The Department of Education at work

The basics are reading, writing and maths and that is the old paradigm. As other countries do not speak English strike that one we have no basis for comparison. Writing is now evolving into computer skills so strike that too. So let us look at how we stack up in international math scores from a country with unlimited money for education (ha).

http://4brevard.com/choice/internationa ... scores.htm

Yep, that very expensive and useless Education arm of the govt is doing a great job. Govt DOESN'T work.

I can't remember the capital of Washington State either...hard to believe I know all 50 State Capitals in 5th grade.

One of my history teachers allowed a certain amount of time at the end of each class to discuss current events. He also encouraged all of us to watch the news with our parents and read the paper. I don't think that sort of thing is encouraged anymore.

we as Americans are becoming fractionalized, and the gov. is not discouraging it. Rather than requiring learning the English language, we are supposed to try to understand "new citizens" and their foreign languages.

samhill wrote:How long have you been out of school Jpete? There are a lot of what I believe are intelligent individuals here that probably came out of your "joke" schools.

Been out since 1988. And no doubt that a few intelligent individuals came out since. But that's despite the school, not because of the schools.

The guys that went to the moon went to school before the DoE and they did it with slide rules, not smart phones.

The fact remains, the more money we pump into the education system, the worse the test scores and the dumber the "graduates".

Let me ask Sam, when was the last time you dealt with the public school system?

Like I said Jpete, I don't have any little ones, my youngest is 35 & the grand kids are too far away to have much exposure to their schools but they are in what is considered a good system. My son is in nursing school now & doing well so besides my little bit of class monitoring I really don't know much of whats going on except my school taxes keep going up.

My three are 10, 7, and 5 and I'm in college now with several recent high school graduates.

Lets just say I'm unimpressed with either end of the public education system.

For the most part I agree but where & when did it start going south? If there is a system in place that used to work why not fix it rather than starting something new all over again, the same thing will happen with charter schools or whatever they call them, soon some lawyers will argue for some deadbeats that have no brain cells but know how to produce as a form of income under our system & next thing you know some unwanted, under cared for & unloved child will be in that school dragging everyone else down.

samhill wrote:For the most part I agree but where & when did it start going south? If there is a system in place that used to work why not fix it rather than starting something new all over again, the same thing will happen with charter schools or whatever they call them, soon some lawyers will argue for some deadbeats that have no brain cells but know how to produce as a form of income under our system & next thing you know some unwanted, under cared for & unloved child will be in that school dragging everyone else down.

Because the same people you complain about also own the "education" system. How many government jobs would vanish if the DoE was vaporized?

Those early NASA guys didn't come up through a government mandated system and they seem to have done pretty well. Instead of trying to patch up a failing system, why not go back to the last thing that worked?

Maybe it's my mechanical background, but if I keep throwing money and parts at a car, a some point, I have to realize I'm making things worse and go back to a base line that I know worked.

I thought that was what I had said, why not fix the system by taking it back to when it worked, I'm not a big fan of charters or voucher systems, they are just dividing up an already too small of a pot by creating more inefficiencies & bureaucracies.

Small pot? How many billions are poured down a rat hole every year?

Going back to what worked goes back before the DoE was established.

There was almost always a Dept. of Ed but it was a minor one & most other Dept.s had Ed. sections, it was Carter that brought all the services to one under the cabinet position & a large part of it was for equalities. It may or may not have been an increase in funding at the time.

OK Sam, you're right. A few minor tweaks and we'll be back to full employment in no time.

indoctrination........teaching poeple WHAT to think. education.....teaching people HOW to THINK (for themselves)! It is funny how educational institutions don't seem to know or care about the difference.