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Schools not spending enough time on core academic subjects, like reading, math, science and social studies (69%)
Teachers bringing their personal political and social views into the classroom (54%)
Schools not having the funding and resources they need (52%)
Having read both the article and the linked questions, personally I think they focused too much on the political view of the responders when the follow-on questions should have been on why the responder felt that way. By focusing on the politics, it's too easy to simply dismiss by saying "they were just an XYZ" rather than gain actual understanding of the issue and form workable solutions.
I guess I somehow missed it... how do they define "wrong direction'?
Another important question is...in fact, maybe the most important question...since what is seen as the wrong direction is seen almost totally different from Democrat versus Republican perspectives, how does the educational community come to any kind of consensus?
Yeah, those do not define what the “wrong direction†actually is.
The article says:
“ A majority of those who say it’s headed in the wrong direction say a major reason is that schools are not spending enough time on core academic subjects.â€
Another important question is...in fact, maybe the most important question...since what is seen as the wrong direction is seen almost totally different from Democrat versus Republican perspectives, how does the educational community come to any kind of consensus?
55% of D's and 79% of R's say that schools are not spending enough time on core academic subjects, like reading, math, science and social studies.
Sounds like a strong consensus across the board on that one.
55% of D's and 79% of R's say that schools are not spending enough time on core academic subjects, like reading, math, science and social studies.
Sounds like a strong consensus across the board on that one.
Is it based on reality though?
For example, here in Washington the 4-year HS graduation standards are as follows
4 years English
3 years math
3 years social studies
3 years science
2 years foreign language
2 years arts/music
2 years health/PE
1 year career/technical (CTE)
4 years electives
You can also substitute up to 3 years of arts and language credits for Personal Pathway credits which allow the student to specialize in something like a specific technical trade instead of arts and language.
That is 24 credits which is all the time that you get to have the student for (4 years x 6 class periods/day). If you want to add something new you have to take something away. So how do you do that?
This is HS but the emphasis is more or less mirrored at the lower grades as well.
55% of D's and 79% of R's say that schools are not spending enough time on core academic subjects, like reading, math, science and social studies.
Sounds like a strong consensus across the board on that one.
That's one very general thing. And it's vague. And if you just read this forum, I would think you would get the sense that getting those R's and D's to agree on what should be in those 'more time' hours is something that would be very difficult to come to a consensus on...just like there is no real consensus on such topics here on the forum. Because it can't just be that either the conservatives or the liberals win...it has to be a consensus. I rarely saw such consensus at Board Of Education meetings or even PTA meetings. It was always various groups talking past each other.
For example, here in Washington the 4-year HS graduation standards are as follows
4 years English
3 years math
3 years social studies
3 years science
2 years foreign language
2 years arts/music
2 years health/PE
1 year career/technical (CTE)
4 years electives
You can also substitute up to 3 years of arts and language credits for Personal Pathway credits which allow the student to specialize in something like a specific technical trade instead of arts and language.
That is 24 credits which is all the time that you get to have the student for (4 years x 6 class periods/day). If you want to add something new you have to take something away. So how do you do that?
This is HS but the emphasis is more or less mirrored at the lower grades as well.
The "not spending enough time" came from the wording of the question. It's really just a proxy for the public's view of the results from our education system. But, even if you mean literal time spent, how much of those class hours are actually spent learning the material and how much are spent going back over the same stuff again and again or spent dealing with disruptions?
Regardless, if our education system were in a competitive market, it would be going out of business because when you have over half your customers saying they aren't satisfied and only about 16% satisfied, you won't stay in business for long.
The "not spending enough time" came from the wording of the question. It's really just a proxy for the public's view of the results from our education system. But, even if you mean literal time spent, how much of those class hours are actually spent learning the material and how much are spent going back over the same stuff again and again or spent dealing with disruptions?
Regardless, if our education system were in a competitive market, it would be going out of business because when you have over half your customers saying they aren't satisfied and only about 16% satisfied, you won't stay in business for long.
I'm sure the best teachers will flock to the 'private' schools...I mean who wouldn't jump at the chance to earn far less money?
"Full-time teachers in public schools earned about 30 percent more than private school teachers, pulling in an average annual base salary of $61,600, compared with $46,400, according to the survey from the National Center for Education Statistics."
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