All-purpose news and politics thread: One Step Beyond!

[Iangould]

Looking for some input here.

I have some vague idea what No Child Left Behind means and about the problems associated with thep olicy.

What I wasn't aware of is that over half the states in the US now have waivers from having to comply with it with more to come.

Good thing? Bad Thing? Won't make any difference?

[Vibranium]

Id say its a good thing...how kids learn has changed dramatically in the past 15-20 years...the education system has not adapted and NCLB puts standards on a broken system

[Winslow]

Looking for some input here.

I have some vague idea what No Child Left Behind means and about the problems associated with thep olicy.

What I wasn't aware of is that over half the states in the US now have waivers from having to comply with it with more to come.

Good thing? Bad Thing? Won't make any difference?

Hard to say. It looks like the waiver is based on each individual state's proposal. So it could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the proposal.

Some states are privatizing education through charters. I have no idea why Americans think privatizing everything is a solution. To me, that is a huge mistake.

[Vibranium]

Charters here do ok, a majority of the grants they operate on are tied to student body performance...classes are typically smaller and teachers don't burn out as fast

I mean I know a few teachers and god bless 'em but at least two of them are looking at getting away from teaching all together

[Paradox]

Winslow has been there:

Hard to say. It looks like the waiver is based on each individual state's proposal. So it could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the proposal.

Some states are privatizing education through charters. I have no idea why Americans think privatizing everything is a solution. To me, that is a huge mistake.

Because if it's privatized, they can teach the TRUTH, not that suspicious science and history that's taught in those worthless public schools the government rams down everyone's throat!!!

[Captain Clarkie]

It's an ideology over analysis thing, Privatisation is always right, even when it doesn't work.

[Winslow]

Charter school perfiormance is all over the map in PA. Overall though, the average preformance is below public schools (when using standardized test scores as a performance bar ). There are some decent charters. But they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

My biggest problem with charters is the amount of croneyism and corruption that happens with public money. There are a lot of charter school CEOs that are simply educational slum lords ... getting rich off of educating the poor. It's disgusting.

[Winslow]

It's an ideology over analysis thing, Privatisation is always right, even when it doesn't work.

Pretty much.

[Vibranium]

Some states are privatizing education through charters. I have no idea why Americans think privatizing everything is a solution. To me, that is a huge mistake.

I would agree..but it's not like the public school situation is getting any better

[Paradox]

A bad solution isn't better than a null one. Better they spend the time, energy and money on "fixing" the public schools (or rather, the things causing those problems, as it seems to be largely environmental outside school, or so I'm told).

[Vibranium]

A bad solution isn't better than a null one. Better they spend the time, energy and money on "fixing" the public schools (or rather, the things causing those problems, as it seems to be largely environmental outside school, or so I'm told).

its a part of the problem...its really a myriad of things....overcrowding, teacher burnout, tenure, teachers unions, ideology, kids are just a-holes

[Winslow]

A bad solution isn't better than a null one. Better they spend the time, energy and money on "fixing" the public schools (or rather, the things causing those problems, as it seems to be largely environmental outside school, or so I'm told).

It's a complex problem.

One interesting thing I have read: Nations that have passed the U.S. in math and reading proficiency tend to do the opposite of us. That is, they spend more money on low performing schools and less money on high performing schools.

25% of our kids are in poverty (a number way beyond the best performing public schools in the world. Finland, the current best, has a poverty rate of about 4%). Since 25% of our kids are in poverty, they obviously live in low income areas with a low tax base, so the money available for public schools just isn't there. When you add in some of the social issues that come with poverty, it just turns the whole mess into a cascading snow ball.

[Captain Clarkie]

Also, if you're ideologically attached to Privitisation to the point of fanaticism, as unfortunately a lot of people are, they prefer to see any other system get worse to make Privitisation easier, so improvement in the current system is something they do not want to see happen, and will actively seek to undermine it.

[Paradox]

Ah, yes, the good old "capitalist competition makes the cream rise to the top!" ploy. **eyeroll smiley**

[Charles RB]

The Serious Fraud Office has started a criminal investigation into the Libor scandal.

Charter school perfiormance is all over the map in PA. Overall though, the average preformance is below public schools (when using standardized test scores as a performance bar ). There are some decent charters. But they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Aha. That's interesting for me, because when I first heard of charter schools, the implication was they're offering kids a better opportunity. I did wonder "how".

It's like there's no simple answer and improving schools will take a lot of effort, manpower and systemic change.

Also, wtf is up with spending less on low-performing schools? A two year old could tell you that's silly.