On 4/9/2013 9:30 PM, Larry Colen wrote:
Because, simply put, the problem isn't the schools. The problem is at home. Children who come from families that put a high priority on education do well in school. If kids see their parents reading in their free time, they will consider reading a viable leisure time activity. If they see their parents watching TV, getting drunk etc. that's what they will consider normal.
I cannot possibly agree more here... The value of education does not depend on the way the teachers are paid or system is organized. Obviously some schools are better some are less so. Some teachers are more interesting and some others are more boring. The point is - what is the interest of the pupil. If he or she want to learn - they'll learn. If their parents can afford - it will be private extra-curriculum tuition. If not - it will be something else. Mind you - I have some very concrete examples around me, although obviously in my country, not USA.
It all stems from the family position on the matter.
We live in a culture where people who excel at stick and ball games are worshipped as heros, where kids who speak properly, and do well in science and math are teased and taunted as socially awkward nerds and geeks. And, then we wonder why are schools are failing us.
Very similar here as well...
Complaining about school performance in our culture, is like complaining that you can't get decent photos because Pentax doesn't make a full frame body, when you haven't even learned the basics well enough to get the best performance out of the cameras they do make. See, I can drag this topic, kicking and screaming back to the topic of photography. The reason that kids in charter schools do better is simply because they have parents that care enough about their education to put them in what they perceive as better schools. Those kids would still do better than their peers in public schools. The biggest effect of charter schools, vouchers etc. is to separate the kids who have parents that care about their education from the ones who don't.
Hmmm... If you have such a system it is pure gold because it ensures that at least part of your population will get reasonably good education.
Just my cents... Boris -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
