How Outdated Curricula are Failing America’s Students
Sunday, 20 January 2013 11:25 By Marion Brady, AlterNet | News Analysis
Students in class
It goes without saying that solving a problem begins with a correct diagnosis of its cause.
When Michael Gerson, President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter, had the president say in a January 2004 speech that American education suffered from “the soft bigotry of low expectations,” the simplistic diagnosis reflected and perpetuated the present “tighten the screws” reform effort.
That misguided effort continues. In the Introduction to What’s Worth Learning? (Information Age Publishing), I offer an alternative explanation for poor school performance.
Marion Brady
*** American education isn’t up to the challenge.
The evidence is inescapable. Millions of kids walk away from school long before they’re scheduled to graduate. Millions more stay but disengage. Half of those entering the teaching profession soon abandon it. Administrators play musical chairs. Barbed wire surrounds many schools, and police patrol hallways. School bond levies usually fail. Superficial fads—old ideas resurrected with new names—come and go with depressing regularity. Think tanks crank out millions of words of ignored advice, and foundations spend billions to promote seemingly sound ideas that make little or no difference. About a half-trillion dollars a year is invested in education, but most adults remember little and make practical use of even less of what they once learned in thousands of hours of instruction. [Read more]
Comments
it is absolutely inexcuseable not to become educated today…
with all the technology internet et al…
education is only as good as the desire to learn….unless the desire is there
education is an absolute waste of public funds….unless it serves the purpose for which it is instituted….today too much emphasis is placed on “education”
Isnt life itself an education! and how we decide to live it depends
entirely on the rewards. What is it for me ! syndrome !”selfishness”
Education was and is interwined with “religion” which is the moral side of our education…we will not all become “godly” creatures regardless of how much
indoctrination we receive. Viv la VIDA !
Reading and writing is a basic skill we all aquired in our primary education
later some attend college others decide to drop out….for whatever reasons…
sometimes no fault of theirs…these two skills Reading and Writing are the basic skills that we should all have aquired on leaving school…the rest will follow as night follows day…pumping trillions into education serves little purpose in how
we develop in our later years…
We are “educated” for 10 – 20 years then we venture into the “occupational hazard” work…..some even further education…whatever we do with the next
80 or less years in our short lifespan will determine how the society in which we decide to live develops….
Education should be “encouraged” not “enforced”….stick and carrot !
not wishing to be “long-winded” I will end hoping that the discussion is enhanced….by more disagreement than agreement. we learn more that way the
being “”lap dogs”" and “yes” menand women.
my spin entirely
kamptan