More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

[flo]

Originally Posted by NateR

Well, if our public schools were actually doing their jobs in the first place, then you might have a point; but our public schools are catastrophic failures, turning out mindless illiterates who don't understand the concepts of failure or competition and can't even locate the United States on a map of the United States.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

[NateR]

Originally Posted by County Mike

I blame "no child left behind". It seems they want to slow down ALL the kids so the dumb ones aren't left behind. Screw that. When I was in school, they separated us into groups and the more advanced kids were pushed. The slower kids were helped along at a pace they could handle. What's wrong with that?

Spending more time in school doing work that is too easy for you doesn't help anyone. Just like in the real world... Sink or swim.

That is a huuuuuge part of the problem, but the real issue is that the federal government should not be involved in our public schools AT ALL.

I started attending public school in 1980 (I was in 2nd grade, I spent Kindergarten and 1st grade in private schools), so I had no idea that the federal Department of Education was a recent development created under Jimmy Carter in 1979. It was considered such a great idea that it barely passed in Congress (by only 4 votes in the House) and Ronald Reagan immediately tried to dismantle it upon becoming President in 1981. Unfortunately politics got in the way and fixing other things (like Carter's near destruction of the economy and winning the Cold War), took priority.

It's interesting that the quality of our public schools has been on a downhill rocket-slide ever since the Federal Government took it over (it sure gives you a lot of confident over what they are going to do to healthcare).

So, we need to get rid of the Department of Education and put managing our public schools back in the hands of the State and local governments.

Originally Posted by flo

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Thanks, but I guess I should clarify that I don't think that all public school students are idiots. I think it depends on where you are and the population level. I've noticed that in many smaller communities, the school system works fairly well, like here in Hillsboro. However, I believe most of that is because of accountability of teachers to parents. In a small town, teachers aren't going to be able to hide from the parents of their students. They're going to run into them in the grocery store or at church. They might even have gone to school with them or, in some cases, the parents might have actually learned under the same teacher that their kids are learning from.

Also, the mentality of the parents plays a big role. I believe that parents and public schools should share the responsibility of education 50/50. If parents believe that public schools are responsible for 100% of the work in educating their kids, then of course they are going to end up with functionally retarded dimwits who probably aren't going to move out of the house until they are in their 40s.