lower limit.

 

[FA_Q2]

I was not advocting the end of basic eduction but it makes no sense to me that a state that is heavily into industry no be able to concentrate on that area of education, not to the demise of basic skills.

No one said that they could not. Should there be no lower limit though, you would have situations where they would concentrate on specific areas of education at the demise of some basic educations. Minimum standards would not take the power away to individualize curriculums. It would limit the ability to individualize it to the point that it becomes a trade school rather than a basic education.

And why cant states be trusted to determine the lower limit.

It is not a matter of trust but a matter of continuity. What happens if you were to move from a state that requires 4 years of math to graduate to one that requires one? What happens when a state who is concerned primarily with farming interests and requires little to no science or literature? The point I made was that basic education should not be based on local concerns or needs but on what ALL educated people should start with. After the basics are met then the state can add whatever programs they please on top. There should be some continuity throughout the US where a high school degree means the same in CA as it would in WA. There is still variance in the quality of school but there is nothing that can be done about that other than to eliminate good schools, something that I do not want to happen.