[TriLUG] OT: Education

Mark Fowle mark at thefowles.com
Mon Sep 26 10:03:44 EDT 2005


I have to disagree with NCLB (or as it is refered to as No child left
untouched, No school left standing) -- It was a good idea (accountability)
- but never was funded at the federal level and most states wont put money
into it - instead, like here in North Carolina, they play the shuffle
game.

The whole problem is that the school system is based on an industrial
design, but no one knows what it's suppose to do any more -- I have been
involved with the charter school movement since 98 - and I think it could
be a good thing for education.

I agree with you that parents don't care (and unfortuantely neither do
most kids) -  A voucher system would be great (charter schools were the NC
answer to quick and easy) -- The sad part is we are dubming down education
and before long, the population as well.... (just my opinion)

The school I help with IT does have linux :-) (It's the only way to go --
except, believe it or not, the state requres windows only for computer
testing -- go figure)

- Mark

> Unfortunately, the "fixing of schools" has been far from lip service.
> "No Child Left Behind", a federal initiative to improve the quality of
> public education, has not only been implemented at great cost and
> fanfare, but it's largely created (perhaps "worsened") the "teach to
> the test" problem you described.
>
> If you want to fix public schools, you need to fix the problem, not
> the symptoms.  In my book, the problem is the vast number of parents
> that don't seem to care what quality of education their children get.
>
> In the short term, I agree with your "charter schools are doubly
> doomed" comment.  They are an "alternative" to a state-provided poor
> education which, while an "alternative", are not necessarily an
> improvement.  Personally, I'd rather see a voucher system.  If people
> can vote with their tax dollars, someone (public or private) will
> begin to step up to provide a better value proposition for the tax
> payer that's interested in a better education for their kids.
>
> Shane O.
>
> P.S.  Put LINUX in our school computer labs!!!  The price is right &
> the technology is sound/appropriate.  (wanted to make the post
> relevant for the list...)
>
>> When somethings broken you tend to want to fix it -- except for schools
>> -
>> fixing them is just lip service.
>>
>
> --
> Shane O.
> ========
> Shane O'Donnell
> shaneodonnell at gmail.com
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