NYTimes Editorial Board Calls for Education Reform

So they'd be cut to the bare minimum and replaced with inferior substitutes in the name of short-term profits over long-term sustainability?

That does sound pretty awful. The market is not a solution to all problems.

 

All test scores do is tell you where the rich, involved parents are. And private and charter schools that are "better" are that way not merely because of the education they offer, but because they weed out many of the uninvolved parents and seriously struggling kids. Public schools have to take whomever walks in the door.

 

Yes. I agree. I've said that a lot. You have to change the talent pool at the source, not by somehow turning the Bad News Bears into champions.

 

I will take that Arne Duncan quote 1,000 times over his boss telling us again that American workers are the best in the world. (They aren't.)

 

If you are referring to education reform regarding teaching techniques, I agree completely. South Korea and Finland are generally thought of as the top two school systems in the world and they couldn't be more different in teaching technique. But the way schools are run can, and should, be reformed.

 

Can we not pretend that newspapers are the stand in for every white collar job.

Yes, newspapers put out a far shittier product than they used to.

What other industries are doing a worse job?

You need standards. If costs are cut, but the product is worse, that doesn't work in most workplaces.

 

Right. So, let's fire the worst teachers.

Find me a district that fires greater than 1% of its teachers based on performance.

 

Your criticism of standardized tests kind of misses the point. The test does tell us who is doing well, and how well. Why they are doing well is a different point altogether. There is no other objective way to determine this, as at many schools, "everyone is a winner!"
Re: charter schools- no one is seriously arguing that Charter School A outscores Public School A equals Charter School A being a better school. The comparison is how the students who used to go to Public School A are doing now that they attend Charter School A. And it is almost always better, and never worse.

 

That's because they're not as relevant any more. The corner black smith is also not putting out the same product he used to.

One could easily argue that the market was the answer to newspapers' place in a changing world. And the market spoke loudly and clearly.

 

Part of the reform has to be a mindset in parents that a good public education will open doors in the future, and a mindset among the general population that a good public education provides benefits to a community even if you don't have a kid in school. (For example, my father always voted for school tax increases because he figured a well-supported school system would increase the value of his house.)

A big problem right now is with the economy the way it is, and the child poverty rate being what it is, it gets very difficult for families to understand the idea that pushing their kids in school and being involved in education is going to pay dividends. Meanwhile, the wealthier parents who have seen it pay off are sinking more money into their own kids' education to make sure they don't lose ground, which is a real possibility.

Plus, as I mentioned earlier about school tax hikes, as the population grows older, it seems like people are saying they're done paying for schools (even if they don't seem to mind paying for prisons). Also, in a lot of areas, I suspect people feel like all they get for putting more money in education is more best and brightest who leave town and never return. Speaking of schools and prisons, there are a lot of areas in Upper Michigan, for example, where the economic driver IS the prison, while the school is someplace that only trains people to leave.

 

This misses the point. The whole point is to create a market to get a better outcome, not a cheaper one. The school would have no incentive to go cheaper, since it is not making a profit anyway. (the city might have a different incentive, but that's true with or without reform).

 

If you really wanted to improve public schools, they would all be boarding schools, where children could get regular healthy meals, get to bed at a reasonable hour, have structured lives and not have their growth stunted by bad parents.