15 replies to this topic

[Ives]

Your take on current education system?

I think Children should have a choice, and shouldn't have to go to school if they don't wish to. As well as that, I also believe that schools have enough funding, but we end up spending too much on the kid. I support a voucher system where the child has a certain amount of money attached (say, $9,000 dollars), and they go to the school that caters to them best. Instead of treating the pupil like free cash, if schools treat the pupil as a client, they do far better off.

[ShadowLink64]

Not sure how the US system works, is it that you are zoned and have to go to a specific school? If so, I don't think that's the best way to do things.... competition works for other things, so why shouldn't it work for schools?

The schools really should be vying for the students (aka the 'clients'), because that way they'll be making improvements to try and beat other schools, therefore increasing the value of education at that school. The vouchers thing makes sense.

[Frizzle]

I think State education should compulsory, just as it is now, I mean with the way things are going, I think all children should be in education or training until their 21, I mean I know it's only 18 now, but I believe alot of things should be 21 (smoking, certain anti-depressants and drugs on the NHS and alcohol.)

I also believe that public schools should still be around, all I know is, if I was wealthy, I would want the best schools, and best education for my children, although I still believe that state schools should be vastly improved.

[Kimoflea]

We dun need no educayshun. We dun need no fort control.

[astrologically]

I think too much money is put into the school system. eh.
people seem to think putting more money into it will magically make people smarter and want to do well.

[redlion]

The ideal situation would be the following.

Compulsory to 10th grade (Sophomore year), choice of continuing high school or vocational school. Dropping out allowed at 10th grade, but strongly discouraged. The thing I don't like about secondary education (meaning high schools) is that most, if not all of them now strongly focus on college preparatory curriculum. That isn't for everyone. I think government funded schools that fill the niche that ITT Tech, DeVry, and the like filled should be more available, and free or low charge to students. Technical, vocational, and trade schooling has long been a private industry in the states and that needs to change.

[Frizzle]

That's basically what we have here, except it's based entirely on academic subjects and optional, which is why alot of kids don't take subjects. Let face it, if someone's failing maths or english, they're not going to take biology or politics are they?

[Frizzle]

There was something in the news today, about one of the further education subjects being the History of Computer games, but there were some actual subjects in there people could acutally use. I believe education puts too much pressure and devotes too much time towards useless academic subjects which bog people down, and needs to put more emphasis on practical subjects such as plumbing, electrical works, plastering and bricklaying, just some to name.

[astrologically]

There was something in the news today, about one of the further education subjects being the History of Computer games, but there were some actual subjects in there people could acutally use. I believe education puts too much pressure and devotes too much time towards useless academic subjects which bog people down, and needs to put more emphasis on practical subjects such as plumbing, electrical works, plastering and bricklaying, just some to name.

That's a good point, they really do. People don't use most of the things they learn and by the time school's finished, you forget 99% of the useless facts anyways. It's kind of a waste of time...

[spottedtiger]

eh... our district is lacking money... i don't see how we're putting alot of money into it we barely have any.

the thing with school is supposedly to help children explore and develop areas of interest... i think school is important step into life, true most of the stuff you learn you end up forgetting but what you remember are the things you're interested in. You never know you hated chemistry and biology but loved to express yourself in writing if you weren't exposed to it before.

Parents also have the option of homeschooling so a child doesnt really have to go to school if he/she doesnt want to. But school is also a place where a child learns alot of valuable social skills and such indirectly which is a definite benefit later in life

[ShadowLink64]

There was something in the news today, about one of the further education subjects being the History of Computer games, but there were some actual subjects in there people could acutally use. I believe education puts too much pressure and devotes too much time towards useless academic subjects which bog people down, and needs to put more emphasis on practical subjects such as plumbing, electrical works, plastering and bricklaying, just some to name.

Well, I agree with the educational system teaching the core subjects to a certain extent. I agree with high schools being obligated to teach all the core subjects until a certain year, but I think if a person wants to get away from the useless subjects, they should be able to in university. Many universities make you take courses that aren't applicable to whichever major you're doing (the interdisciplinary courses), and I think the reason people go to university is to specialize and get away from those certain courses.

[Sasha]

Where I live education is compulsory to 10th grade and no homeschooling is allowed. Also, 99,99% of schools are public.
I agree to education being compulsory until you're 16. Not everyone should go to college, but letting kids decide earlier on isn't a good idea. Most of us have a moment between 10-16 when we'd rather quit school, but later on realize what a mess we would've made of our lives.
As for homeschooling, since it's illegal here, I can't really tell what it would be like. Though I tend to believe it would only be better for children who suffer from certain illnesses which would make school life tough for them.
One thing which happens here and I strongly disagree with is that, until the very end of high school, most classes are compulsory no matter what school you go to (like math, physics, chemistry, biology, 2-3 foreign languages, mother tongue, history, geography etc.). Well, I think you do figure out what you like and what you hate earlier than 18-19! Personally, I keep having nightmares about my 12th grade chem teacher .
But I guess that happens because the government pays for everyone's education here, so no one is really interested in students. To most teachers they're just a burden. Sad truth.

[RandomNameIgnoreIt]

Too much time is wasted on busy work. I know it's to produce "well rounded students" but if someone shows the ability they should be able to blow by it if they want to, and get breaks on college for their trade of choice. We're trying to produce the future here, not coddle the retarded at the cost of holding back the intelligent.

*knew english and all that crap from an early age, and I'd be a lot smarter if it wasn't for the time wasted on things like that*

[Ives]

The topic I raised wasn't intended to be a question of whether it should be compulsory or not, but more or less what system works best. If we're going to make it compulsory, a good system is essential to productivity. Treating kids like pets and like they're just more bucks for the school leaves a lot of kids, paticularly in America, to drop out. There are other reasons, but if school became something where the parent and student had a certain amount of money attached to their name, the system wouldn't be nearly as bad. The school would cater to the needs of the student and serve the best education they can with all the more incentive.

People say a voucher system would be bad for poorer people and poorer schools, but the public system right now gives poor kids little option as to getting the best education they can get.

I kind of like the forced education. I think without it we would see a considerable difference in the workforce because all those kids with a high school diploma working at McDonalds would now be at home living off welfare because they never went to school. The voucher idea sounds good, because around here all the schools care about is that your in class and that you do good on the STAR exams (the exams that state uses to evaluate the school). It's really sad tbh.

If they were to drop out, they can still earn their GED and go on to college. Kids generally will continue anyways. For example, South Korea allows you to drop out after primary school, but very few do. However, if they wish to, it is their choice.

[Tetiel]

We have a severe problem in America today especially in inner cities or other big school districts. I won't go into if school should be forced or not because it really should be and that's that, but if anyone lived near Washington DC they'd know how horrible the school systems were and how much crap just goes through that system. There are of course exceptions to the rule but teachers in DC just do not care - they don't get paid enough TO care. When a student fails the grade more often than not they just move the kid up anyways as to not deal with the child more. It's depressing and even in Montgomery County, MD which is one of the richest school systems in America we ran out of paper every year by the end because the district was so curropt. One of the last things the superintendant of schools did was build a gigantic fountain for his building instead of giving us the funds we needed for simple supplies. Not every school district is like this in fact it's a minority but the ones that do tend to be so gigantic that it's a huge problem. To help prevent this school districts should be more localized like they are where I live currently. Unfortunately for poorer communities like my own it prevents as much funding however it also prevents the amount of curroption that happened in DC and MD where I lived. For those reasons we still need private schools because it is so hard to fix the problem right now in those areas. *rambles*