Mike_Rupp said:
...Back when I was in high school, there were kids who knew that they were going to go into the trades or other skilled manual labor jobs and others who would go to college...
That's still true today. Problem is, even in a school like mine where we have a pretty first rate auto, metals, CAD, etc... shop course, we don't actually cater to those students who want to really learn those skills as trades -- we treat them as 1/2 credit options to take for one or two semesters -- fun. The non-graduation rate of above 50% that is very common in most schools can surely be directly attributed to the fact that most students don't see how the education we are giving them will help them do anything but get ready for college. And what do you know? About half the kids could care less about college.
There was a push in Oregon a few years back to have high school career tracks, but too many people like the one-size-fits-all type of factory schools we have, so the money went away.
School vouchers are a huge no-no because they go against what the Union would want, and they were first proposed by people who might be associated with Republicans.
Charter schools are making in-roads, but only because parents are insisting on them, and because schools are willing to let children out of school to go to the charter schools because the standard schools are too overcrowded -- so much so that they are willing to take the $30-$60k dollar hit for each student they release to attend a charter. Charter schools aren't much better in this respect, but they are more free to make intelligent decisions about coursework and texts, etc...
The problem comes down to people not wanting to change from traditional Cold War era type schooling, and the states deciding to spend money on pet social projects rather than what government is supposed to spend money on -- Infrastructure, safety, fire, police, and education.
These problems are perpetuated and kept by the Union(s) (I'm a member of three teachers' unions; not by choice, but because I would be black listed if I wasn't.) because they are the ones who want to keep the status quo. I'm not talking about some hidden agenda, this is the open agenda of the Unions... I would know, I go to the meetings. They interview me about who and what I'm planning on voting for. They constantly take steps for the 'workers' and the 'educators' rights, but only give lip service to things that are 'for the kids'.
I've never once seen the unions do anything that would directly benefit the students. Everything they do is for either one of two purposes: The pay and benefits of teachers (which is why they want the status quo of our schools to remain) and the perpetuation of the Democrat party. I've never once seen the unions do anything outside of these two things.
atriot: Mike Rowe for President.
