I'll start with listing my previous threads on the topic at hand. There was Educationz, Die School and Eduaction: Solution in February. They've been my only dedicated education threads although an argument can be made for Forgotten? but it was really too forgotten. Should Bibles be in State Schools? focussed on a particular aspect of education and A Smoking Good Education is linked here purely because I like those pictures. The reason why I am doing this is to provide the broadest possible picture for anyone who replies. (And also to show off my credentials, as it were.)
I'm interested in education but I am in a country where unless I stay in education in some capacity for the rest of my life there will come a point where I will be out of date and my opinions will reflect this. Between primary and secondary this is seen. In fact between the damn subjects and year levels this is seen. No-one has a real idea of what things are like. That said, except when it comes to knowing what is happening in schools this is all anecdotal. I may have just been blessed to have decreasing amounts of homework as I got older (until this year). I've often viewed this as a bad thing, but need it be so? Schools are pretty free in NZ regardless of whether they are private or not and the system is allowed to potter on as it wants. When one compares this to the US and its endless court cases one finds the secret agency approach to be much better. That said, it's not intentional... the unawareness, that is.
I think that overhauling the model of education in the United States would be a very good idea. What one must remember is that I have had secondary experience of education in the United States and I have talked about its system before in my threads but also threads that other posters have made (which aren't linked). The standard complaint with education in the US, and pretty much anywhere else, is that the education that students are getting isn't good enough. The usual response to this has been to review the curriculum but I think the US needs to be more basic. (Yes, I know that what I propose is unlikely to work.)
I have read remarks here by people who favour the end of the Board of Education which is a national (federal) body as far as I know. I disagree with this view. It is important to have a clear top down approach with a system that I have previously termed rotten. Basically, I think that the states need to say bye-bye to the control of education in their state, for now at least. There is precedent for this but it has required a military presence to work (look I just solved what to do with the army as well, aren't I clever?) so a firm hand would be needed. The BoE would create a curriculum, maybe even a qualification (importing one is an option... IGCSE for example), that would be rolled out across the US. They'd also institute a new funding model whereby schools that are in poorer areas would receive more funding per student than those in wealthier areas. It would also be important to ensure that areas have enough schools.
Here in New Zealand we have a thing called Tomorrow's Schools which is well liked, unlike No Child Left Behind (they're quite different), and one thing that came from that is a Board of Trustees, who are elected from the parent body for the most part, for each and every school. They do not, however, manage the curriculum and instead deal more with allocation of funds and extreme disciplinary actions (going before the Board is worse than meeting the Principal). This would be necessary, I feel. Hopefully the states would eventually be able to assume control once more but it would be only to ensure easier administration: they'd still take the lead from the BoE.
However, I feel that education is too undervalued around the world for stuff like this to actually happen. Sure there was controversy when we were told we'd be getting charter schools but that's faded out of the nation's conscience to the extent that I've forgotten what the name we'll have is. Valuing education to a proper extent is key and sadly I don't think education is the answer here. The change will have to start at the top. In a way the US has an advantage here with the strong political split. If someone made it an issue then change, or at least, talk of change would happen.
What do you think?
