Obama to seek money for school reform

myp said:

President Obama is expected to make an announcement tomorrow asking for $1.35 billion to put towards public-school reform. Among the changes that the administration is pushing are performance-linked salaries for teachers and an ease on charter school limits.

Full story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60I0JS20100119

Thoughts?

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Glad to see he supports merit pay. Work better, get payed better. It's a simple truth capitalists and socialists can agree on... Unless the person in question is a member of the Teachers Union.

There is more to this.

One objective is to make an end run around state governments directly to school districts. This from here http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/19/19rttt-budget.h29.html
It also begins transferring the education "stimulus" funds into permanent programs.

There is also a lot of testing, as in No Child Left Behind annual testing, and those that meet certain standards get money. All that did was have teachers teach the test.

Government doesn't help education.

dave said:

Government doesn't help education.

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It was the Republican Party's idea. :smug: Granted they were influenced heavily by socialists but still.

myp said:

Although the parties really don't matter as much as the individual politicians and the issues they support, let's get the record straight that the Department of Education was a creation of the Democrat left. In fact, George W. Bush was the first GOP president (or candidate for that matter) to say he didn't want to abolish it.

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It was implemented by the Dems, the movement to provide free, gov't funded education was started by the Repubs before their move to the right.

Quite interesting the priorities in everything. When Obama is dealing with the Banks and helping them, we are talking about trillions, when he is working on health care reform, then we are also discussing trillions, however when it gets to education, there are major debates about billions. Sort of makes one wonder how educated the people are and maybe it needs to be the other way round?:unsure:

The importance of public education depends on what value one places on knowledge. Knowledge to fit purpose is certainly of value, but to pursue useless knowledge is worse than worthless, it is a waste of precious time. See Herbert Spencer, "What Knowledge is of Most Worth," Westminster Review (July 1859). Good schools are scarce, and useful knowledge invaluable. Individually, we are as much as we know; and as a nation, our democracy is dependent on an enlightened citizenry, which justifies placing a premium on education. What form that education takes (i.e., what curriculum our public schools provide) is a matter of primary importance to everyone.

Nemo said:

The importance of public education depends on what value one places on knowledge. Knowledge to fit purpose is certainly of value, but to pursue useless knowledge is worse than worthless, it is a waste of precious time. See Herbert Spencer, "What Knowledge is of Most Worth," Westminster Review (July 1859). Good schools are scarce, and useful knowledge invaluable. Individually, we are as much as we know; and as a nation, our democracy is dependent on an enlightened citizenry, which justifies placing a premium on education. What form that education takes (i.e., what curriculum our public schools provide) is a matter of primary importance to everyone.

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I get the message that education is very important in the United States, but because of lack of power to do so, it is difficult to get sufficient funding for it. Those who are really gifted, have to be educated in private schools.

deanhills said:

Sort of makes one wonder how educated the people are and maybe it needs to be the other way round?:unsure:

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From their point of view, the continuing wealth of rich people is far more important than actually providing a decent education to ordinary people.

Dirk said:

From their point of view, the continuing wealth of rich people is far more important than actually providing a decent education to ordinary people.

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Well said. Also why waste the money on educating the masses, as if the rich can be richer, they can afford to create their own schools with their own better quality teachers, equipment and teaching.

'NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!'
- Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854)
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Much of what passes for education is a waste of time, albeit that now a college education has come to be the ticket to middle-class society. Beyond that, what good is the pursuit of useless studies and advanced academic degrees that only certify learning beyond one’s capacity to think? It seems a tiresome venture with but little prospect for any substantial reward; and yet one sees such masters of arcane knowledge who are no good for anything but pretentious pedantry. Their heads are filled with useless facts. (I am reminded of a noted ichthyologist who prided himself with knowing the Latin names for the entire class Osteichthyes, and whose students joked that the professor was so full of fish that every time he learned of a newly-discovered species another would pop out his backside in an expression of unpardonable French!) One cannot help but think that more useful things might well be learned outside the halls of academe at the local tavern.

Nemo said:

Much of what passes for education is a waste of time, albeit that now a college education has come to be the ticket to middle-class society. Beyond that, what good is the pursuit of useless studies and advanced academic degrees that only certify learning beyond one?s capacity to think?

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I don't see education just as a bunch of facts that get fed into minds, but as a total experience where people learn to interact and communicate with one another. For me undergraduate degrees are more a standard of education, than a qualification for a profession, or a preparatory course to specialize in a specific field.

Nemo said:

Much of what passes for education is a waste of time, albeit that now a college education has come to be the ticket to middle-class society. Beyond that, what good is the pursuit of useless studies and advanced academic degrees that only certify learning beyond one?s capacity to think? It seems a tiresome venture with but little prospect for any substantial reward; and yet one sees such masters of arcane knowledge who are no good for anything but pretentious pedantry. Their heads are filled with useless facts. (I am reminded of a noted ichthyologist who prided himself with knowing the Latin names for the entire class Osteichthyes, and whose students joked that the professor was so full of fish that every time he learned of a newly-discovered species another would pop out his backside in an expression of unpardonable French!) One cannot help but think that more useful things might well be learned outside the halls of academe at the local tavern.

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1 should never cease learning. I agree practicality must come 1st but once you know what you need to know, you should seek extra knowledge. Humanity is on the verge of immortality, you don't want to spend the next few millennia considered stupid do you? :giggle:

I know a lot of random and useless facts. Which i sometimes mention when a subject reminds me of them.

But they don't really help any.