Texas GOP Declares: "No More Teaching of 'Critical Thinking Skills' in Texas Public Schools"

[jiimbergin]

Re: Vouchers are more egalitarian than elitist!

--C1ue

Not using vouchers depends on public school administrators to do a good job, with no corrective mechanism other than school board elections. What about putting some
choice directly in the hands of parents, rather than politicians?

Choice under vouchers does depend on markets creating a variety of schools.
In my local community we have Montessori schools, Einstein Academy (ADHD specialized) , and Classical Academy (christianity & classics emphasis).

Schools perceived as better do attract better students. Is that bad? Should MIT be forced to enroll drop outs? If choice and competition is good at university level, why is it bad at the elementary level?

Right now, choice is only available to those who can afford posh neighborhoods or private schools. Vouchers would give comparable choice to everyone!

Actually in many areas there are choices available. For example in North Carolina we have magnet schools that offer different learning environments for different students. Both of my children in the 1980s went to a magnet school that emphasized science,math and also the arts. One of our grandsons has been accepted to a magnet school specializing in the Arts for middle school. One of our granddaughters has been accepted to UNC School of the Arts. She also would have easily been accepted by the NC School of Science and Math. These are essentially public schools with little or no cost to the parents. Another granddaughter goes to a public high school, but she, along with about 40 others are part of the Cambridge Program, developed by the University of Cambridge. But it is also true that 4 of our grandchildren are in private religious schools.

[dbarberic]

Re: Texas GOP Declares: "No More Teaching of 'Critical Thinking Skills' in Texas Public Schools"

This documentary was posted a while back, but it is relevant to this thread. It has a heavy bent on how our educational system is set up to create workers, not thinkers.

Metanoia Films - Human Resources, Social Engineering in the 20th Century.
It can be watched online for free in the link below:
http://metanoia-films.org/human-resources/

Its a long movie, but highly recommended.

[c1ue]

Re: Texas GOP Declares: "No More Teaching of 'Critical Thinking Skills' in Texas Public Schools"

Not using vouchers depends on public school administrators to do a good job, with no corrective mechanism other than school board elections. What about putting some choice directly in the hands of parents, rather than politicians?

Well, for one thing, if good school administrators are so difficult to find, why exactly will a system which requires many more be better?

Choice under vouchers does depend on markets creating a variety of schools.
In my local community we have Montessori schools, Einstein Academy (ADHD specialized) , and Classical Academy (christianity & classics emphasis).

Schools perceived as better do attract better students. Is that bad? Should MIT be forced to enroll drop outs? If choice and competition is good at university level, why is it bad at the elementary level?

Right now, choice is only available to those who can afford posh neighborhoods or private schools. Vouchers would give comparable choice to everyone!

I don't think choice per se is bad, but at the same time choice does not automatically mean a better result.

What ASH notes above is that there is a dichotomy: on the one hand, we want to provide the best opportunities for growth for the best students. On the other hand, we want to have all students have the best opportunities for education.

In reality you cannot have both at the same time. The dynamics of vouchers will accelerate the stratification of education between the haves and have nots - because capacity limits still exist. If we gave every college student a $20000 voucher, they still couldn't go to Harvard. The schools which do better will, sooner or later, institute other barriers besides location and cost much as the best universities went from largely local attendees to a fully international student base.