JVoV
Posts: 3657
Joined: 3/9/2015
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I think I had good schools, or at least I learned stuff. Eating paste & sniffing markers is are important life skills.
Teacher unions have too much control. School boards have too much control. Politics shouldn't be a factor in our education system, but it is. I'm sure the school system has changed greatly since I finished, but it hasn't improved. Children still get left behind, and there is nothing common among the states except failure.
So how to fix the school system? Depends on what we're talking about. Elementary, middle, high school, or college & vo-tech? Cuz there's a long way to go with all of them, and I don't think private schools are doing much better at actually getting better.
There should be realistic goals for every grade level, to measure a child's learning track, and to ensure that they are learning basic math, science, English arts, and social studies each year. And parents should absolutely be involved in their child's school, as much as possible! (More on that in a bit.) Teachers need to be treated better by everyone! Schools have to be safer, without becoming prisons for the kids.
Vo-tech should be included in any talks about higher education, and it really should be considered a viable alternative to college, as we are always going to need more tradesmen than underwater basket weavers. Vo-tech always had a stigma when I was going to school, like being a blue collar worker was a bad thing. The emphasis was on college, even if you had to go into the military first to pay for it.
Parental involvement is always important in a child's education. But parents range from one sort of lunatic to another, and the teachers have to deal with it. On the parent's terms usually, not the teacher's. There are so many avenues available for parents to have an impact on their child's education, from teach conferences & bake sales to field trips & PTA meetings. There's always school board meetings, or even running for a seat on it, if you want to take on a bigger role. But what we see now is mostly crazy & entitled parents pushing too hard for such dumb things, while I'm not seeing clips of anybody pushing for actual education issues.
Yes, education should be different than when I went to school. You know how many times I was LIED TO & then tested on those lies, to make sure they sank in? Columbus did not discover America, he never even set foot on North America. "World History" just taught me the history of white people that eventually came to the US. Not very worldly really. So history needs to teach actual facts, and not indoctrinate kids with any revisionist or white-washing bs. School libraries should have at least 10 books that make parents say wtf, otherwise, the librarians haven't done their jobs. And yeah, the Bible should be there, as should all major religious books.
And children should learn about the Constitution, their rights & responsibilities as a citizen, and how to adult. Home ec should be mandatory for high school students, and basic cooking or other life skills (like paying your taxes) should be part of that. We probably need to look at college entrance requirements, and compare them with high school graduation requirements. The basics of critical thinking should be taught, but the kids should be able to decide what to think critically about. Hopefully everything! At least everything important, and we have no idea what will be important to them in their adult lives.
There may also need to be a class on how to be "normal", and what to do if you don't think you are. Yeah, everything we know that isn't white CIS hetero is "other". This includes race, sexuality, gender-identity, mental health, general economic levels, criminal activity, etc. Anything that we know could be different than the mainstream needs to be touched on, so that none of these kids ever have to feel like something is wrong with them. And so that all the kids know that some people are different, and it's really not that big a deal, until it is, and how to know the difference. This would cut down on bullying in general, and teach kids they're ok, even if they're all kinda fucked up.
Inappropriate thoughts are normal. Inappropriate actions will probably have consequences. No means no for everybody. Everyone has the right to be who they are, and should feel confident enough in themselves to deal with general situations.
.ost importantly, we need to look at what organizations are teaching kids, and consider bringing some of that into the curriculum. Most organizations are created because the school system is and has been failing children on certain things, for a long long time. The basics of Boy)Girl Scouts should be taught in schools. How to tie a tie needs to be taught. What happens during puberty, and what can be done to counter the bad things needs to be taught. It shouldn't be such a big deal, to them or to others when the expected happens.
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