[MD] Imaginings

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[John]
Platt sez vouchers. John agrees.

[Arlo]
Arlo disagrees. "Public" is NOT the problem. Both Finland and Japan's
educational systems rank best in the world, atop the "private" education in
other countries. 

Ask what they do differently, the answer is kind of simple.

They value education. Parents, communities, entrepreneurs are all invested
heavily, they volunteer, they are involved, the schools are integrated very
heavily into the natural rhythm of the community. 

In America we see a reverse phenomenon. Not only are our schools deliberately
"cut-off" from relevance in the daily lives of the students, but a large
segment of our population spends countless hours each week deriding and
attacking the schools. 

We all want to improve the educational system. But the way to do this is to see
what the actual problems are. One, as I've said many times, is that we also
suffer from a psychosis of rationale. "Why" do we educate in the first place?

Is it to produce knowledgeable voters to sustain our democracy? Is it to
produce skilled labor for the job market? Is it to instill enlightenment
understandings? Exposure to the arts? To prepare students for "higher"
education? To fuel scientific research? All of these? Because each of these has
unique curricular choices. 

But the biggest "boondoggle", to repurpose your word, continues to be real
community investment. The schools need to be brought in-line with real world
activity, real-world relevance, and this is achieved when parents, those in the
community, entrepreneurs, people other-than-teachers in the community become
involved, invested and an active part of the process.

But you won't see that happen any time soon. 

Rest of what you say I agree with, some really good ideas there. :-)