education reform: what would you do if you were president

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-12-07-us-students-international-ranking_N.htm

education ranking usa today

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40544897/ns/us_news-life/

MSNBC on US ranking in america
=======================================================

If I was prez I would do the following:

make school year round. It has been found that people who participate in summer school /summer education program they perform better. foreign countries attend school longer and more often (year round) about 30% more in the classroom.

4 day school week: about 240+ days in the year versus what we do now is 180.

cost: stop tax money funding pro athletic stadiums and arenas they are business' screw em and fund our schools.

what would you do ?

 

As the president it is not and should not be in my power to tell schools how long the school day or year should be.

This is also not in the purview of the president.

 

they are doing it and i believe he should. they are talking about extending the year...it has been in the talks for years..now the prez is talking about doing it

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/27/obama-proposes-longer-school-day-shorter-summer-vacation/

why should tax payers money go to private business and then turn around and scream socialism and the demise of the school system but dont want taxes increased to fund schools

 

The article doesn't mention a particular legislation, but I'm with Ron Paul, The United States Department of Education is what needs to go. I don't see that happening, so the money should come from the military budget, which I don't see happening. What I see is more money going to the military while our kids fall behind. Where do you think the future soldiers are going to come from?

 

What exactly do you have against that department? They give money to students. I have a hard problem seeing why it needs to go. I liked the pell grant.

 

Nothing, but since 1980, how's the American education system fared? It's like declaring a war on drugs, only to have a crack epidemic break out after doing so?

 

So you're going to cut athletics and increase school hours. That's actually not good. The article did say that US schools spend roughly 1150 hours on studies, while other countries spend about 1000. So it's not necessarily about time, Goodlove. Also, you'll need more than one source of money to fund for that. Property taxes on households would have to increase so the counties have more money to fund the schools.

We need to be more innovative with our time and how we do things. Remember the saying, it's about quality, not quantity. The education has to have better quality within in it. Extending time isn't the answer.

 

As a former teacher, I think year round school is a great idea. However, parents need to be more involved with their kids' education. I could write a book on this to be honest. It's not a simple fix.

 

So true. If the young are intelligent they won't be dumb enough to fight wars for the rich with the blood of the ppor. Good point fam

 

Then write and step your game up homie lol

 

As a teacher, I would:

1. Increase the school year

2. Focus on core academics in terms of mastery of the basics. American curriculum is wide with no depth.

3. Have government and financial education as requirements for graduation.

4. Have K-2 classes capped at 15 students

5. Have a NATIONAL graduation test. Some states have easy ones and some have hard ones

6. Give teachers the power to remove disruptive students.


7. Merit pay for good teachers and fire the moronic ones


NUMBER ONE- Attitude adjustment of society. I have taught for 15 years, many, I would say half of all American born families DON'T value education. The other half who are in AP and honors classes do. School is babysitter, or a time filler. Academic persuits are not encouraged by many. Hardly any parents I know of take their kids to museums or the like. Many kids can't find their own state on a map. Now that I teach foreign born kids, the difference is huge, the kids come to work.

I know this is harsh, but it is from expereince. I am not saying ALL kids, but enough.

 

If nothing, I don't quite get why you want it gone. The poor quality of the education system is due to each section of the country. We have a very heavily decentralized system. How does this relate to the Department of education?

 

I actually disagree with merit pay, but agree with the rest.

 

I coudn't agree with you more. Too many adults let alone kids don't know anything about credit and building it so they can have a place to live and buy a car. They need to learn how to live within their means and I don't see why that can't be taught in school.

I also don't like how the damn kids have more power than the teachers. Their "rights" mean nothing when they can't be taught.

This brings up the whole tenure debate and I truly think it should be done away with. The idea someone can stay no matter what is bs.

I would also like to add that kids to need to learn at least one marketable skill or survival skill. It's disgusting that kids leave school without any knowledge on how to function outside of their parent's house. Teach them how to be mechanics or seamstresses or even basic wilderness survival skills.

 

I am a public school teacher and FOR merit pay. Why? because I work my ass off and so to most of my colleagues, the ones who ride the coattails, have no drive, hate students, and do nothing should be fired.

Tenure-eh...nice to have, but should be used in terms of layoffs and due process only, not as a reason to slack

 

Yes but some teachers may get lousy students. They may be wonderful teachers but the students are just really lousy. That would be unfair to the teacher. 8 hours with a harvard teacher won't make up for 16 hours in the harshest ghetto or projects.

It is a good idea but it needs more set up to make up for students who just got dealt with a bad hand by their parents.

 

Smartest thing I've ever heard you say kid

 

Agreed to a degree. However,you have to make your bones as a teacher and learn to handle it all. I have taught in the best and the worst school districts in the state for real, and I have to adjust my methods to the students. If admininstration backed and supported teachers, lousy students would shape up quickly. I have seen it, however most administrations are afraid of high suspension rates as it impacts your Yearly Progress standing.

I think there should be incentive pay or benefits for teachers in the harsh districts to encourage talent to go there. I was offered a job in Boston which has its share of problems, but turned it down because the adminstration can't get out of the way and let the teachers do our jobs. The obstacles suck, especially when the goal is to do what is right for the students.

 

How about PARENTS start doing their jobs as well?

Just imagine the curriculum reverted to this:


















Qualified lawyers in 8th grade lol

 

C'mon now, there are a lot reasons of why students are not just competing with other countries, but falling behind previous standards. To say it's decentralization without mentioning many of the other factors is disingenuous, it puts the responsibility squarely on the federal government.

A federal/centralized education system is the issue, more than with the DOE currently is, is what it could be.

The article stated Arne Duncan is involved in this. So the DOE would be involved in this implementation? Has the DOE been successful? What about no child left behind?

Both failures if these stats on American education say anything. If the DOE is failing and the American schools remain decentralized as they are (Cutting it as just some expenditure is neither here nor there for me), what's the purpose of the department then, if not to improve educational standards? If the poor quality of the education system is due to each section of the country as you say, then the DOE needs more money and more influence. I'm not sold on decentralization being the problem, so part of this depends on how one believes the education problem needs to be fixed.