The Way Forward: Fixing our Education System

[Hyperion]

Nothing wrong with some "merit" reformations - just treat teachers like other professionals (lawyers, engineers, etc.) and stop trying to pull a blanket over the entire curriculum.

Honest-to-goodness school reform will not occur in the near future because it requires 1.) money and 2.) overhauling everything we currently do. Instead there's always these small suggestions sold as silver bullets. Put technology in the classroom! Ban homework! Don't refer to teachers by last name! Have the teachers attend classes every week! Bla, bla, bla.

If you want to strive for the maximum achievement in every child, you're going to have to think about the very nature of education and what exactly you want it to achieve. Do you want every kid to be on a college-track or prepare them for the "real world" or something in between? Do you want to hold every kid to a disciplined lecture format or create different types of classes with different types of teachers to reach different types of learners? Do you want teachers who are held to the same exact standards or who operate mostly as free agents?

[BrownOG]

Homework in math and science is important because it helps you reinforce what you were taught

Homework in english and other classes just helps reinforce who the teacher likes and doesnt like.

[Hyperion]

That's a very simplistic perspective. Each year the curriculum for science changes. It used to be that teachers had much more leniency to emphasize those topics that they felt important, but thanks to "education reform" this job was handed off to politicians and businessmen. This is my first semester teaching chemistry, but I can say that the "standard" curriculum for high school physics doesn't correspond at all with the college physics curriculum. We completely ignore important subjects like torque, electromagnetism, and optics. That said, teachers still have enough authority in most schools to emphasize particular subjects.

At the college-level, professors can pretty much steer you towards one sub-discipline or another without you even recognizing it until it's too late. A lot of people don't realize this, but if your physics department emphasizes optics research (for example) - they want undergraduates gifted in optics, not mechanics, so they'll devote more time and energy to that with young physics undergrads. A lot of science grad applicants don't switch schools, and the colleges know this.

[Hyperion]

To fix education our society has to first determine what it values above all else and the purpose behind education. Currently it's based on a million different ideas with the prevalent notions of 1.) create a functional, factory-like workforce and 2.) college attainment.

[exploited]

School should be about teaching kids how to learn. That requires basic tools, primarily literacy. The remainder of school should be about encouraging kids to pursue education on their own terms.

Education should not be about jobs. It should be about preserving and passing down knowledge.

[The Dharma Bum]

[exploited]

[Hyperion]

Students care more about how their grades will eventually impact their future career than they do about learning for the sake of knowledge itself. When I was teaching advanced placement students, maybe 2 out of a class of 30 qualified as the philosopher-type you describe. For regular classes you can pretty much forget about it. That's not to say you can't pique their interests, but you're talking about a cosmic, unprecedented shift in societal standards that would require changing everything we know about work, culture, and entertainment.

Grades actually have an impact on college placement, insurance quotes, and other tangibles. At the elementary and junior high level, the largest motivators are parents and pride.

[Hyperion]

[The Dharma Bum]