[quote=AN]When I say status quo, I mean have it be what it is today. So, yes, there is a status quo. Status quo means no real fundamental change.
I agree with parents involvement, but that’s like squeezing blood from a rock. If they already don’t care, what make you think you can force them to care? This is along similar line of outlawing divorce and making one parent stay at home to educate their kids and be involve in their kids’ education. Idealistic, but not reality.
I agree with your solution of segregation based on ability (kinda like what we do w/ our higher education system). But again, how can you suggest something like this but not agree with voucher? This is like the “voucher” for the bad kids. I.E. separating the good kids from bad kids.
As for longer school days, do you think the teachers’ union would even consider this? Some how, I highly doubt it. I’m totally for longer school days, so we agree there.[/quote]
Trust me, there is no “status quo” where education is concerned. It changes from year to year, and decade to decade. There have been some very dramatic shifts over the past couple of decades, most of which I like, such as charter schools and magnet schools (but I only advocate for publicly funding PUBLIC charters), open enrollment, site-based control, etc.
As for parent involvement, there have been a few cases where parents were *legally* mandated to attend their child’s school with their child. I think this needs to happen on a much wider scale, especially if the parents are unwilling to help their child and/or back the teachers in the classroom. There are too many parents who insist that their precious little Johnny or Susie is perfect, and any problems that might arise are the fault of the teacher, other students, or the system as a whole. Those parents need to be dragged in, with handcuffs if need be, so that they can be a part of the solution.
Where the longer days are concerned, I would make it voluntary for both students and teachers unless the students are performing so poorly that it necessitates their attending the longer days. IMO, it should be site-based, with some schools offering longer days, while others have a more “traditional” schedule. Teachers would be paid for the extra hours, and they would have to opt in. I think a sufficient number of teachers would be willing to put in the longer days, especially those who are childless. Personally, I would have loved to have longer days as I always felt that we were really hitting our stride in class as the end of the school day was approaching. I think students also need to learn how to work/focus for longer periods of time, and an extended schedule would allow them the opportunity to really get into some lessons and spend as much time as necessary to master the subject.
No vouchers because they divert money and resources away from some of the neediest students and can also put the whole public educational system at risk by creating more volatile funding changes from year to year as students move back and forth between public and private schools. In order to make the larger system work, you need to know how resources will be allocated over the long run. Also, too much room for corporate corruption, as some of my links above can attest.
