It's not fair or rational, but my gut reaction to school choice is pretty much driven by the fact that its proponents make such bad arguments, particularly Corey DeAngelis. That's not a reason to reject it, but it's a reason my gut does, or at least, refuses to take it seriously.
But locking people into their neighborhood schools, so that people living where less tax is collected get a lower-quality education, is obviously a formula for a permanent underclass.
Anyway, there are two answers to why kids don't know history. The old answer is the same reason they don't know math - it's a fascinating subject taught in a boring way. So many teachers just drone through dates without real stories. History is people! Fighting! About ideas sometimes! It's not just dates.
The new answer, as you note, is a concerted effort to bend, twist, and make sure it's not taught. A conservative takeover of the school board used to mean a cut in property taxes and less money for the band. Now it means you don't learn about segregation.
Another thing that makes me kind of squicked out by school choice and anything under the "parents' rights" umbrella is that parents already have so much power over their children, and schools are one of the few checks on that power. My parents both had demons they couldn't handle, and school was my safe refuge. I am so glad it was mandatory!
For a lot of parents, the "best" schools will include heavy indoctrination, being cut off from resources about mental health, safe sex etc.
I honestly don't know! I feel like the kids need some sort of safeguard/lifeline, but the whole idea of being homeschooled gives me so much anxiety, I can't even have a rational opinion, lol
Yea, a simple sounding idea can get complicated so fast. I share your concern over the newly-popular "parents' rights" language. Actually, I feel like I saw some of the battle lines being drawn a decade or so ago, with Lenore Skenazy's work. She never answered the question whether being "free range" was a right of parents or of kids, and there was lots of fighting in the comments that came down to that. Do parents have a right to send their kids to school where they don't learn to read, because parents want them to stay in the religious community, as has been happening in some parts of NY?
I'd argue libertarian thought is underdeveloped because it's become frozen. It's gone from a philosophical program to a stilted, frigid clique that smacks anyone who steps out of line and screams about NAP a lot. Anyone thinking critically is "not a real libertarian."
Teaching is hard work and takes highly skilled teachers--today we start with kids who aren't interested in learning and who often arrive at school with all kinds of issues you mention from hunger to learning disabilities and the task of teaching, e.g., helping kids learn something becomes difficult to say the least. I agree some path to certification makes sense and hands on active learning (project based) should be the standard and doing away with public unions also makes sense, but we also need a different reward system where the hard work teachers must do to succeed in helping kids learn is rewarded and recognized.
You know what else went up since the 1970s? Allowing students with special education needs to attend public school. "In 1970, U.S. schools educated only one in five children with disabilities, and many states had laws excluding certain students, including children who were deaf, blind, emotionally disturbed, or had an intellectual disability."
Students with special education needs are very expensive to educate. "According to 2019 estimates by the California Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), the average annual cost of educating a student with disabilities — $27,000 — is almost triple the cost to educate a student without disabilities — about $10,000."
4) Most student achievement is out of the hands of teachers: "the vast majority (about 60 percent) of the differences in student test scores are explained by individual and family background characteristics. All the influences of a school, including school-, teacher-, and class-level variables, both measurable and immeasurable, were found to account for approximately 21 percent of the variation in student achievement. " https://www.educationnext.org/the-mystery-of-good-teaching/
School choice is also basically irrelevant in a lot of rural areas that often struggle to keep a single school open.
I've long thought that the biggest impact of robust school choice would be on metropolitan real estate markets, because white parents would no longer have to use housing as a way to get the segregated schools they really desire.
It's not fair or rational, but my gut reaction to school choice is pretty much driven by the fact that its proponents make such bad arguments, particularly Corey DeAngelis. That's not a reason to reject it, but it's a reason my gut does, or at least, refuses to take it seriously.
But locking people into their neighborhood schools, so that people living where less tax is collected get a lower-quality education, is obviously a formula for a permanent underclass.
Anyway, there are two answers to why kids don't know history. The old answer is the same reason they don't know math - it's a fascinating subject taught in a boring way. So many teachers just drone through dates without real stories. History is people! Fighting! About ideas sometimes! It's not just dates.
The new answer, as you note, is a concerted effort to bend, twist, and make sure it's not taught. A conservative takeover of the school board used to mean a cut in property taxes and less money for the band. Now it means you don't learn about segregation.
Another thing that makes me kind of squicked out by school choice and anything under the "parents' rights" umbrella is that parents already have so much power over their children, and schools are one of the few checks on that power. My parents both had demons they couldn't handle, and school was my safe refuge. I am so glad it was mandatory!
For a lot of parents, the "best" schools will include heavy indoctrination, being cut off from resources about mental health, safe sex etc.
Yeah that’s a really tricky subject. How do you feel about regulating homeschooling?
I honestly don't know! I feel like the kids need some sort of safeguard/lifeline, but the whole idea of being homeschooled gives me so much anxiety, I can't even have a rational opinion, lol
Yea, a simple sounding idea can get complicated so fast. I share your concern over the newly-popular "parents' rights" language. Actually, I feel like I saw some of the battle lines being drawn a decade or so ago, with Lenore Skenazy's work. She never answered the question whether being "free range" was a right of parents or of kids, and there was lots of fighting in the comments that came down to that. Do parents have a right to send their kids to school where they don't learn to read, because parents want them to stay in the religious community, as has been happening in some parts of NY?
I think libertarian thought is extremely underdeveloped visa vis children, to say the least.
You could have stopped after the first 7 words.
I'd argue libertarian thought is underdeveloped because it's become frozen. It's gone from a philosophical program to a stilted, frigid clique that smacks anyone who steps out of line and screams about NAP a lot. Anyone thinking critically is "not a real libertarian."
Agree on all points. Except that math is fascinating 😂
You probably weren't taught it right.
Teaching is hard work and takes highly skilled teachers--today we start with kids who aren't interested in learning and who often arrive at school with all kinds of issues you mention from hunger to learning disabilities and the task of teaching, e.g., helping kids learn something becomes difficult to say the least. I agree some path to certification makes sense and hands on active learning (project based) should be the standard and doing away with public unions also makes sense, but we also need a different reward system where the hard work teachers must do to succeed in helping kids learn is rewarded and recognized.
Completely agree. Teacher pay is so fucked, as is admin bloat.
You know what else went up since the 1970s? Allowing students with special education needs to attend public school. "In 1970, U.S. schools educated only one in five children with disabilities, and many states had laws excluding certain students, including children who were deaf, blind, emotionally disturbed, or had an intellectual disability."
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-History
Students with special education needs are very expensive to educate. "According to 2019 estimates by the California Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), the average annual cost of educating a student with disabilities — $27,000 — is almost triple the cost to educate a student without disabilities — about $10,000."
https://ed100.org/blog/special-education-costs-flood-school-budgets
I would suggest that the reason that students score poorly on social studies tests has multiple underlying causes:
1) US students reading (decoding) skills are poor in general (https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/ )
2) US students need background knowledge in order to read well (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP6qpSrr3cg&ab_channel=clwschwartz)
3) US students aren't taught much social studies: https://www.the74million.org/article/teachers-have-2-hours-a-week-to-teach-social-studies-prepare-informed-citizens/
4) Most student achievement is out of the hands of teachers: "the vast majority (about 60 percent) of the differences in student test scores are explained by individual and family background characteristics. All the influences of a school, including school-, teacher-, and class-level variables, both measurable and immeasurable, were found to account for approximately 21 percent of the variation in student achievement. " https://www.educationnext.org/the-mystery-of-good-teaching/
And finally, the context matters. Social studies achievement is a a small part of the constellation of the drop in student achievement post-covid: https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2022-10-24/pandemic-prompts-historic-decline-in-student-achievement-on-nations-report-card
FYI, nearly all (98%) of public school systems already offer a career and technical education pathway https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=43
The vast majority of high school graduates are either employed or in college or both:
"Recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in October 2022 were about twice
as likely to be in the labor force as graduates enrolled in college (69.2 percent versus
31.4 percent, respectively). For both groups, labor force participation was little
changed from the previous year. The unemployment rate of recent graduates enrolled in
college (11.1 percent) was lower than the jobless rates for recent high school graduates
not enrolled in college (18.3 percent) and recent high school dropouts (18.5 percent)."
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm
I would also argue that our schools are not failing.
https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-failing.html
This is so much great data, thank you!!
School choice is also basically irrelevant in a lot of rural areas that often struggle to keep a single school open.
I've long thought that the biggest impact of robust school choice would be on metropolitan real estate markets, because white parents would no longer have to use housing as a way to get the segregated schools they really desire.
That’s a super interesting point!