umanouski wrote:luns101 wrote:d.gishman wrote: Looking at that video, when I see kids walking on desks or talking out or doing other stupid things in class, I see a bunch of spoiled American kids who don't realize all the benefits that they have.
I wish there was enough $$ in the budget to force our kids to go to 3rd world countries and witness what tough times are really like.
I said it before and i shall say it again. Monopolies suck. Competition in public schools should be used. Otherwise, it wont change.
If kids don't want to go to school, then fine. The world needs ditch diggers.
However, it is worth noting that several High School dropouts did go on to have successful careers. Peter Jennings and Woodrow Wilson spring to mind.
Plato said it best, "Physical exertion under compulsion does no harm to the body, but knowledge obtained under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."
All public schooling does (and I should know because I went through the sausage mill that is the modern High School) is teach kids how to do the minimum necessary to get by. There's no added bonus for applying yourself or being creative, so nobody bothers. They just do the least amount of work necessary to pass with a decent grade.
Unless they're trying to get into college, then they overload themselves with useless AP classes and more extracurricular activities than there are books in the Bible. Then they snap under the pressure and either drop out altogether or throw themselves into their work and forget how to have a life outside of school.
Fortunately, I escaped from the Necropolis that is the public school system and finished my last semester's worth of High School at a local community college. I did it in a week. Five months worth of class. Done in one single week. At my own pace.
Real challenging stuff, that high school work. So challenging and engaging that I polished it off in the same frame of time it took some to read the last Harry Potter book.
I support things like school vouchers for the same reason I use UPS instead of the US Postal Service. Supporting the competition forces the monopoly to raise its standards and improve.
Initiate discovery! Fire the Machines! Throw the switch Igor! THROW THE F***ING SWITCH!