It is often fascinating when people arrive at the same answer through different paths and backgrounds. The “why” is understood (you need to know how to read to get ahead in life) but the “how” is often so different based on any number of things…social, economic, political and so on.
I grew up with two caring parents that were not well o…
It is often fascinating when people arrive at the same answer through different paths and backgrounds. The “why” is understood (you need to know how to read to get ahead in life) but the “how” is often so different based on any number of things…social, economic, political and so on.
I grew up with two caring parents that were not well off, nor highly educated but gave me every chance to succeed. Being “different” (Jewish in a mostly Italian neighborhood) forced me to discover other worlds through frequent reading. I agree with Emily Hanford in many ways except for the heavy focus on poverty having such a strong impact on reading. Strong, close-knit two parent (any gender) families will prioritize their children’s education, even if they work multiple jobs and have economic challenges.
Another example of a lack of consistent training - when my daughter started school, she was thought to have a learning disability because it took her longer to learn English words and sentences than other students. A quick bit of research (which I had to do since it was a mystery to the school) made it very obvious that a child who learns another language first (in her case, French) will take longer to become proficient in the 2nd language. As expected, she quickly caught up and rendered concerns a non-issue.
You could say that the education “gurus” (to borrow the last Honestly podcast’s topic) are simply out to make a buck regardless of the impact on students. You could also say that teachers unions prioritize their members over the students that they are responsible for. That one was made pretty obvious during the COVID pandemic. You can also say that four year university playgrounds are not designed to generate knowledgeable teachers at a reasonable cost, especially given how little we pay teachers. And we can also say that the administrative state drags down educational effectiveness while bowing to the Diversity-Inclusion-Equity gods.
What’s the problem? To start, the public school system, from the Department of Education to the local elementary school is a monumental failure backed by a mountain of statistics. The private and public university systems are also massive failures due to huge costs (even in public universities if you come from out of state), focus on DIE over preparing young men and women for the workplace, as well as being another huge administrative state that dwarfs budgets of many countries.
So what to do? Charter schools, vouchers, private schools and homeschooling are like putting a band-aid on the patient dying of a heart attack. The public school system (including public universities) simply needs to be blown up. Unions eliminated and replaced with a system that supports and protects great teachers and eliminates poor ones. Elimination of DIE and the minimization of the administrative state. Open dialogue, not fear of speaking your mind. Design a federal system in concert with business experts who know what they ultimately need and provide financial resources to state and local governments with conditions. Pay great teachers (a lot) to work in more challenging school districts instead of reintroducing busing and segregation like they are trying to do my county in Maryland. Let kids explore and think and learn subjects that expand their minds, not close them to people that are not like them.
There’s so much that can be done if people get out of their tribes and talk to each other with reason and grace. Rant over :)
The problem is that any system will suffer degradation long term without competition.
Thus while I support a lot of the reforms you mention, they won't work long term without real school choice. School choice will provide the competition that makes government schools good.
I couldn’t disagree with you more, but I appreciate your perspective. I pulled my child from public schools, at 4th grade, after intense bullying. Homeschooling allowed him to grow at his own pace. He graduated with a 4.02 and has a promising future.
As beneficial as it seems to simply prepare children to be a competent workforce, I’m not willing to make my child a “teachable moment” in the public arena. My son is not just a worker. I value his initiative and creativity above his ability to conform. Forcing millions of children to adapt to one style of learning is limiting their ability to reach their potentials.
All options, including home schooling, have to remain available. We just need a better solution for the majority of students that can’t afford other options.
I probably wasn’t as clear as I could have been. A great school system needs to turn out engineers AND artists, not just business workers.
It is often fascinating when people arrive at the same answer through different paths and backgrounds. The “why” is understood (you need to know how to read to get ahead in life) but the “how” is often so different based on any number of things…social, economic, political and so on.
I grew up with two caring parents that were not well off, nor highly educated but gave me every chance to succeed. Being “different” (Jewish in a mostly Italian neighborhood) forced me to discover other worlds through frequent reading. I agree with Emily Hanford in many ways except for the heavy focus on poverty having such a strong impact on reading. Strong, close-knit two parent (any gender) families will prioritize their children’s education, even if they work multiple jobs and have economic challenges.
Another example of a lack of consistent training - when my daughter started school, she was thought to have a learning disability because it took her longer to learn English words and sentences than other students. A quick bit of research (which I had to do since it was a mystery to the school) made it very obvious that a child who learns another language first (in her case, French) will take longer to become proficient in the 2nd language. As expected, she quickly caught up and rendered concerns a non-issue.
You could say that the education “gurus” (to borrow the last Honestly podcast’s topic) are simply out to make a buck regardless of the impact on students. You could also say that teachers unions prioritize their members over the students that they are responsible for. That one was made pretty obvious during the COVID pandemic. You can also say that four year university playgrounds are not designed to generate knowledgeable teachers at a reasonable cost, especially given how little we pay teachers. And we can also say that the administrative state drags down educational effectiveness while bowing to the Diversity-Inclusion-Equity gods.
What’s the problem? To start, the public school system, from the Department of Education to the local elementary school is a monumental failure backed by a mountain of statistics. The private and public university systems are also massive failures due to huge costs (even in public universities if you come from out of state), focus on DIE over preparing young men and women for the workplace, as well as being another huge administrative state that dwarfs budgets of many countries.
So what to do? Charter schools, vouchers, private schools and homeschooling are like putting a band-aid on the patient dying of a heart attack. The public school system (including public universities) simply needs to be blown up. Unions eliminated and replaced with a system that supports and protects great teachers and eliminates poor ones. Elimination of DIE and the minimization of the administrative state. Open dialogue, not fear of speaking your mind. Design a federal system in concert with business experts who know what they ultimately need and provide financial resources to state and local governments with conditions. Pay great teachers (a lot) to work in more challenging school districts instead of reintroducing busing and segregation like they are trying to do my county in Maryland. Let kids explore and think and learn subjects that expand their minds, not close them to people that are not like them.
There’s so much that can be done if people get out of their tribes and talk to each other with reason and grace. Rant over :)
The problem is that any system will suffer degradation long term without competition.
Thus while I support a lot of the reforms you mention, they won't work long term without real school choice. School choice will provide the competition that makes government schools good.
I couldn’t disagree with you more, but I appreciate your perspective. I pulled my child from public schools, at 4th grade, after intense bullying. Homeschooling allowed him to grow at his own pace. He graduated with a 4.02 and has a promising future.
As beneficial as it seems to simply prepare children to be a competent workforce, I’m not willing to make my child a “teachable moment” in the public arena. My son is not just a worker. I value his initiative and creativity above his ability to conform. Forcing millions of children to adapt to one style of learning is limiting their ability to reach their potentials.
All options, including home schooling, have to remain available. We just need a better solution for the majority of students that can’t afford other options.
I probably wasn’t as clear as I could have been. A great school system needs to turn out engineers AND artists, not just business workers.