Hi Ray,
Thank you for your fascinating account of American education. For the sake
of brevity I'm going to abstract just a few points:
(KH)
<<<<
In several developed countries today, such as America, Germany and England,
the state systems are, quite simply, failing badly with steadily falling
standards in basic subjects like literacy and mathematics for the last
several decades.
>>>>
(REH)
<<<<
Keith, you may know about England but the systems are quite different here.
The systems here are local and run by the communities.
>>>>
Yes, I'm aware of the differences. This gives the opportunity for much more
experimentation and this is why I think the most exciting schools of the
future will be found in America. Our education system is centrally run in
detail from London, though the actual spending comes via the local Council.
(The local Council receives an overall grant from London for all its
services and can decide for itself just how much it spends on the schools
in its area. So long as Councils pay the national pay rates to teachers,
they can then please themselves just how much extra they give the schools
for maintenance, books and so forth. The difference between the best and
worst spending/per child over the whole country is almost threefold!)
I'm now going to cut a lot of interesting stuff until .....
(REH)
<<<<
My point is that the failure that you describe is not evident in the society.
>>>>
You seem to be saying that the American economy is getting by -- unless
I've misunderstood you.
But I still return to my main point:
(KH)
>>>>
In particular, state schools are unable to educate anywhere near sufficient
numbers of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, doctors, etc -- even
teachers themselves -- to keep their economies going. Increasingly large
numbers are having to be imported from countries which, by rights, should
not be losing such precious talent.
>>>>
And then you go on to say:
(REH)
>>>>
Actually the issue is that no one wants to pay the teachers a salary
commensurate with their value. When a plumber can make $100,000 in New
York a teacher with a PHD makes half that. You get what you pay for.
>>>>
That's beside the point! There are many contributory reasons why
state-education is failing. Pay is one of them. It doesn't answer my main
point that the state (America, England, Germany, etc) is not
self-sustaining in producing sufficient home-grown talent in the
professions which are vital in a modern economy.
And when I write:
(KH)
<<<<
Increasingly large numbers are having to be imported from countries which,
by rights, should not be losing such precious talent. Indeed, it's a new
form of imperialism. Instead of exporting soldiers, we are now importing
intelligentsia.
>>>>
and you reply:
(REH)
<<<<
That's ridiculous Keith. It is just Capitalist labor practices and it sucks.
>>>>
It's not ridiculous. Whether it's called imperialism or capitalism, it
still amounts to exploitation of other less developed countries. If a
nation can't supply the skills it needs then it means that its state
education system is failing and, sooner or later, its economy will also
fail when the supply of talented people from other countries dries up.
Keith Hudson
___________________________________________________________________
Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org>
6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England
Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727;
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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