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ASU2003 · 04-05-2009, 09:19 AM

Education

Obama wants to overhaul education from 'cradle to career' - CNN.com

Do you think there is a problem with the education system would be the first question? Does it cost too much? Are there too many dropouts? In the debate between public vs. private vs. homeschool, which one would be the best? And should the federal government or state decide where education dollars go, or is that something for local cities? Do we need to address the difference in education funding between wealthy cities and poorer cities, or should you get what your parents have paid for?

The next part is what I am concerned with, as I was when I was 14 as well. There is a lot of politics behind what kids are taught after 6th grade it seems. I was concerned that I was getting a censored and biased view of the issues, and that I was being educated for a 9 to 5 job. Getting to school on time, turning in assignments, and not talking to any of my classmates was the norm. There is a lot of pressure to get good grades and score well on standardized tests because you are competing with thousands of other kids for a limited number of career opportunities. There wasn't any education of world issues, personal economics, politics, moral issues*, or human relationships/social skills/acceptance of others. Now the last one, most kids would pass pretty easily, but it is a pretty important life skill that not everyone has.

(*there was debate class, but you had to research whatever side of an issue that was assigned to you)

So, this is what I would like to see happen, or at least how I think I would have had a better education. I did turn out ok though.

0-5, Parents need to teach kids the basic skills and early education things. Let the kids explore and teach them good behavior and such. Education should be fun and not work. Counting, alphabet and basic reading and such.

K-6th grade, I don't think there is any problem here, except that the school year is too long. I went through K-6th grade with very little technology, so as long as you learn the basic education stuff, and have fun PE classes and art/music classes, then it is what it should be. Just because one school does better or has better scores doesn't mean too much, they should be fixed if there are problems though.

7th-12th grade, this is where I think most of the problems are. I would have been much happier to have watched TV and movies from experts in their field on a wide range of topics. There should also be more hands-on experiments and projects. I think that paying companies to take a few students in year 10 or 11 as a co-op worker would be beneficial and teach kids about how things actually happen in the real world. I did this in year 12 for half a day, and I got a lot from the experience. And there should be one day a week when they can research and teach themselves something of their own choosing. And if I had a few thousand dollars, I think I would have learned a whole bunch of stuff about myself by taking a trip around the world when I was 18. Lots of kids do this through the military, Peacecorps or religious groups. Then again, the Internet wasn't as big and things like Google Earth and travel TV shows weren't as popular (or didn't exist) when I was in school. Then again, not all kids are the same, and I'm not quite sure how to best educate young adults about reality without censoring it. Or if they would even care if they were given video games, IM and a cell phone.

So, what do you think of the education system that we have today? Would you change anything about your educational experience?

04-05-2009, 09:19 AM	#1 (permalink)
ASU2003 immoral minority Location: Back in Ohio	How would you change the education system? Education Obama wants to overhaul education from 'cradle to career' - CNN.com Do you think there is a problem with the education system would be the first question? Does it cost too much? Are there too many dropouts? In the debate between public vs. private vs. homeschool, which one would be the best? And should the federal government or state decide where education dollars go, or is that something for local cities? Do we need to address the difference in education funding between wealthy cities and poorer cities, or should you get what your parents have paid for? The next part is what I am concerned with, as I was when I was 14 as well. There is a lot of politics behind what kids are taught after 6th grade it seems. I was concerned that I was getting a censored and biased view of the issues, and that I was being educated for a 9 to 5 job. Getting to school on time, turning in assignments, and not talking to any of my classmates was the norm. There is a lot of pressure to get good grades and score well on standardized tests because you are competing with thousands of other kids for a limited number of career opportunities. There wasn't any education of world issues, personal economics, politics, moral issues, or human relationships/social skills/acceptance of others. Now the last one, most kids would pass pretty easily, but it is a pretty important life skill that not everyone has. (there was debate class, but you had to research whatever side of an issue that was assigned to you) So, this is what I would like to see happen, or at least how I think I would have had a better education. I did turn out ok though. 0-5, Parents need to teach kids the basic skills and early education things. Let the kids explore and teach them good behavior and such. Education should be fun and not work. Counting, alphabet and basic reading and such. K-6th grade, I don't think there is any problem here, except that the school year is too long. I went through K-6th grade with very little technology, so as long as you learn the basic education stuff, and have fun PE classes and art/music classes, then it is what it should be. Just because one school does better or has better scores doesn't mean too much, they should be fixed if there are problems though. 7th-12th grade, this is where I think most of the problems are. I would have been much happier to have watched TV and movies from experts in their field on a wide range of topics. There should also be more hands-on experiments and projects. I think that paying companies to take a few students in year 10 or 11 as a co-op worker would be beneficial and teach kids about how things actually happen in the real world. I did this in year 12 for half a day, and I got a lot from the experience. And there should be one day a week when they can research and teach themselves something of their own choosing. And if I had a few thousand dollars, I think I would have learned a whole bunch of stuff about myself by taking a trip around the world when I was 18. Lots of kids do this through the military, Peacecorps or religious groups. Then again, the Internet wasn't as big and things like Google Earth and travel TV shows weren't as popular (or didn't exist) when I was in school. Then again, not all kids are the same, and I'm not quite sure how to best educate young adults about reality without censoring it. Or if they would even care if they were given video games, IM and a cell phone. So, what do you think of the education system that we have today? Would you change anything about your educational experience?