The Death of Public Education

www.boston.com...

Quote from source:
Lack of money is killing our schools

The news says we are watching the death of public education before our eyes. Detroit is closing more than 40 schools, Kansas City wants to close more than 40 percent of its school buildings. Other cities have been closing schools over the last decade. Boston avoided closings in its most recent budget deliberations, but still must slash custodial staff and postpone building repairs.

It is no secret that American education is at a great divide, unrivaled in most of the developed world. The United States spends $9,800 per public primary and secondary education student, which is technically high by global standards.

But meanwhile, children of the wealthy are being trained at private schools at more than triple the expenditures. In the Boston area, day school tuition rates are closing in on $35,000.

Our investment in public school teachers is paltry for the wealthiest country in the world. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the United States ranks in some measures behind England, Italy, Japan, Scotland and way behind Germany in starting teacher pay. The average expenditure on college students in the United States amounts to $24,400 per college student, two and a half times more than the $9,800 per-pupil spending in the public schools.

Beneath the numbers is the resegregation of children on the basis of class, race and immigration status. Prison spending soared so much, that by 2007, five states spent as much or more on corrections than on higher education, according to the Pew Center on the States.

I think our educations system is one of the things that needs a complete overhaul. Kids are not 'learning' in schools they are repeating.

I have met a ton high school graduates that couldn't write properly or even do simple math. It is funny to me because all you have to do is cram for a test and get a 50 to pass. It's weird because really people learn very little in school.

I could write about the education system for hours...

Any thoughts?

Pred...

I agree, shut them all down and start giving our children a real education. The majority of college degree required jobs today could be down with fifth grade drop outs 100 years ago. In fact, most of them were done by fifth grade drop out back then with less technology to make it easier.

I say, bring back corporal punishment for the administrators of the education system, starting with the Secretary of Education.

The US public education system was dying in the 80's (at least) when I graduated.

Thankfully, I am self taught to some extent.

Schools today are more about money than education.

Kids I know that came out of school in the last 5 years tend to be fairly stupid. No history, rudimentary math (not even practical geometry-figure out the general size of a circle?).

Nothing.

They have no idea concerning the classics of literature. They can by god tell you all you want to know about Jackass the Movie though! I was reading Beowulf, Allan A'Dale, and other stuff at 9 years old from my dads brit lit book. I wont forget my Tolkien and comics though!!!

The ONLY thing I can say positive about kids in RURAL area's, they are still 100 percent American. They hunt, they fish, they look you in the eye when they shake hands.

they WILL survive!

Urban/Suburban kids? Some might. Too many fit into a thread I did a while back.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Maybe I'm just too damn old.

reply to post by Ahabstar


Thanks for the response. I just think our educations system is wrong to begin with. The only reason school was made is because people thought other people would be better than teaching their own kids. If we want our kids to be a certain way why not teach them ourselves?

Many teachers do not even have a degree in what they are teaching anyways. The rely on their teacher copies of textbooks to know the right answer.

In the world of today, most households need 2 incomes to make ends meet taking away the power to teach your own children. And I mean really, how much 1 on 1 time do kids get with teachers today anyway? If you spent 4 hours with your kids teaching them per week, they would have a better education then they do now.

I know it sounds hard but until grade 10 everything is pretty basic. You need to understand Algebra to get into high school math but we were taught that wrong in school anyways. I mean how many people do you hear hate math? I hear a lot and it is very simple and basic concepts. People just fear it because it looks hard.

Like I said I could talk about education for hours....

Pred...

...Then I think you will like this article:

"The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher - By John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher of the Year, 1991"

www.informationliberation.com...

definatly get "school sucks" podcast and tell others about it. absolute must listen to if your tired of how the government schools are sucking the intelligence
out of our children.

reply to post by On the Edge


Thanks for the article, great read!!

He is very similar to another man John Holt who won tons of awards for how he taught school children. I actually have a few of his books as I am home-schooling my children. Very interesting stuff in there.

Pred...

reply to post by Funkydung


And that's what they do they suck any fun out of learning they can. We are restricted to which books we can read. And then we have to read them, discuss them, get told what the teacher thinks about them and get tested on that.

No one knows what a person is writing about, it could literally be anything. If I want to read a book I am going to relate it to my experiences, as the author did in writing it. I do not understand how someone else can tell me what I should be thinking about a book.

They make us hate school and everything taught in it. Upsetting to say the least seeing more and more schools are being ran like prisons. We cannot question teachers at all anymore, I was expelled from school for doing this many times. And thats what helps me lear, I like asking questions and I know I am not the only one who has them.

Pred...

Originally posted by Funkydung
definatly get "school sucks" podcast and tell others about it. absolute must listen to if your tired of how the government schools are sucking the intelligence
out of our children.

i do need to add this....

and also please get the "FreeTalkLive" podcast daily! absolutely listen to every day!
www.freetalklive.com...

schoolsucks.podomatic.com...

In my 10+ years of teaching, "school sucks" is perhaps the most common phrase I've heard students use to describe their feelings about public education. But this seemingly bitter and reductive slogan is actually quite clever. When taken literally, "school sucks" is perhaps the most accurate and astute synopsis of the system I've ever heard. Here's why...

1. The twelve-year process of an American public education has a dramatic effect on the mind of a child. When we first enter school at age six, many of our best personal attributes are already in place. We are curious, innovative, unique, creative and hopeful in ways that we will rarely be able to replicate throughout the rest of our lives. But over time, school sucks those essential attributes out of too many of us...and replaces them with predictability, obedience and apathy.

2. The public school system sucks off the productive capacity of hard-working people. The system is coercively funded through taxation. In other words, whether public education succeeds or fails (spoiler alert: it fails) at providing real education to the public, the cost goes up every year. There are no refunds.

[edit on 8-4-2010 by Funkydung]

[edit on 8-4-2010 by Funkydung]

reply to post by Funkydung


Thanks buddy for the link to the podcasts.

I will be sure to download those as educations is important to me. Thanks for opening my eyes to these!!

Pred...

Originally posted by predator0187
reply to post by Funkydung

 

Thanks buddy for the link to the podcasts.

I will be sure to download those as educations is important to me. Thanks for opening my eyes to these!!

Pred...

no problem. just promise to listen to both school sucks and free talk live....and please pass them on. it is really important to pass these on so others can hear what is actually going on.

reply to post by Funkydung


Believe me, I try and get people on the education system. To me it is the most important because our kids are our future. They need help and cannot grow up hating everything to do with learning. Sounds like exactly what the government wants, to dumb us down...

Pred...

reply to post by predator0187


have you ever seen the movie Idiocracy? if you havent check it out. it shows what we are gonna be like in 500 years if we keep putting our kids in these shools and pumping their brains full of mtv.

movies.yahoo.com...

reply to post by Funkydung


Yeah I have seen it, it has Dax Shepard in it right?

The movie pretty much sums up the whole thing now. I like that they were watering all their plants with Gatorade. It's strange but I believe that will be our future if we keep going this way and that's a scary thing.

Pred...

I applaud you for home-schooling. I'm a parent myself and wish I'd been more aware of what was going on back when they were in school,(during the 80's and 90's).I assumed,because they made good grades,never had any disciplinary problems,and were overall well-adjusted that everything was fine.

If I could do it all over again,knowing what I know now,I would never have let them go to a public school!

I'm not saying my kids wound up so bad,but I can see why in some ways they are alot dumber than I thought they were! They do lean towards believing socialism is a good thing, and my son,after two years in college,decided that he was an atheist! They both voted for "Hope and Change",which illustrates my point!

Now that they think they "know everything",it's very hard to re-educate them. That,and they live miles away and don't want to listen to "old-fashioned" beliefs.

I guess they'll just have to learn the hard way,by watching where this country is headed,and being "intelligent",hopefully they will dig for answers on their own,if I'm not around,or they'll remember what I have tried to tell them.(You know how they say,"The older I get,the smarter my parents become!")

Good luck to you and your family. You're children are blessed to have you looking out for their best interests,since you are well aware of what the alternative would be!

[edit on 8-4-2010 by On the Edge]

reply to post by On the Edge


Thanks for the great post!!

I was a little offended by the athiest statement, but oh well.

You know what the most important thing for your kids is, not matter what age? For them to be happy. We spend our lives making others rich, and working for other people, which we are indoctrinated to do by school.

I am tired of the saying "school sucks." That saying has been around forever and really what more feedback on something do you want than that? How many people enjoy work? Very few.

I cannot stand to do something I dislike, that to me, is not living at all. I want to be happy doing something I love. Very few people can say that because we are stuck in this illusion of a rat race that everyone thinks is normal.

If everyone was happy the world would be different in a matter of days. Unfortuately we teach our kids hate at a young age, and also to sit down and shut up. What kind of future is that for mankind? A crappy one to say the least.

Pred...

Just read any of the books by John Taylor Gatto.

He was New York State Teacher of the Year.

He said that the U.S. education system has been taken over by an ideology of the wealthy, aristocratic, oligarchical despots who seek to enslave humanity by providing them ignorance and propaganda, denying them the real fruits of what education is supposed to empower them to do.

This is intentional:

The system sucks.