Then how come kids today are dumber? If your premise is correct, then we should see teachers that under-perform being fired. We don't see that. Maybe the disconnect is that the consumers of education...the parents and the students....really don't have a say in who gets hired, maybe indirectly they do, but not directly.
There are a lot of great teachers and an lot of good school systems in a lot of states. But over all the test scores get destroyed in places like L.A. unified. And I am not even sure L.A unified is entirely at fault. The test scores are being dragged down by the fact that a strong percentage of a school kids are not born here and many of the others don't speak english at home. They may be very bright... but
Well - actually kids today are not dumber when comparing similar demographic groups. However the size of under-performing demographic groups (e.g. low income minorities) is increasing in the U.S. -- and in many urban school systems they represent significant majorities. In many school systems they are experiencing over 20% turn-over per year. The problem is trying to find teachers to hire. Teachers are rarely fired unless they do some type of extreme act that is illegal. Let me ask --- when you buy stock in a company for investment... Let's say IBM... do you have a direct say in who gets hired in the employee ranks. I expect that you only have say over who gets hired as board members who select the top administrators. Schools systems are similar you get to vote and hire the school board and they select the top administrators who then get to select the employees. Not any different than the corporate world.
There are a lot of things wrong with public education in the US, but they are up against Buffet's famous observation that a bad business will defeat good managers. Many schools systems now are flooded with non-English speakers, most from poor and extremely backward societies. The schools already were losing the battle against gangs and thugs, making the learning environment impossible and driving out the best teachers. Administrators are under extreme pressure from Washington not to discipline minorities at rates higher than whites, no matter how serious the misconduct. So they ignore or try to minimize behavior that should result in expulsion. The best administrators in the world are not going to be able to make that system work, no matter how much money is thrown at it. I guess it is just more important to import large numbers of future democrat voters than educate our children.
Children's behaviour at school "vastly improved" by staffing classrooms with goats http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...our-school-vastly-improved-introducing-goats/
Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington, DC: "If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate."
California Senator Barbara Boxer: "Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, ‘Thank God, I'm still alive.' But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again."
Senator Chris Dodd, while on the campaign trail: "Eight more days and I can start telling the truth again" Sen. Chris Dodd, on the campaign trail.
Jerry Brown, former governor of California, and current candidate for the same position: "The conventional viewpoint says we need a jobs program and we need to cut welfare. Just the opposite! We need more welfare and fewer jobs."
Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington, DC: "I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where's Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less."