What would you change about the American public school system?

[vulcanlogician]

I feel guilty for saying this because I have many friends who are educators but teacher's unions need to be reconsidered. It's the biggest barrier to accountability, in my opinion.

-Teresa

My sister is an elementary school teacher. I'm probably biased, but I think she is one of the best teachers they have in her school. She is dedicated, she spends a lot of her own money on supplies, and goes out of her way to help children who are in less than ideal home situations. She even housed one of her students when her parents got evicted.

Last year, she and all the other teachers in her school got all their vacation time taken away due to a decision from the superintendent. In the face of pay cuts and layoffs, the union (which she admits has its BS element) is the only body advocating for the teachers' fair treatment.

Accountability is a slippery issue. She tells me about half-assed teachers doing half-assed work all the time. But standardized testing, according to her, does little to solve the problem. It simply motivates lackluster educators to prepare the kids for pointless exams.

Personally, I think there needs to be a way to separate the grain from the chaff. Quality educators need to be recognized. The bums need to be tossed out. Limiting the powers of the unions is going to be detrimental to good teachers and poor teachers alike.

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OP: I think one thing that would really help education in general is "critical thinking" courses. They would be kind of "introduction to logic" courses, and students should take one at the middle school level and then another more advanced one at the high school level. Students don't simply need more information drilled into their heads; they need to learn to think for themselves. Once they learn that indispensable skill, any knowledge they pick up thereafter will be exponentially more valuable.