Facts are facts Z. Low IQ populations are not able to fulfill the requirements of rigorous academic program, and never will. If any student is held to a standard that is not appropriate, they will experience continual failure. Rather than "superman" we need a truth serum and cold look at reality. The solution is not "busting" teachers unions but rather something more along the lines of what Charles Murray suggests in his book, "real education" which I have read and recommend.
"The solution is not "busting" teachers unions but rather something more along the lines of what Charles Murray suggests in his book, "real education" which I have read and recommend." the suspense overwhelms. just say what charles murrary recommends.
A few of his ideas: A broader range of low cost options that are better suited to each students innate ability. For example much of the expensive "career oriented" education could be replaced with a rigorous certification process and apprenticeships/internships. Kids with low academic ability need to be entering the workforce sooner. A true liberal arts education is only suitable for a small intellectual elite, perhaps the top 5 to 10% of the population, if that. Most likely getting these things done would require hammering the teachers unions, so perhaps I was wrong on that. At the same time we need an economy that provides gainful employment for the population that we do have, which is a different topic. "real education" is a good book with many good ideas. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in education. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmTr2EMt66c
Just glancing at the bigger picture you've painted, yea, that's about it. Vocational training/Certification would be a great start. TX stopped funding Voc.Ed years ago, and we're paying for it now. Not every kid CAN, or WANTS to attend college.
Not every inner city kid will be an academic genius, but the fact is that inner city schools that were largely minorities performed quite well back in the '40's and '50's. In fact, they took a great deal of pride in that fact. Walter Williams has written extensively about it. For some reason, those same schools today produce only failure. I don't think the kids suddenly got a lot dumber.
They should force teachers to become entrepreneurs.... Eat what you kill... Skew the rewards to those who generate the most improvement... In Canada, particularly - School Boards in Ontario will pay you over $80,000 to teach English after 8 yrs experience and a few night courses (can be taken during the 2 mths paid summer holidays) This can get as high as $100k in later years (10-12+).... Retirement as early as 62 or 25 years .... $40,000 including full health benefits.... Extra extended health coverage for family members included up to the age of 25 after retirement is $3k a year. The pension is indexed to inflation. I don't believe that this can last and no one has caught on that simple math of compound is at work. It seems that the baby boomer teacher unionist is living in paradise.
So you have figured it all out, and it turned out to be very simple: hire only good teachers and everything will be fine.
Teachers may be unionized in other countries, but few have the same political clout as the ones in the USA. Here it is almost impossible to get rid of incompetent or irresponsible teachers. That is how powerful public employee unions are in the USA. These kind of unions are doing a huge disservice to the country and to the community.
The kids have not gotten dumber. In fact kids are smarter today because of being exposed to more information. The school system and parenting have changed.