Daily Show has the BEST discussion of what is truly wrong with US education system

[PA Democrat]

Jon Stewart interviews Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.

Surprise, surprise, poorest performing schools have the highest poverty rates and are the most racially isolated. Finland, which is cited as having the BEST education system has UNIONIZED teachers and does not have standardized testing. Finland also has very low child poverty rates.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-3-2011/diane-ravitch

[snappyturtle]

1. Excellent! Thanks for posting. nt

[PA Democrat]

2. Central Falls in Rhode Island fired all of its teachers.

Yet consider the socioeconomic conditions of the children in the district.

"Central Falls High is one of the lowest-performing schools in Rhode Island. It is in a community where median income is $22,000, census figures show.

Of the 800 students, 65 percent are Hispanic and for most of them, English is a second language. Half the students are failing every subject, with 55 percent skilled in reading and 7 percent proficient in math, officials said."

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-24/us/rhode.island.teachers_1_teachers-union-troubled-school-reading-specialists?_s=PM:US

Color me skeptical, but I don't think hiring all new teachers is going to change the fact that many of these kids are coming to school hungry and stressed out. Many started school very far behind kids from richer school districts. The research show that school readiness is a significant indicator of later performance. A kid where the parents speak little or no English is going to have a huge disadvantage from the start.

It's really time to stop scapegoating teachers and address our society's ills.

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. +1000

[patrice]

3. All of every family's problems are magnified in the environment called "Education".