19 replies to this topic

[auburnphan]

There have been talks about cutting spending in Education to balance the budget.   I for one can see no benefit in cutting funding. I believe that the worst time to cut funding in education is during a recession.  I do however think that there needs to be reform on how schools use the funding.  It seems to me there is a lot of waste going on and it varies on what that waste is district by district.  What do you all think?

[maxwere]

It really depends on what you believe about the nature of large bureaucracies as an organizational hierarchy.  Because when we talk about education and how resources are allocated, we are talking about handing authority to an unelected bureaucracy.  There is no competitive arena for "free" education there are very few value metrics on which to base its success (none that aren't significantly arbitrary).  How do we know what to spend?  Where is the sweet spot?  Is it the amount where test scores are the highest?

IMHO, the federal government should spend exactly $0 on education.  I believe this in principle.  History proves that it is a sustainable/tenable position (propagandists will have you believe otherwise).  The fact that the state monopolizes the role of educating children in this country to the extent that you can serve jail time if you resist, ought to raise eyebrows.  But, it rarely does.  Public school is the status quo, after all, our parents went to a Prussian style Neo-Hegelian brainwashing center and they turned out alright.  Right?  Yet, well over 1 million violent crimes have been committed in public schools in the last decade alone... and not just in the inner cities.

Further, do you think Obama, Biden, Bush or Romney (or their kids) attended any of these schools?  Jimmy Carter was the last to send his kid there, yet how often are we proselytized by candidates about they value of this institution??... BS!!!  John Taylor Gatto has the answer (the second vid is long and dry, but worth the listen if the topic interests you):

Short clip:

Long:

[Texan4Auburn]

Well Chicago Public School teachers just got a 14% raise I believe, but were asking for a 30% one to go along with the increased school hours that begin this year. Was the big news running through the summer cause strike was threatened. Course the longer school days actually is on the students and equals out to about 15 minutes a day for the teacher.

The average salary for them was 74k a year before the raise. Believe the CPS area also has the largest starting salaries of all public schools in the United States.  If I recall correctly this will result in a 665 million dollar deficit. Course the predicted balance for this will be people losing their jobs and a increase in taxes. Sure money will get funneled from other areas (or just cut all together) to help pay for their raise that will have a negative impact on the education system.

Course the problem with firings is that 50 million a year was suppose to be spent on hiring 500 new teachers to cover the gaps in these longer days. So teachers get a 14% raise for longer days but more teachers are being hired to cover that? So you have all these new hires and raises which noone knows where the money is going to come from to cover it.

I do believe they are finally going to hold teachers accountable for classroom performance by the student beginning next year. Previously it was not part of their evaluation.

[autodd03]

I am not sorry if my thoughts are found to be offensive but here it goes:

It is time to reform the system entirely.  The idea of the schoolhouse is antiquated.  We are well past the 20th century.  Most businesses have been altered by new technologies.  However, we still hang on to the old schoolhouse.  Why?  The answer: it is another form of welfare for an industry that is going the way of the dodo bird.  Also, it provides "free" (really subsidized) daycare for parents.

Why do we need a teacher over 20-30 students, when the same teacher can effectively teach 300, 3k, 30k students simultaneously?  With today's technological advances, basic math, reading/writing, sciences and more can be taught on a much larger scale, in a much more student friendly environment.  Students will be able to work at their own pace, no longer being held back by the dumbest kid in class.  The less intelligent kids won't feel the panic of falling behind when they are struggling with a particular curriculum.  We could greatly reduce the number of schoolhouses that need to be heated/cooled and electrified.  We could greatly reduce the number of school buses consuming fuel and polluting the air.  We can do all of this through technologies such as PCs, Ipads, skype and so on.  Before replying, please go to the following link about the Khan academy and see the possibilities.
http://www.ted.com/t..._education.html
and
http://www.khanacademy.org/

**I appreciate what teachers do, so I don't want to upset them.  Having said that, their profession is no different than the factory worker or any other job that has been reduced by technological advances.  The best teachers will still find work in tutoring and assisting in learning  The best teachers may find their work becomes more enjoyable and they may also find their services are worth more than their pay has reflected in the past.

[Grumps]

autodd03, on 22 August 2012 - 01:54 PM, said:

I am not sorry if my thoughts are found to be offensive but here it goes:

It is time to reform the system entirely.  The idea of the schoolhouse is antiquated.  We are well past the 20th century.  Most businesses have been altered by new technologies.  However, we still hang on to the old schoolhouse.  Why?  The answer: it is another form of welfare for an industry that is going the way of the dodo bird.  Also, it provides "free" (really subsidized) daycare for parents.

Why do we need a teacher over 20-30 students, when the same teacher can effectively teach 300, 3k, 30k students simultaneously?  With today's technological advances, basic math, reading/writing, sciences and more can be taught on a much larger scale, in a much more student friendly environment.  Students will be able to work at their own pace, no longer being held back by the dumbest kid in class.  The less intelligent kids won't feel the panic of falling behind when they are struggling with a particular curriculum.  We could greatly reduce the number of schoolhouses that need to be heated/cooled and electrified.  We could greatly reduce the number of school buses consuming fuel and polluting the air.  We can do all of this through technologies such as PCs, Ipads, skype and so on.  Before replying, please go to the following link about the Khan academy and see the possibilities.
http://www.ted.com/t..._education.html
and
http://www.khanacademy.org/

**I appreciate what teachers do, so I don't want to upset them.  Having said that, their profession is no different than the factory worker or any other job that has been reduced by technological advances.  The best teachers will still find work in tutoring and assisting in learning  The best teachers may find their work becomes more enjoyable and they may also find their services are worth more than their pay has reflected in the past.

Great post and an interesting idea.  I am going to have fun pondering this one!  It reminds of the article I read that went something like:  How come I can have access to almost all known human knowledge with a $500 computer and internet access (or even just a library card)and yet the price of a college education continues to skyrocket?

[autodd03]

Grumps, on 22 August 2012 - 07:14 PM, said:

autodd03, on 22 August 2012 - 01:54 PM, said:

I am not sorry if my thoughts are found to be offensive but here it goes:

It is time to reform the system entirely.  The idea of the schoolhouse is antiquated.  We are well past the 20th century.  Most businesses have been altered by new technologies.  However, we still hang on to the old schoolhouse.  Why?  The answer: it is another form of welfare for an industry that is going the way of the dodo bird.  Also, it provides "free" (really subsidized) daycare for parents.

Why do we need a teacher over 20-30 students, when the same teacher can effectively teach 300, 3k, 30k students simultaneously?  With today's technological advances, basic math, reading/writing, sciences and more can be taught on a much larger scale, in a much more student friendly environment.  Students will be able to work at their own pace, no longer being held back by the dumbest kid in class.  The less intelligent kids won't feel the panic of falling behind when they are struggling with a particular curriculum.  We could greatly reduce the number of schoolhouses that need to be heated/cooled and electrified.  We could greatly reduce the number of school buses consuming fuel and polluting the air.  We can do all of this through technologies such as PCs, Ipads, skype and so on.  Before replying, please go to the following link about the Khan academy and see the possibilities.
http://www.ted.com/t..._education.html
and
http://www.khanacademy.org/

**I appreciate what teachers do, so I don't want to upset them.  Having said that, their profession is no different than the factory worker or any other job that has been reduced by technological advances.  The best teachers will still find work in tutoring and assisting in learning  The best teachers may find their work becomes more enjoyable and they may also find their services are worth more than their pay has reflected in the past.

Great post and an interesting idea.  I am going to have fun pondering this one!  It reminds of the article I read that went something like:  How come I can have access to almost all known human knowledge with a $500 computer and internet access (or even just a library card)and yet the price of a college education continues to skyrocket?

I was blown away by the TED presentation and the feedback on the program has been overwhelmingly positive thus far.  The teachers' unions will fight this one all the way though.  Government run schools are not efficient and the quality of education seems to deteriorate year after year.  For those that argue against by stating that kids need the schoolhouse environment to learn social skills, I say they can learn those skills in everyday life, sports, music, dance, and many other social activities.

[AUUSN]

There is a fantastic book written by Dalton Jackson. He worked as a public school teacher for two years. He quit out of frustration.

http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/B007TPZ7XO

[Elephant Tipper]

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.  Close the Department of Education.

[eibua12]

I think smart boards should have a 30 second advertisment before the teach starts to write on them every hour!