[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 09:41:09AM -0700, Paul G. Allen wrote:
I can't remember who it was on the Daily Show or Colbert Report that had
some semblance of the right idea. He said allow parents to have
vouchers. The parents give the voucher to the school they feel best
educates their kids. These vouchers are tax money used to fund the
school. This takes the monetary power away from the governemtnt and puts
it where it belongs - in the hands of the parents.
The whole problem is that government - State and especially Federal -
has complete control over the public schools. They waste tons of money,
and parents have little power to do anything about it (We actually have
lots of power, but parents in general are to dumb to use it.)
Great idea. It will be a war to pass this over the teachers' unions
objections. Put on your battle armor and working boots and get busy.
Boy. Everybody really has swallowed the anti-union rhetoric over the
past 20 years.
The unions would actually welcome an objective way to evaluate
teachers--it would actually improve salaries and strengthen their
membership. They would also welcome an objective way to improve the
schools--teachers do what they do because they care; it sure isn't for
the money. Also, they would cheer at a solution which moves less money
to the bureaucracy and more directly to the mechanisms of education.
The problem is that *nobody has a solution to any of these problem*.
Ever received a job performance evaluation in a large company? Ever
thought it was fair? If the corporations, who have a profit incentive
to get this right, can't seem to make it work, why should school
administrators fare any better?
Nobody wants to see bad schools. However, nobody has a repeatable
formula that works. Go ask Bill Gates. He's trying and found out just
how hard it is.
Actually, that's not true. There is a repeatable formula, and it's
straightforward. Improve the student:teacher ratio--it's the only one
shown to actually work. However, you have to start doing things like
doubling the number of teachers. Nobody seems to be willing pay for
that--so all the "improve our schools" is empty rhetoric.
And, there is quite a good way to eliminate a large chunk of waste in a
school budget--eliminate sports. Without sports, you don't need
equipment, insurance goes down, you don't have upkeep on fields, lights,
etc., you don't have to pay coaches, etc. This never seems to come up
either, funny that.
Followup set to -kooler,
-a
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