education reform: what would you do if you were president

I wouldnt doubt it. Im at a HBCU and the students are unreal. they are always talking while the professor is teaching. they act like they are at a party or something. its horrible. I just want to go in the back and slap the taste buds out of their mouths.

 

This is actually part of our problem as a country. Students in different areas are not receiving the same standard of education. Children from TX learn different things than students from NY....

...as an instructor I am graded on my ability to teach my students certain information or certain tasks. Teachers just be judged by same standards, but also parents need to be held accountable as well..and stop leaving the soler gate keepers of education up to the teachers.

 

Oh my GOD the apocalypse must be at hand. ITA with Ymra

 

Yeah the guy preaching on the subway told me that it's all gonna end in 2012. :smt003
What is taught in schools is a whole other topic.

 

Exactly... sometimes we really agree on things, sometimes we just don't but that point sums it up. Oh, and I don't want to hear anyone pipe up about the quality of institutions here and say it's poorer and commensurate with the difference in the cost, because it is simply not the case. Australia is at the cutting edge of research in many areas.

 

I doubt it would end by then. We will still be alive. I think education would get better if the position of being a teacher in the US is taken more seriously.

 

no doubt. that would have to be a cultural paradigm shift for that to happen

 

Bill on the today show about education and donald trump

[YOUTUBE]BsxUyVx1C6Q#t=4h3m20s[/YOUTUBE]

 

My experience coming here from undergraduate Biochemistry to graduate school in the US:
When I got to the US to do Biochem as a graduate student, many classes I had to take was part of my undergraduate work in Sweden - they had Stryer's Biochemistry book on the curriculum! WDF? I already done that. It was a bit sad. That was in TX, I wonder what the curriculum is elsewhere in the US.

 

I found the same when I did grad school for business there

 

United States is an interesting place. I think foreigners tend to be more perceptive and are able to see many facets of American life when they get there because they have something to compare. It explains the obsession with looks and materialism. For some. it is all they have known, and for others it is what they have been socialized it, and has been what determined how privileges are distributed culturally, and defended by those that argue on genetic differences Darwinism's philosophy of human life and growth.


All sorts of social policies have crept on the American people since the release of the BELL CURVE, by Charles Murray. Elite education is a badge of honour in America and enables access to all sorts of places and all sorts of careers. It drives the dominance of the cognitive elite, but how powerful is that level of cognition when the supposed brain power was not able to avert a financial disaster. Those that are pushing for change in orientation of the many anomalies created in the system are foreigners that have made fortunes in America, and this is partly because they see more clearly.

Yes, America attracts talents, and yes, it creates opportunities for people that can spot opportunities to succeed. Yet, it is not really a net exporter of talent. People come to do research and innovate in America. Unfortunately, there is an ingrained belief in America that certain sections of the population should not have a decent shot at life. They have all sorts of names for them, names like hoodrats and all what not, and what seems more interesting is that the lucky few amongst the said section that are lucky enough to get an education think they have a jail free card in life, and somehow and interestingly look back at the neigbourhoods they ought to go back and share experiences with derision, hate and slur the human inhabitants with all sorts of labels.



Below is an extract of the policy recommendations of Charles Murray. Interestingly, most of these policies have found their way into public policy. All sorts of schools created for the gifted child are everywhere. The studios kid of an immigrant parent that knows the value of education gets there, so also those that are culturally tuned to discipline and delayed gratification, and the ethics of hard work and rigorous study.

see here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve

If this is not a racist manifesto, I don't know what else is.

 

Very very well put

Reps all round

Put your firesuit on though man, your post is perceptive and you about to be flamed maybe by some that don't even know the book.

 

The topic of power and access and how that ties into higher education is a whole other can of worms. Being connected is a function of what school you go to, and it can be argued that it's more important that who you know is a lot more important than what you know.

America is an importer of talent; without immigration this country would wither and die; that's how its always been. That's why a lot of the "build the fence" folks are laughable at best.

I love this topic!

 

I think what I have in bold is partly what is at crux of this issue. But it is necessary to know who are the folks that determine access? What reasons they use to justify access? And, we might then follow up with conjectures of our own on why they do these things?

But in the background of all these questions, one should be aware of the so called America values, and the equality of everyone, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, family connections. When some folks decide to push arguments to exclude people that were born not through faults of their to be poor, or be disadvantaged, then the test should always be their whether those arguments meet the ideals of the founding fathers of America.

Why does America need to deplete the resources of other countries to build itself? Why can't it use resources within its borders, develop it, nurture in such a fashion that it continues to perpetuate the America ideals? It is for a reason that America chooses immigrants by lottery unlike other countries such as Australia, and Canada.

In the said countries, most immigrants are selected based on skills that they offer to the receiving countries. So in a sense, there is a conscious attempt to replenish that tax paying stock with potential immigrants . Still the government owes its citizens certain obligations, of which education is one of them.

 

Thanks, Leksola. I hope you continue to contribute your ideas on this issue. I love these sort of debates. For me really, it is not about winning debates, but rather about understanding why things are the way they are. Other people's arguments and perspective are very valuable.

 

We've got a lot of problems and things that have got to get corrected. As you stated, our country uses and consumes resources at a disproportionate rate compared to other countries, such as ones that are considered to be in the European Union, for instance.

Here's a video of Chris Christie, a Republican Governor from New Jersey. I'm not really in favor of his policies.

[Youtube]PkuTm-ON904[/Youtube]

 

With this nanny state mentality in this country there will never be any significant reforms to education. I admire the asians in their quest to educate their children to be the best in the world. I will study their learning systems philosophies to better understand them. It's the American culture that is destroying it's own children. If you think the education of black children is horrendous check out what is happening to the white kids who are getting their clocks cleaned in this country by immigrant chinese students.

 

I know. Everyone in America is falling, academically. Do you think, however, that Obama's programs and policies could reverse this from happening or is this issue bigger than what Obama could handle?

The solution is for us to work longer and harder in areas of study that are challenging, such as science, technologies, engineering, and math. Some adults should consider going back to school as well, but costs for education are high.

 

I admire your thinking. But it will never happen in this lazy entitled culture. The more disciplined societies of the world like China, India, Turkey, Brazil etc... are going to clean our clock. I see in China those children are going to school six and half days a week. there is no three months break for the summer. Teachers Unions love that one. Try doing that here in this spoiled culture you will get a revolutiuon from the left and right who want to control the minds of the little mush brains.

 

This has nothing to do with culture When it comes to quantity of years of education. The United States educates longer than the chinese do. It is the quality of the education. That is the problem.