Proper education a luxury?

That movie perfectly presents a principal, root problem of why the USA is what it is today. The examples in the movie are extreme, from very low income areas, but this is an overall problem. The average public school in the U.S. is a daycare center or a minimum security prison, not education. It's incredibly difficult to fire tenured teachers in this system so teachers generally never get fired. From the perspective of the kids, opportunity is not awarded by merit. It's awarded by luck of family financial status or literally a lottery such as in this movie. The lack of opportunities all this creates for the alleged students is bad enough, but even beyond ghettos Americans are generally uneducated. An uneducated population is the tool of tyrants.

Not to say that what is considered the right wing in any way is promoting education in this country. The Texas cheerleader governor could tell you about that. It's common knowledge they oppose egalitarian policies of opportunity, but this is the one time where the supposed left wing is actually the corrupt one, or at the very least a big player in the whole scheme. Unions are a tool for workers' rights, but the federation of teachers union is a blight on this country. They are every bit as corrupt as any corporate special interest, putting their own interests above everything. Reforms have not done a thing for decades yet they keep stalling with the same rhetoric. There are many cases where less funded areas with alternate systems did better than the old system getting more money. That movie illustrates how democrats in harlem have to play ball with the teachers union or they pay the price. These unions oppose proven charter schools over internal interests.

How is it that this continues to be ignored? Probably because it's not sensational or thrilling. It's a bit boring to think of little kids in a classroom doing their little math problems, but rest assured that neglecting this is how we got to this point and what will be the downfall of this country if it continues.

‘(Herrnstein and Murray’s) ‘The Bell Curve’ is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85% per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to do with culture. The whites score an average 100. (East) Asians score more…the ‘Bell Curve’ authors put it at least 10 points higher. These are realities that, if you do not accept, will lead to frustration because you will be spending money on wrong assumptions and the results cannot follow.’

- Lee Kuan Yew,. Prime Minister /Minister Mentor Of Singapore (Quoted in the Official Biography)

IQ is a contrivance without any real world merit. This isn't about some opinion from Singapore. Only thing I find appealing about Singapore is the caning of underage vandals. Forget the black/white thing.

Despite the setting of this movie, my real point here is the American vs. others "bell curve", which has been illustrated often. It doesn't make Americans the blacks of the industrialized world, or does it?

Originally posted by xyzoneon:

IQ is a contrivance without any real world merit.

All it measures is your ability to do a certain test. How exactly that's independent from culture, education and experience from previous tests etc. remains a mystery. ( cue some huffing, puffing and unverifiable book references from oakdale )

IQ is not mentioned in UN's universal declaration of human rights article 26.

Article 26:
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=23124

Originally posted by SteveJames:

No, Not if you are the rich son of an American President, no I don't think they would like [equal opportunity for education]. And whats the point of being rich if you don't have privelidges?

Yeah, the ultra rich buying their interests for 31 years is a principal reason why we have an elitist culture of education, if not the principal reason. But the important point is identifying the problem for what it is. People still seem to believe that education is a bonus and not a country's essence for quality of life. The fact that it's still up for debate, and the fact that it takes a backseat to bandaid rhetoric like the deficit shows how fast the country is racing towards the iceberg.

Kinbd of sweeping although there is a degree of some truth in that. However I have relations who came from a working clas background and edcuation and made their way in life alhtough not rich. They sent their offspring to a private school and they in turn did the sdame. Not rich but comfortable. If they wish to do that such is their right. It doesn't neccessarily follow that private edcuation is somehow automatically dangerous. Most private schools I find have scholarships for bright children from lesser off backgrounds. At 12 I passed an exam to have the opportunity of going to a private school but as I had also passed a test to go to a higher type of State school my pals were all going so went there.

Why British Education Sucks 5 Comments and 0 Reactions Posted by Commie B on October 24, 2009 at 12:58 pm God bless Terry Leahy. He’s the first British businessman to have the guts to say it as it is: British education sucks. It’s built to fail its students and only gives the country a bleek future. Yet no one understands what the reason for this lack of quality education or high-class students is. Apparently, politicians (and there’s your first problem) who run the education system have forgotten the basic principle of garbage in garbage out and businesses have become so accustomed to incompetence that they simply assume it is the norm. Well, it’s not in many other countries across the world.
http://www.asifism.com/why/why-british-education-sucks/

Bottom of the form The chancellor looks for ways to improve Germany’s mediocre schools

Oct 16th 2008 | BERLIN |
AMID her other distractions Angela Merkel’s attention will on October 22nd shift to a new issue: the poor state of German education. She is gathering the premiers from all of Germany’s 16 states for an “education summit” in Dresden. Its vaunted aim is to transform Germany from a mediocre performer into a dazzling “education republic”.

Life's a bitch and then you die.

UK and Germany school systems look great next to USA. Even if we ignore the test scores and prison rate, the very fact that the Chancellor of Germany gathered an "education summit" shows the standards. Those countries compare themselves to Scandinavian school systems and perhaps some in Asia. USA only beats some 3rd world countries, subjectively. An analogy to this USA apologism would be like the argument of Closed vs. Open source both being insecure due to security bulletins, while ignoring the context of who publishes and what under each and what is done about it. Or it would be like comparing the Canadian right wing to the absurd clown show in the USA. The point is the biggest power in the world having one of the worst school systems in the developed world doesn't add up and is not sustainable. Society in the USA considers union teachers' benefits above what the kids are getting out of it, or at least it doesn't care enough to challenge it. There is no hope of any future for the USA if this is not fixed, other than being another 3rd world oligarchy.

Unfortunately yet again the world's riches power still in the doldrums has an educational problem. Is there no end to this situation?

Pity life is a bitch Jaybro even after immigrating to Michigan? Gee. How lucky I am to have something positive about my life and we don't have a Michigan!

I prefer to say instruction rather than education. Instruction everyone gets it at school, education one gets it at home.
So, no Jesuits, no quality instruction. No values at home, no education.
This doesn't have nothing to do with rich and poor.

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Unfortunately yet again the world's riches power still in the doldrums has an educational problem. Is there no end to this situation?

Pity life is a bitch Jaybro even after immigrating to Michigan? Gee. How lucky I am to have something positive about my life and we don't have a Michigan!

It's endless. We envy Scotland.

And yet we beggar on. My life is wonderful, although the day is bleak and damp. Still, the squirrels are busy at the feeder I made for them. They like the sunflower seeds and dried corn.

On the "bitch" business, that's simply a paraphrase of that famous Brit, Thomas Hobbes, who wrote
that life is "solitary, poor, nasty, short".

Originally posted by Belfrager:

I prefer to say instruction rather than education. Instruction everyone gets it at school, education one gets it at home.
So, no Jesuits, no quality instruction.

That gives "Jesuitical" an entirely new meaning.

With respect I don't think I'm missing out much on the Jesuitical!

Occupy Education! Nuff said..

Occupy Education! Nuff said..

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Kinbd of sweeping although there is a degree of some truth in that. However I have relations who came from a working clas background and edcuation and made their way in life alhtough not rich.

Could they spell correctly?

Originally posted by operainchicago:

Occupy Education! Nuff said..

Originally posted by operainchicago:

Occupy Education! Nuff said..

You're stuttering.
You're stuttering.