New Jersey Supreme Court Orders State To Restore $500 Million

[JB3]

Families are never irrelevant when you are providing for their support!

They are when what you're discussing has nothing whatsoever to do with them. (or the teachers for that matter)

 

[JB3]

Could you explain this comment in bold?

You usually come off as an intelligent guy (albeit hard-headed like yours truly). Because of that, I find it hard to believe that you think simply throwing money at the situation will do any good at all.

Money is only a small part of the problem in education. There are other far more pressing issues to deal with.

 

[JB3]

Oh. What are just TWO issues that are more important that you think should be addressed, and are these issues state-specific or generally true for the entire nation?

1) The failure of revamped curriculum and assessments to actually result in smarter students that will be able to compete in a global economy when they're older.

2) Unclear and vague standards nationally, and a mess of local and state standards that often leave school districts being pulled in multiple directions and failing in most or all of them as a result.

Neither of those have anything to do with money. They have EVERYTHING to do with politics preempting the knowledge and experience of educators and administrators. More often than not these days you'll hear about vouchers and charter schools as the 'hot topic' in education; the reality is that those issues are the public-facing side of districts and states attempting to deal with curricular and standards problems. They are experiments to attempt to fix those problems, with solutions that they hope will be applicable on a larger scale.

 

[JB3]

I'm not a fan of the voucher or charter school concept. I'm also against revisionist history, such as the conservatives in Texas re-writing history, and the attempts to pretend Creationism by any name is science.

Anyway, thanks for the answer. I agree with you. As an aside, and you don't have to reveal this if you don't wish, but I recall someone on here was a grade school teacher, or some such--- is that you? If so, I'm certain you could write a book of what all you find wrong about local, state, and federal meddling in making your job more difficult than it already is.

Personally I think a targeted use of Charter schools can be a good thing, but I think its still very much experimental. Same with vouchers. I don't think they're applicable nationwide though.

Not a grade school teacher, but a music teacher. My master's thesis is on assessment, so I've studied (and will continue to study) things like No Child Left Behind and the aftermath of them. I could go on and on and on about all that's wrong with education these days, but I won't bore you guys with it haha.