Just back from the annual family reunion - photos later. Today was the first chance I had to peruse the Carnival of Education. A blog entry about school management caught my eye. It's a short entry, but it basically boils down that individual schools should control their own schools without any goverment interference. Parents and school administrators should decide where to spend their money and what is a priority in their own community. Sounds like a good idea.
So here's a questions... what happens when the local community doesn't necessarily value a top notch education? For example, I attended a rural school. It was small and the school board was made up of parents and grandparents, most of the teachers graduated from the same school, etc. It was back in the dark ages prior to our more recent state and federal laws. Testing was done to decide who went to the resource room and that was pretty much it.
Still with me? So here's a problem... our science textbooks were published the year prior to my birth. That's roughly 15 to 18 years old. We did have new football uniforms each year and very fancy typewriters for our "business education" classes. The band however, did use the same uniforms for approximately 14 years and we never had an actual chemistry book (the chem teacher photocopied his Chem 101 book from college - how he got all the copy paper is still a mystery).
In fact, if I remember correctly, the reason that all those onerous educational laws where passed in Washington state was due to the inconsistantcies in the quality of education in the state. I'm pretty sure this is why national laws were passed as well.
I'm not saying that parents, teachers or community leaders are stupid or can't be trusted to make good choices. What I'm saying is that as a group, good decisions aren't always made. Some people think that calculus and Shakespeare are a waste of time and money. Some think that the only thing schools should open for are readin', ritin', and 'rithmetic. There are numerous occassions when priorities get caught up a rush of emotion and it can seem like a championship teams needs more funding, while textbooks will hold out for another year.
And who judges if the school is effective? The teachers? The parents? The local community leaders? My ideas are a lot different from my brother's... and we're blood kin. Many people say that a diploma (or degree) is just a piece of paper... actions speak louder. Who decides how that piece of paper reflects desired actions? We've gone to testing because it seems like the the most objective evaluation... do we create different tests?
All we can really say is that there won't be a simplistic solution that fits everyone.
So here's a questions... what happens when the local community doesn't necessarily value a top notch education? For example, I attended a rural school. It was small and the school board was made up of parents and grandparents, most of the teachers graduated from the same school, etc. It was back in the dark ages prior to our more recent state and federal laws. Testing was done to decide who went to the resource room and that was pretty much it.
Still with me? So here's a problem... our science textbooks were published the year prior to my birth. That's roughly 15 to 18 years old. We did have new football uniforms each year and very fancy typewriters for our "business education" classes. The band however, did use the same uniforms for approximately 14 years and we never had an actual chemistry book (the chem teacher photocopied his Chem 101 book from college - how he got all the copy paper is still a mystery).
In fact, if I remember correctly, the reason that all those onerous educational laws where passed in Washington state was due to the inconsistantcies in the quality of education in the state. I'm pretty sure this is why national laws were passed as well.
I'm not saying that parents, teachers or community leaders are stupid or can't be trusted to make good choices. What I'm saying is that as a group, good decisions aren't always made. Some people think that calculus and Shakespeare are a waste of time and money. Some think that the only thing schools should open for are readin', ritin', and 'rithmetic. There are numerous occassions when priorities get caught up a rush of emotion and it can seem like a championship teams needs more funding, while textbooks will hold out for another year.
And who judges if the school is effective? The teachers? The parents? The local community leaders? My ideas are a lot different from my brother's... and we're blood kin. Many people say that a diploma (or degree) is just a piece of paper... actions speak louder. Who decides how that piece of paper reflects desired actions? We've gone to testing because it seems like the the most objective evaluation... do we create different tests?
All we can really say is that there won't be a simplistic solution that fits everyone.
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