youbet
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Martha said:You got it right Don.
Is it $1,212,000 as Don said or $1,012,000?
Martha said:You got it right Don.
ERD50 said:We have a situation where the government has a 'near monopoly' in providing education. Since that monopoly can be abused, I can see why teachers would feel the need for some union protection. I think we have ended up with two powerful forces on each end, and little that an individual can do to impact it.
I'm not saying we should just roll over and play dead either - but I am trying to be realistic about what can be accomplished by an individual.
-ERD50 (maybe THIS should be a different thread? - How should we fund education?)
Bikerdude said:ERD50 I think you are right this a funding question but I don't think all is lost just yet.
First off, I think blaming teachers for the failure of our education system is like blaming the pilots and flight attendants for the mess the airlines are in.
Now, IMHO, the way to fix the education system is to give power to the consumer. Give them the $$ and the choice of what school system to send their kids to and watch how fast the system responds.
Of course, the administrators, the unions and the political backers will all run around crying and yelling about how this is unfair and the kids will suffer, yada, yada, yada. And who could blame them? Their the ones that will get their feet held to the fire. However, until you put the power in the hands of the people who use the service nothing will change.
FinanceDude said:And some of us moved to a particular community because of the good schools there...........how would we be affected??
Japan has come up with some really cool stuff (seen Steamboy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboy http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/steamboy/title-navigation-2.html )Retire Soon said:nor do they waste precious homework time on a hot date.
.............
The Japanese have a very homogenous society, with 99% of the people speaking the same language.
Retire Soon said:The problem lies with the American attitude toward education and our tolerance for illegal immigration
You forgot to add that while all of this may accurately describe the differences between Japan's attitude toward school and ours, you wouldn't trade places. At least I hope you wouldn't.Retire Soon said:When the school day ends for a typical Japanese high school student, ... he or she goes to a "Juko", an after school tutoring site, where time is spent preparing for the college entrance exam. ... Many students also attend a
juko on Saturday. Dating, automobile ownership and part time work is discouraged, because they take away from a focus on this all the important college entrance exam.
Japanese mothers generally do not work.
Americans tend to be much more sympathic toward children who have disabilities.
Japan does not encourage immigration, ... Test scores are not pulled down because of immigrants who cannot speak Japanese.
The problem is the United States has low math and science scores because we simply do not work as hard as the Japanese.
It's very simple. Japan does much better academically than we do, because they work hard at it.
The next time you blame American teachers for test scores, you might want to take a closer look at our culture. Our lower academic achievement might be because we do not work as hard as other countries, such as Japan.
Should we really blame educators because Americans have failed to make school our number one priority?
They haven't beaten us at our own game because their educational system is a parody of ours - not a clone.Don't forget that the Japanese educational system was modeled after the K-12 system of the United States during the U.S. post World War II occupation of Japan. They have truly beat us at our own game.
Gosh, that would explain the last 15 years of Japan's economic and cultural world domination. Or the last generation. Or the last century.Retire Soon said:They have truly beat us at our own game.
No problem there.Retire Soon said:Again, take a look first at our decaying society before you place the blame on American educators.
Retire Soon said:I agree with newguy888 that, "It's all about parents" when it comes to success in education. We're required to obtain a license to drive a car, a permit to remodel a home, a certificate to teach, but we don't need permission from anyone to bear children. Our lawmakers can legislate funds to construct more efficient highways, build better space shuttles, provide for better national security, but they cannot legislate anything to make better parents. This is precisely the problem.
Higher alcohol consumptionHaHa said:So explain to me why unlicensed Japanese (Finnish, Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Korean, French, German, Swedish, Polish, etc., etc.) parents seem to rear better school achievers?
Ha
Nords said:Let's hear about Japan's educational achievements from people who have lived & worked in both countries. Bpp? Anyone else?
I see our kid's education as the key to ensuring that she successfully launches from the nest.Retire Soon said:In America, we pay a lot of lip service to how important education is for our children. However, we do not seem to carry through with our actions.
bpp said:Of course, the ones pushing the kids into jukus are the parents, so maybe they really are the secret ingredient after all.
Like:wab said:His basic message is that almost all kids have the ability to become "geniuses" like Einstein or Mozart. It requires immersion in the subject matter (so that it becomes second nature), making learning fun (basically through layered goals and positive reinforcement), and a social network that provides good examples.