What would you change about the American public school system?

[henryp]

Schools need more autonomy. One problem in our county, is that all the schools operate under the same rules. But the individual schools are nothing alike. So you fix a problem at one school, and you create a problem at another, and vice versa.

As for the big riddle of fixing schools in poor neighborhoods, it's tough. My sister is getting her federal loans forgiven by teaching at a 'bad' school for 5 years. So that's worked in getting a good teacher for 5 years. But the lack of parental and administrative support is brutal.

It's not about pay or funding. It's that when a kid throws a chair in the class, or tips over a table, there's no resolution to be had. And this is 1st grade.

And the generally proposed solution is "What if instead of 8 table flippers in one school, we put one table flipper in every school!" Which just disrupts everybody. The sad reality may be that just cutting your losses and piling these kids in one lousy school is the best solution available. And that charter type schools, that help a few kids with parents invested enough in their kids to get out of there.

I think this is why the idea of charter schools may be popular to a degree in the black community. Because they aren't trying to escape old textbooks (most of the time). They are trying to escape a school filled with disruptive students with do-nothing parents.

[vulcanlogician]

It's not about pay or funding.  It's that when a kid throws a chair in the class, or tips over a table, there's no resolution to be had.  And this is 1st grade.

And the generally proposed solution is "What if instead of 8 table flippers in one school, we put one table flipper in every school!"  Which just disrupts everybody. 

Yeah but look at what kind of role models these kids have.

[brewer]

We need to be praying for public schools in public schools. Haven't you people been listening?

[Chad32]

Not letting Texas dictate what the whole country's textbooks have in it would also help.

[Silver]

Doing away with standardized testing would be a good start.

[Seraphina]

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

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Doing away with standardized testing would be a good start.

I have a kiddo in public school and I have no problem with standardized testing. How else to measure what students are learning apart from using subjective measures created by educators themselves?

And while I'm here, let's talk about grade inflation. When the majority of students are "earning" A's and B's, it makes me wonder what they're actually learning. How about the many high school graduates who have to take remedial courses in college before actually taking college level courses because they were just pushed through with feel-good report cards in high school and didn't actually learn the basics.

-Teresa

[vorlon13]

We do spend more on admin than on education.

Any attempt to reign in costs is always immediately responded to by cutting teachers. Cutting bureaucracy, administration, overseers, paperpushers, etc is never an option. All cuts must start with teachers and have to directly negatively affect the students.

I think there is a Law named for this effect . . .

[Minimalist]

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

You mean, let the administrators run roughshod?  That will do a lot to hasten the exodus of teachers from the profession.

[vorlon13]

Decimate administration first.

That was easy.

Next problem ?

[Minimalist]

You expect the administrators to attack their own perks?