Not something that I think has any potential with the current GOP morons…
Rice, Klein: Education keeps America safe
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/20/opinion/rice-klein-education/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6
I agree with much of what the article has to say (I know Rice, but don’t know Klein, but I presume Klein is some sort of liberal bigwig, else why would the article be special?), but I think it is wasted effort. In order for students to be educated about civics, world events, etc. they need to be exposed to many new ideas, ideas that the current crop of GOP Tea Party blowhards seem determined to ‘protect’ their children from.
Students need to learn how the world IS (or WAS in the case of history), not how some religious freak WANTS it to be. Ignorance is ignorance no matter how you reach that stage. If you are unwilling to learn or your educational system refuses to expose you to it, you remain ignorant and those who took the time (or whose system provided it) to become exposed to the real world will be able to achieve great things in comparison. I did not consider myself well educated as I was run through the mill more than 20 years ago (heck, for the most part I didn’t feel educated when I was churning my way through college either; even in graduate school it was more the pace that was challenging rather than the material or concepts) and based on conversations I have had with people in the educational world, coupled with seeing how my boy is taught, I am not filled with optimism that things have improved since then (rather the opposite).
I do see one fundamental issue, and I know this is elitist, but some people are just not suited for higher education (our high schools, btw, used to churn out people with the current equivalent of at least an associate’s degree; having a high school diploma used to matter). I do feel that there should be more options for vocational training in high school (and even middle school) and I have seen some places where that appears to be the case, but ultimately I think it should be trivial to leave school and challenging to remain. Now schools are basically dumping grounds for children, one gigantic government sponsored day-care center (which, btw, does a lousy assed job at that, who the hell designed the school day to be _shorter_ than the average work day?). Kids are basically warehoused with parents telling themselves it is for the best because the kids _might_ learn something while they are there. It is nigh on impossible for a teacher to get a student thrown out of class, no matter how disruptive the student is. I think that private schools are a wee bit more successful for the simple fact that they can throw the problem children out, so the bad apples don’t poison the rest of the barrel like seems to be happening in the public school system.
I have complained about our ‘educational‘ system many times here and will probably vent more in the future, just like my constant droning on about our police state or incipient war with Iran. I think it is critical for people to be aware of how miserable our situation is. We could do so very much better, but without a willingness to emphasize what works and discard what doesn’t (and our current paradigm clearly doesn’t!) and of course the willingness to have objective standards that actually align with reality (as opposed to denying evolution in favor of teaching so-called intelligent design), we are doomed to this treadmill of ever increasing mediocrity. Like so many of the events leading to the coming apocalypse I see this as a thread in the tapestry of the downfall of the US Empire.
