Education in Texas (and America)

[maximus unius]

Well I was pretty much gonna post everything Monkeyman said. Our school system is TERRIBLE.

One time I went to school with a timer watch and timed the time actualy spent doing useful work and learning. Turned out to be about 3 1/2 hours out of a 7 1/2 hour school day.

[The Buddy]

Originally Posted by James_Potter

unschooling is another alternative I don't know a whole lot about but it sounds really interesting.

I have a bunch of friends who unschool and they are some of the brightest kids I've ever met. They just choose what they really want to learn, and learn it. It wouldn't work for me cuz I'm rather unmotivated but one of my best friends, who was unschooled, just got into a really nice private college.

[spazdude222]

lol, this seems like a good system to me!

[BillyTheMountain]

Originally Posted by Gilby

Get the government out of schooling. Instead, give each person a voucher for payment to take to the school of their choice. This let's the parents be parents and lets them choose what's best for their children. When schools compete, you win!

Who pays for the vouchers?? And why???

Should people with 6 kids get 6 vouchers? And the next person only get one, and people without kids get none? Is that fair? Sounds like marxism now.

[BillyTheMountain]

And if I get 6 vouchers, can I sell them for crack? and homeschool my kids? Can the crack dealer pay the better school's higher tuition by giving them 2 or 3 vouchers per child?

How does this voucher thing work, anyway? Is it like food stamps?

And where does the money for the vouchers come from?

[Gilby]

Oh Billy, what pays for it now? I only mentioned the delivery method. Obviously, a funding method is needed no matter which delivery method is used. Currently, that funding method is primarily via property taxes. Our lovely federal government also funds it some, but that only covers a portion of the costs the federal government imposes on the schools to meet certain dumbing down America standards. My prefered funding method would be an investment method, similar to the futures market. Afterall, that's what real education is, an investment in the future.

[Gilby]

Lots of possibilities out there about school vouchers: http://www.google.com/search?q=school+vouchers

[BillyTheMountain]

Originally Posted by Gilby

Oh Billy, what pays for it now? I only mentioned the delivery method. Obviously, a funding method is needed no matter which delivery method is used. Currently, that funding method is primarily via property taxes. Our lovely federal government also funds it some, but that only covers a portion of the costs the federal government imposes on the schools to meet certain dumbing down America standards. My prefered funding method would be an investment method, similar to the futures market. Afterall, that's what real education is, an investment in the future.

Futures??!

I hear they are among the riskiest investments.....

[Gilby]

Originally Posted by BillyTheMountain

Futures??!

I hear they are among the riskiest investments.....

Therefore the need for a free market system that optimizes the output is even greater.

When it comes to investments, risk is good. It allows one to diversify the risk across many risky investments for the greatest reward with the lowest combined risk.

[BillyTheMountain]

Originally Posted by Gilby

Therefore the need for a free market system that optimizes the output is even greater.

When it comes to investments, risk is good. It allows one to diversify the risk across many risky investments for the greatest reward with the lowest combined risk.

That is definitely NOT for the gov't, and it's hardly what anyone would call diversification.

Lots of risky investments doesn't lower the risk. You need more relatively SAFE investments to lower the risk.

[Gilby]

Originally Posted by BillyTheMountain

That is definitely NOT for the gov't, and it's hardly what anyone would call diversification.

Lots of risky investments doesn't lower the risk. You need more relatively SAFE investments to lower the risk.

Let's compare to the current system. Right now, we have a one size government program for education. The risk of this program verses another education program is the same. We put all our eggs in one basket and the risk is huge.

In a voucher program, where parents choose, the risk for each program is the same, but since you have the option to diversify, that total risk is lowered.

In other words, the "relatively SAFE" doesn't exist because all the programs have the same expected risk.

[dudewithasock]

[BillyTheMountain]

Originally Posted by Gilby

Let's compare to the current system. Right now, we have a one size government program for education. The risk of this program verses another education program is the same. We put all our eggs in one basket and the risk is huge.

In a voucher program, where parents choose, the risk for each program is the same, but since you have the option to diversify, that total risk is lowered.

In other words, the "relatively SAFE" doesn't exist because all the programs have the same expected risk.

Actually, the education system varies widely based on the SES of the parents in the neighborhood.

Poor neighborhoods get stinky education, outdated equipment and text books, unmotivated instructors (with exceptions).

Kids from PS 321 in the affluent Park Slope section of Brooklyn do just as well on standardized tests as kids in area private schools, where the tuition is upwards of $24,000/year per kid.

The educational system assures we'll always have an uneducated underclass.

[BillyTheMountain]

Is it any accident that both Clinton and Bush were governors of states ranking last and second last in education in the USA?

Keep 'em down, and get your reward.