In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Jay Warner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Apologies: I am not well connected to the net for the past week. This >is my first chance to continue this disucssion.
>> On 25 Apr 2004 19:30:24 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jay Warner) wrote: >> [snip] >> > 1) if (primary & secondary) schools provide what the more vocal parents >> > claim they want, is this not what they are supposed to do? >> Alternative (A) is to switch from state funding and local Boards, >> which the U.S. has universally, to national standards. But half the >> school boards still want to minimize Evolution, and church lobbyists >> within the states like the ability to water down the science >> curriculum, select biased history textbooks, and so on. >Excellent point. What people say they want for (element. & sec) >schooling is frequently radically different than what others say they >want, and not reconcilable. I remain naive enough to think that if the >bulk of the population understands the implications of what is >requested, then something close to what I want for my kids and my >neighbors kids will come forth. The real solution is not to have education by location, or even if one does, not to ask all to take the same curriculum. This was much more the case before the Depression than later, and it is coming back SLIGHTLY now. There is no more reason for children to go to the same schools than there is for adults to shop at the same stores or eat the same meals at the same restaurants. >The implicatons of what people say they want is not presently being >communicated, IMHO. When it is, if it involves getting a better education for individual children, it is ignored. Those who would put all children into the same types of classes are anti-educational. Those who believe that all (or even most) have comparable ability, which is what the educationists imposed about 70 years ago, has greatly reduced education. We cannot even provide teachers who know their subjects; we cannot get children taught structure and concepts, for the educationists cannot realize that children can learn that way, and that it is more efficient. We MIGHT eventually get decent public schools, but only if we set up affordable alternatives which the educationists cannot get their paws into. I have claimed that it would take at least 20 years to get competent teachers, and many have claimed that I am being far too optimistic. These teachers would have to be shielded from many of the present means of teaching in the schools, and from the now required courses in the schools of education. -- This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University. Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558 . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
