In light of this recent push to give rebates to parents who take their kids out of public schools; Tax break plan for parents who remove children from New Hampshire schools - Telegraph What are your thoughts on voluntary education of children? Are children like little investments for the government and society, or are they the responsibility of their parents? I imagine the world would be a better place if we weren't all squeezed into a one-size-fits-all system. Competition of ideas would be more valuable to long term innovation methinks.
Ehhh. Competition of ideas works on some level. But I fear there are too many under-educated, backwoods types that shortchange their ability to become something other than a pawn for the corporate state. Going through the motions of existence because they have no choice but to be in the underprivileged class. Do some like living this way? Sure. But for all of its faults, without the public education system, I don't want to speculate how pathetic a human I'd be. There were many points in my youth where if I had the option to have gotten out, I most likely would have. My mother wasn't a strict taskmaster, but she certainly didn't give an option, so this is speculation. I'm glad I stayed the course, as there were a ton of great book and practical lessons I learned. Ideas are great and all, but not everyone is hard-wired like the successful ones to implement these ideas in a savvy enough manner. Sorry, too high to explain this more cogently.
I think any parent who's educated could teach a child all the basics (what you should be learning up to 8th grade) with a crappy computer and a medicore internet connection, especially if they were able to allocate the money they would've put towards the public schools directly into their own child's education. Hell, there is even upper level coursework available freely online if one knows where to look.
The internet has changed learning. It has changed the way that we gather and process information. The American school system is behind most other developed nations in the world. Obviously this one-size-fits-all educational system is failing.
Public School really is sad... I remember being in grade school raising my hand asking the teacher why we get a day off of school for "Christopher Columbus Day"...she was shocked that I didn't buy into him "discovering America" and me pointing out that he was basically a pirate who robbed/pillaged/murdered and moved on. High School - Honors Biology II, we skipped right over the chapter on evolution. I raised my hand to ask why and the teacher really didn't have an answer... Sad sad sad. Go big government, go department of "education" - LOL!
I think home schooling could be a good thing, and you can learn alot more. But a kid needs the social skills that come along with a classroom
MIT has some good stuff on their site with regards to advanced mathematics. Free Online Course Materials | Mathematics | MIT OpenCourseWare MIT OpenCourseWare | Mathematics | 18.01 Single Variable Calculus, Fall 2006 | Video Lectures
I hated school, 90% of the shit they give you is useless. But anyone I've ever talked to who skipped out on school is usually an incompetent moron who I can't even converse with, so I voted yes. And I'm as left-wing as you can get.
why only two options? edit: Shouldn't the child, being the individual he/she is have some weight in the decision?..
The school system we have now basically trains you to fit into the system. If kids could choose to learn the basics and go into apprenticeships or technical schools that would leave all the artsy or engineering stuff to those actually interested in it. Your parents would have let you become a worthless slob?
Are you saying they played hooky, or dropped out all together? Either way, they dropped out of a mandated system with no alternatives. And "left-wingers" would typically vote yes in this scenario.
Not my kind. Just people who played it as a joke. I didn't do shit in hs, but other options would be nice, it's all bs, IMO, but there does need to be some form of education.
Those people treated it as a joke because they aren't academics and would be better off preparing for a life of physical labor or something. That, or they can educate themselves. I was never inspired to learn by taking classes, but by my own personal experiences and role models. Knowledge is power, and who doesn't want power? I agree there needs to be education, but whether or not it's from the Federal or local government is up for debate, and whether or not it should be mandatory at all.
I don't think I actually learned anything in school. When my parents started reading to me when I was super young they said I asked them almost immediately if they could teach me to read, since I was tired of having to go to them to get my reading fix. Learned to read, figured out the basics of writing on my own, my parents started teaching me math, then I ended up in first grade and started down the path of hatred towards the establishment for wasting my time for 12 years. The only thing I learned in highschool was a little bit of physics from the only good teacher I've ever had. College is turning out to be a load of bullshit so far too.
I probably only attended 50% of my classes in college, so I basically just paid for the degree. I already knew how to read, so sitting there while the teacher taught at the classes pace seemed pointless. My time was better spent chillin out maxin', relaxin' all cool.
The teachers that don't teach during class usually give quizzes during class that affect your grade or they take attendance and fail you if you miss a certain number of classes. Yes, college is mostly bullshit. At this point, I'm only going to graduate so I can put a degree on my resume. If a professor didn't take attendance (and base your grade on it) and didn't have random in-class quizzes, I wouldn't attend that class regularly at all unless the teacher was actually a cool person to listen to.