If so how? What should be changed?
Personally I don't think "no child left behind" is effective, it just makes a high school degree meaningless if nobody is allowed to fail.
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454 sats \ 16 replies \ @SimpleStacker 16 Feb
As an American educator, I have to say yes. The students being produced by the school system, even the ones going to college, are ill equipped in basic math, reading, and writing.
What can be done? I'm not 100% sure. A few thoughts.
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Teaching needs to be a high prestige profession. In America, none of the talented college students I know are interested in becoming teachers. (And I know a lot of college students; they wall want to become doctors, engineers, or businesspeople).
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Bad teachers need to be fireable. Current teacher union power in K-12 systems makes this too dififcult.
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Schools should be allowed to experiment. Top down education doesn't work since every community has different needs. I understand the desire for everyone to meet a standard, but too much top down management stifles local creativity.
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Kids who don't meet grade standards should be held back. This is tricky because performance is measured by pass-rates, and funding can be determined by performance. Funding can't be tied to a poor metric like pass rates or graduation rates or attendance. It has to be tied to learning
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And, lastly but maybe most importantly: parents need to take an active role in raising their children. Too many just hand them off to the schools and expect the schools to fix everything. That is too much burden for the school system to bear.
- Partly, this is an economic problem and many families are squeezed and require both parents to work full time, leaving little time for parenting the kid. Bitcoin fixes this? Maybe, and I hope so.
- Partly, it's also a cultural problem. Too many Americans think it's socially normal and even desirable to be bad at school or "hate math" or whatever. I think that's pathetic. If you're bad at math, fine. We can work on getting better. If you don't have the time to get better because you have other priorities... that's fine too as long as you know what you're doing and have thought carefully about your priorities. But to "hate" learning and think it boring is a very problematic attitude.
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51 sats \ 12 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Feb
To your first point, it's not just that the best students aren't interested in teaching, it's literally the worst students who go into education.
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79 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 16 Feb
And I don't see that changing without massive reforms to the educational bureaucracy.
Even private school teachers don't get paid that well, I think because the government is a de facto monopsonist of teachers and therefore set the prevailing wage.
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38 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
Correct. My sister in law teaches at a private school and faces a lot of the same bullshit.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Feb
I haven't looked into it closely, but somehow Arkansas' voucher program was coupled with raises for teachers.
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29 sats \ 8 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
I (a bad student) definitely considered it, because I wanted summers off. I just happened to be too bad of a student to get a teaching degree.
Although I do think there are teachers who are genuinely good at their job and care, but the incentives aren't there...
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205 sats \ 7 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Feb
There are very good teachers, who were good students and care deeply about education. I hold them in very high esteem.
My dad was planning on making a midlife career change from construction worker to engineer. He's very bright and extremely hard working. Part way through his engineering degree, he decided that he really wanted to help disadvantaged kids and dedicated himself to that mission. So he switched to math and became an inner city math teacher.
He, and a few like-minded colleagues, made a huge difference in those kids lives. I can't go anywhere in my hometown without someone asking if I'm related to him and wanting to relay how much he helped them when they most needed it.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
Amazing father. 👏
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27 sats \ 5 replies \ @SimpleStacker 16 Feb
That's awesome. Did he ever talk to you about some of the challenges and struggles, as well as success stories, from his teaching career?
Teaching has a lot of highs and lows. You can really make a huge difference in some students' lives, but the attitude of others just makes you weep for humanity.
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30 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Feb
He has so many really intense stories. The conditions some of those kids were living in are hard to even think about.
One of his best students was a girl who was the primary caretaker for about half a dozen younger siblings. Despite that, she managed to still compete in our local middle school math contests and participate in athletics.
Even second hand, it was an intense glimpse into the extremes of humanity.: people triumphing over impossible circumstances, as well as people sinking lower than you could imagine.
Edit: Most of his complaints are about administrators obstructing his team's efforts to help kids.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs 16 Feb
The last point(s) are probably the easiest and most important ones to fix.
Also: Social Media is also one of the culprits I think.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @Msd0457890 16 Feb
It is truly a tremendous analysis from your perspective since you are in the classrooms and I think the same as you that the educational system has many flaws, both in the teachers (there are teachers without a vocation to teach) and in the system that has standardized education at all levels.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
I absolutely agree that teachers are underpaid. Even if you want to consider that they work %75 of a year, they still aren't making what their peers of comparable education levels are making.
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61 sats \ 7 replies \ @grayruby 16 Feb
My kids are homeschooled. I don't think the school system has kept up with the times and it is essentially babysitting so parents can chase fiat.
Once you homeschool your kids you realize how little they learn in school and daily learning can be done in about an hour.
Ask me how I really feel. Haha
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40 sats \ 6 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
I feel like when I was a kid (43 now) there weren't enough resources for home schooling. I think you could probably do a good job back then, but it has really improved and at a much faster rate than traditional schooling. I know of groups that even do recess with other home school kids.
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41 sats \ 5 replies \ @grayruby 16 Feb
I think that's right. There are many more resources now and more people homeschooling to share in the journey with.
You almost made it into the greatest generation. So close!
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40 sats \ 4 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
Which generation is the greatest?
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41 sats \ 3 replies \ @grayruby 16 Feb
You ask that like it is an unknown fact or subjective.
Generation X of course.
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210 sats \ 2 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
I claim gen x. I was born in 81, and the line is blurry. Depending on what you look at some sources claim up to 82 or so.
Also I graduated in 99' before the millennium, and finally point millennials are little bitches.
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41 sats \ 3 replies \ @Shugard 16 Feb
The best way to fix the school system is by getting ride of the school system and education system! Back to homeschooling!
Otherwise read my BTC teacher in Fiat land posts!
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
While I agree that home schooling is generally better, it's not always practical. Also remember that idiots can have children too.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Shugard 17 Feb
And you think their kids learn something in school?
Also with homeschooling in Germany, before the nazis outlawed it, there were home teachers who just had groups of up to 8 kids and teaching them. Way better!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 17 Feb
Yes. Despite having it's flaws, you do learn in school.
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41 sats \ 1 reply \ @denlillaapan 16 Feb
Yes.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
Simple, yet true.
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41 sats \ 2 replies \ @stack_harder 16 Feb
hard one, the world has changed so much with technology and AI that, really, what curriculum could keep up. this applies to most schools in the world I think.
all the teaching of gender politics and things has no place in a school, fortunately in Bulgaria woke is not part of the program, just go to school and learn the basics.
in reality, how much of what is taught is even good, so much is subjective, i mean, look how many years they were pushing the old shitty food pyramid ffs, the literal diabetes pyramid.
personally, in my case, all I can say is I don't actually rely on the school system, when it comes to my kids, I'm brainwasher in chief and I taught them to read and do math with the help of books from amazon and some apps. my eldest is years ahead of the curriculum and if I sent her to the UK to school, she'd have no issues (it would be easier since her Bulgairan isn't super great).
when i read Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, one big takeaway for me was this:
Data shows that students from low-income families fall behind over summer, while wealthy students keep progressing through activities like summer camps, tutoring, and enrichment programs.
the performance gap really gets blown up in the summer holiday, so I always make sure my eldest (and youngest soon), do about an hour a day of maths via this online platform called koobits. reading is fine, and I can't really teach them Bulgarian history, so I focus on what I can (plus schools always make a huge deal out of maths).
I honestly don't know if anything beyond the basics being taught in school would give them any kind of advantage and ability in life. kids should probably be learning about finance, business, investment, critical thinking, and responsibility.
I think the fact schools play such a big role is probably a problem in the first place, parents should be a guiding force, if they have the time. sadly probably many don't.
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32 sats \ 1 reply \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
The outcomes for children definitely are heavily influenced by their parents. Good job
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder 16 Feb
well, they're not grown up yet, one might go rouge like that one son of Sylvester Stallone!
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41 sats \ 7 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Feb
Step 1: School choice reforms: let parents take back control over what is taught and how.
Step 2: Abolish government schooling. State propaganda mills are incompatible with a free society.
As for my personal views about how pedagogy needs to change, the main thing is getting away from the one-size-fits-all models. Kids are amazingly diverse in their interests and aptitudes. They need teachers/tutors to help guide them along a journey of mostly independent learning.
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33 sats \ 6 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
Taking the government out of most things would probably be an immediate improvement. I cant actually think of a single thing that the government does better than the private sector.
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41 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Feb
Sometimes, people like to be cute and say the government is better at killing, destroying, and otherwise wasting resources. However, I suspect that the private sector is better at those things, too (they just aren't incentivized to do them).
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42 sats \ 4 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
I bet you could find examples of private companies don't it better. Find the ones with government contracts, and see how much government money they figure out how to spend. When the incentives are there, I bet they figure out how to waste massive amounts.
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41 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 16 Feb
That's a great point. It would be interesting to somehow compare the rate of administrative bloat in academia and medicine to that in the government itself. I don't know how to do that properly, but you might be onto something.
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23 sats \ 2 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
It's definitely an example where the private sector is incentivized to waste. Probably look into contractors who work for the military for instance.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @398ja 17 Feb
"No child left behind" is just a one-size-fits-all education model, that in practice is actually one-size-fits-few.
Children are so different from one another in so many ways, that there no system well equipped enough for that level of complexity, and the fact that it's compulsory makes it even worse, because those who do not benefit from it have to waste valuable time that could have been spent on something more adapted to their profile.
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21 sats \ 3 replies \ @cryotosensei 17 Feb
You mean, American students don’t get retained?
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24 sats \ 2 replies \ @Aardvark OP 17 Feb
Can you rephrase that? I'm not sure what you're asking.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei 17 Feb
If students don’t meet the minimum proficiency level, the school has the autonomy and liberty to hold them back for a year, aka repeat the entire school year. This happens frequently at specific points, like 6th grade (they fail the Pri Sch Leaving Exam), 9th grade (deemed not ready to take the Cambridge GCE O levels), 11th grade (deemed not ready to take the GCE A levels)
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 17 Feb
It's pretty rare to get held back in the USA, and it's almost impossible to completely fail high-school if you show up. There's no tests here to qualify for the next grade here.
I never knew about those exams, it sounds stressful for the students, but I think it is probably better for them.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 17 Feb
Since day 1
ROI!
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @godlikeXi 17 Feb
No. It made to make children obey and conform. Dumb worker drones to control because they don't know how to think. Just do as they are told.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Butterfinger 16 Feb
Always has been, by design.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @zuspotirko 16 Feb
But have you considered that we got a funny reaction pic out of it:
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
Fair point!
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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @suraz 16 Feb
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @zuspotirko 16 Feb
this meme probably goes hard on 14yo-SN
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
They are definitely similar in a lot of ways.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @superstacker1 16 Feb
The entire school system is designed to create "memorization robots".
Think back when you took classes. How often did anyone question the content of the books or lectures?
Zero!
How often did a class give a project higher grade weight over a test?
Never!
How often did a teacher have real-world experience?
Not very often.
It's my conclusion that the school system has been designed to create compliant slaves.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark OP 16 Feb
The incentives for the teachers are to have children pass standardized tests. Nothing much else matters to them.
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