What would you change about the American public school system?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

What would you change about the American public school system?

Move it to Canada.

Boru

[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.

***

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.

[Minimalist]

they need to learn to think for themselves.

The republicunts and the jesus freaks will resist that with every fiber of their being.

[vorlon13]

Consolidation of school districts in metro areas. How many $250,000/year superintendents does Chicagoland need? 100s?? How about 1 ??

Hell, rural farming counties in Iowa have multiple school districts and redundant administrations. I'm not recommending anything I would shun here. Every rural county can have one school board, one super and a secretary. Every school building gets a principal and a secretary. The rest of the payroll is teachers, lunch room staff, teachers, janitors, teachers, bus drivers and teachers.

Win-win for everyone. And fuck the admins that get let go. Probably tough to do nationwide simultaneously. Might be long enough for attrition to weed out the dead wood with put too much wailing, gnashing of teeth, sackcloth and ashes.

LOL, savings in money in ONE US state from school admin reform could probably ameliorate schooling problems in an entire populous third world country. Maybe even enough savings for them to establish their own NEA . . . .


win-win-win

[brewer]

I was in K-12 during the post Sputnik scare and beat the Russians, in our little town, was still the mind set. Not many coasted thru classes and I recall that quite a few were left behind (forced to repeat grades).

[AFTT47]

The entire system is antiquated. The internet makes personalized education practical - or at least tiers of education. There certainly isn't any need to shepherd kids together in a building with a rigid schedule.

Yeah, I know - kids need to learn socialization. Fuck that shit. Public school was a fucking nightmare for me and countless others like me. Do away with the current format entirely in favor of something considerably more modern.

[Succubus]

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

Is that still the case, I thought they received a battering in the courts.

[Chad32]

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

Is that still the case, I thought they received a battering in the courts.

I heard about it years ago. I would be happy to hear it's no longer the case. We don't need the buckle of the bible belt telling the rest of the country what they should learn.

[Cecelia]

1. Better Funding. Anytime the military wants a new plane they aren't going to use, they get the money they need. Meanwhile I'm spending hundreds of dollars on school supplies for kids at school out of my own paycheck. Our computer systems are outdated, and need upgrading. Every school having good equipment would be a great start. It'd be great if every student had a school supplied tablet to work from. ANd probably less expensive and get more use than those planes that can't fly.

2. Completely Desegregate. Brown v. Board of Education was almost 64 years ago. That's roughly 3 generations of kids since the Brown decision, and we've still got segregation in schools.

3. No more charging for lunch. Kids, unsurprisingly, do better in school when they aren't too hungry to focus. Many kids can't afford a school lunch, and are shamed for it in various ways by the schools (some states are making it illegal, thankfully). Every kid that wants a warm lunch, should get it. I know I've paid for a few of my students lunches from time to time (unasked), because I'd rather see them eat. Also longer lunch periods would be nice. 25 minutes for lunch is great--for kids at the front of the line. Kids who get 10 minutes to eat really have to rush. Of course that's just my school district.

4. If we're going to do standardized testing, let teachers design the tests. NOT private corporations. Also reduce the amount of standardized testing.

5. Stop doing the pledge of allegiance. It's a waste of time. Not a big waste, mind you, but there's really no need for it anymore. And there never was.

6. Add a class for kids to explore career options. Let's be honest, a lot of kids go into college with no idea what they want to do. They think they'll like something, then turn out they don't. I know back in high school I wanted to be a Nurse or an FBI Agent. That changed in college when I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I think kids need time to explore themselves a little. Find out what careers there are out there. I mean more than those stupid career aptitude tests that tell us what we can be. Something to really explore what's out there.

7. Start teaching foreign languages in elementary school. Kids learn foreign languages best when they're young. I started my own kids with French when they were babies. A friend of mine started learning languages from a young age, and now she speaks 25 languages. Knowing just English doesn't go as far as it used to.

8. Loosen the dress code. When did shoulders become really distracting? It's more of a distraction when kids are pulled, and told they need to change what they're wearing.

9. Back to school lunches.. Free school breakfast too. Not every parent has time to fix their kids breakfast. And not every kid can afford a school breakfast. I realize I'm being a monster here--what, wanting to use money to feed kids and everything. But you really can't underestimate the importance of NOT being hungry early in the morning.

10. Stop treating us like babysitters. Or at least pay us like one. Seriously, if I made $2 per hour per student I'd be making a LOT more money. And that's not counting off school hours. I know I can't find a babysitter to watch my 5 kids for $10/hour either. Our profession deserves more respect. We're educating the minds of tomorrow. Yeah, we get summers off. That doesn't mean we aren't doing professional development during that time. And it doesn't mean we don't work as much as people who work all year round.

Now as to some of the other suggestions in this topic:

-Learning logical fallacies is a good idea. I think they could be taught in English pretty well.
-I think laid back is pretty good. You want an easy learning environment. Most of the smartest people I know went to public school their entire life. I don't think it was remotely a joke.
-Less districts sounds like a good idea, but having one superintendent for too many schools, means they're less able to focus on individual schools and their needs. Some, however, are completely unnecessary and could be consolidated. Some districts could be combined into one with no adverse outcomes.
-Getting rid of teachers unions means getting rid of a lot of good teachers. Not to mention any possible way for us to fight for cost of living adjustments when we don't get them. Like Oklahoma hasn't had one in 10 years. There was a time when our school district didn't have them for 5 years. Without our union, we probably wouldn't have gotten our COLA's, and we'd eventually become Oklahoma as more and more teachers left. (A lot already did). There was a teacher in Texas (because of course) who was suspended because she talked to her class about her being a lesbian. Without unions, she's probably fired instead. A teacher picks a book the parents don't approve of, or doesn't teach the inane conspiracy theories they have like the idea the holocaust doesn't exist or the earth only being 10000 years old, and they're fired. That's what happens without unions.
-There's a lot of good reasons to 'shepherd' kids together in a building. I can't imagine not being able to interact with my students in person. Either you're suggesting that my job is unnecessary (which it isn't), or you're suggesting I video my lectures and let students watch them on their own time, leaving room for zero classroom interaction. And of course you have students who can't afford their own computer at home.

[Minimalist]

Meanwhile I'm spending hundreds of dollars on school supplies for kids at school out of my own paycheck.

I hate to say this, Cecilia, but you are in fact enabling the districts who choose to fuck over their students.  Make the voters (parents) buy their own school supplies and the superintendent will be getting an earful.