I lived through the implementation of “No Child Left Behind” and the federalization of the school system it caused. Schools no longer teach reason, logic, critical thought. They teach you to memorize dates and facts, and spit them out when prompted.
My tests used to be:
* 10 Multiple Guess
* 5 Fill in the blank
* 5 Short Answer
* 1 Essay out of a choice of 2 or 3 topics
They became:
* 25 Multiple Guess
Also school “administrators” have bloated because of the increased federal funding. That funding didn’t go to education, it went to administration. My school used to have 1 Principal, 1 Vice Principal. Now it has 2 Co-Principals and 4 Vice Principals one for each grade. Not to mention all the administrators to deal with all the red tape and paperwork for the federal funding.
It’s absolute lunacy. For fuck sake some schools have a “No Zero” policy whereby the teacher *CAN NOT* give a zero, the lowest grade is a 50. As in turn in nothing, not even a blank sheet of paper, and you get a 50. Because if their test scores dip, they will lose funding, and then maybe have to fire some administrators.
It has been an unmitigated disaster.
seobrien on
Really not rocket science
The cost of education is exploding, American performance relative to the world is waning, teacher pay is crap, schools take zero accountability for problems, and curriculum can’t keep pace with innovation.
Please, someone refute me and explain what the DoE has done well for us? I’m open to understanding why it should be supported but I see nothing warranting the cause.
Exciting_Vast7739 on
Public goods, like education, are better administered when their funding and implementation are done at the local level. The more user-level eyes and choices involved, the better. If my school district is wasting money, I can see it because it’s in my backyard, and I can complain to the school board. If the Department of Education is wasting money…I have no idea. And if I don’t like their policies, I have to have a few million dollars to pay lobbyists in DC to do something about it.
The federal Department of Education is attempting to make educational policy at a level that is not very accountable to individual end-users/beneficiaries. The decision-makers at the federal level are not available for monitoring, complaints, or feedback because they are so far removed from the people who are effected by their decisions.
Generally, the United States needs to (and is) moving away from centralizing services through the national government, and return them to the states. This enables people to have better targeted public services, that are more responsive to the needs and wants of the people using them.
It has an additional benefit, in that we don’t have a big billion dollar football that political parties wage very expensive wars over every 2-4 years. There isn’t a big prize for political parties to win because the funds are spent (and policies generated) locally where people are generally more friendly and understanding towards each other.
Hash_Slinging-Slashr on
Liberals, especially those on Reddit, exist in a state of constant paradox.
On one hand: “The school system is terrible and teaches children to be robots and remove creativity.”
On the other: “Abolish the DoE?! Are you insane? How will we school the children?!”
Joaaayknows on
The question is what’s the alternative? Can everyone here afford private school for their children? I certainly can’t. Not at the expense of my retirement, and I make well above the median household income. I’d expect most people financially responsible to say the same.
Blowing up the system we have does not solve the problem of children being poorly educated.
Stiks-n-Bones on
Agreed.
I have wondered that If the government focuses on infrastructure (tech in particular) , the whole methodology for learning can change without the DOE.
Learning and classes can be taught and administered by fewer teachers (and dare I say AI?) to a broader range of students on their time schedules for far less cost.
How will kids socialize? There are plenty of communities with volunteer with the edict to bring sports, arts, music, etc to young people. There is also just the parks.
The issue in this scenario will be Childcare for working couples. Perhaps there could be community centers that offer a central place for pre high school students? Or go back to the little red schoolhouse days where the younger students are supervised and taught by older ones…. dunno.
Tandy_Raney3223 on
Let’s just say it, if the government is doing it then the free market would be doing it better. Stop funding schools, let me choose where my child is educated.
Barskor1 on
Public education is to serve the interests of the government not students and that is why it needs to end.
Various_Locksmith_73 on
DEI woke nonsense
SynapticSignal on
Yeah, the standardized testing has definitely been the greatest bane to come from the department of education. And I’ve experienced working with Texas school teachers working with a company that builds web apps for testing. A lot of teachers I spoke to sounded like what they were going through was a nightmare when it came to standardized tests.
I remember hearing them cry about how overwhelming The whole process was for the kids.
I hope to God that this goes through, It would be a saving Grace for kids
jangohutch on
Education is horrible, not even anecdotally speaking, hard data proves this. It spends a small fortune on each kid and school has become the most lame duck going through the motions grift i’ve ever seen.
That being said I hate the teachers union more. Its a disgrace of a union that cares more about self preservation than it does the well being of the kids
Chance-Vacation on
I have a degree applicable to secondary education, did student teaching, and ran off to the corporate world of education. Pay, red tape, and administrative types have pulled the teacher away from actually teaching.
12 Comments
Because it’s been a disaster.
I lived through the implementation of “No Child Left Behind” and the federalization of the school system it caused. Schools no longer teach reason, logic, critical thought. They teach you to memorize dates and facts, and spit them out when prompted.
My tests used to be:
* 10 Multiple Guess
* 5 Fill in the blank
* 5 Short Answer
* 1 Essay out of a choice of 2 or 3 topics
They became:
* 25 Multiple Guess
Also school “administrators” have bloated because of the increased federal funding. That funding didn’t go to education, it went to administration. My school used to have 1 Principal, 1 Vice Principal. Now it has 2 Co-Principals and 4 Vice Principals one for each grade. Not to mention all the administrators to deal with all the red tape and paperwork for the federal funding.
[Administrator growth have outpaced student growth by 10x](https://www.americanexperiment.org/district-admin-growth-10x-greater-than-student-teacher-growth/) That’s a lot of money *NOT* funding education.
[Absolute. Fucking. Madness.](https://files.americanexperiment.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-17-at-12.51.51-PM-768×472-1.png)
It’s absolute lunacy. For fuck sake some schools have a “No Zero” policy whereby the teacher *CAN NOT* give a zero, the lowest grade is a 50. As in turn in nothing, not even a blank sheet of paper, and you get a 50. Because if their test scores dip, they will lose funding, and then maybe have to fire some administrators.
It has been an unmitigated disaster.
Really not rocket science
The cost of education is exploding, American performance relative to the world is waning, teacher pay is crap, schools take zero accountability for problems, and curriculum can’t keep pace with innovation.
Please, someone refute me and explain what the DoE has done well for us? I’m open to understanding why it should be supported but I see nothing warranting the cause.
Public goods, like education, are better administered when their funding and implementation are done at the local level. The more user-level eyes and choices involved, the better. If my school district is wasting money, I can see it because it’s in my backyard, and I can complain to the school board. If the Department of Education is wasting money…I have no idea. And if I don’t like their policies, I have to have a few million dollars to pay lobbyists in DC to do something about it.
The federal Department of Education is attempting to make educational policy at a level that is not very accountable to individual end-users/beneficiaries. The decision-makers at the federal level are not available for monitoring, complaints, or feedback because they are so far removed from the people who are effected by their decisions.
Generally, the United States needs to (and is) moving away from centralizing services through the national government, and return them to the states. This enables people to have better targeted public services, that are more responsive to the needs and wants of the people using them.
It has an additional benefit, in that we don’t have a big billion dollar football that political parties wage very expensive wars over every 2-4 years. There isn’t a big prize for political parties to win because the funds are spent (and policies generated) locally where people are generally more friendly and understanding towards each other.
Liberals, especially those on Reddit, exist in a state of constant paradox.
On one hand: “The school system is terrible and teaches children to be robots and remove creativity.”
On the other: “Abolish the DoE?! Are you insane? How will we school the children?!”
The question is what’s the alternative? Can everyone here afford private school for their children? I certainly can’t. Not at the expense of my retirement, and I make well above the median household income. I’d expect most people financially responsible to say the same.
Blowing up the system we have does not solve the problem of children being poorly educated.
Agreed.
I have wondered that If the government focuses on infrastructure (tech in particular) , the whole methodology for learning can change without the DOE.
Learning and classes can be taught and administered by fewer teachers (and dare I say AI?) to a broader range of students on their time schedules for far less cost.
How will kids socialize? There are plenty of communities with volunteer with the edict to bring sports, arts, music, etc to young people. There is also just the parks.
The issue in this scenario will be Childcare for working couples. Perhaps there could be community centers that offer a central place for pre high school students? Or go back to the little red schoolhouse days where the younger students are supervised and taught by older ones…. dunno.
Let’s just say it, if the government is doing it then the free market would be doing it better. Stop funding schools, let me choose where my child is educated.
Public education is to serve the interests of the government not students and that is why it needs to end.
DEI woke nonsense
Yeah, the standardized testing has definitely been the greatest bane to come from the department of education. And I’ve experienced working with Texas school teachers working with a company that builds web apps for testing. A lot of teachers I spoke to sounded like what they were going through was a nightmare when it came to standardized tests.
I remember hearing them cry about how overwhelming The whole process was for the kids.
I hope to God that this goes through, It would be a saving Grace for kids
Education is horrible, not even anecdotally speaking, hard data proves this. It spends a small fortune on each kid and school has become the most lame duck going through the motions grift i’ve ever seen.
That being said I hate the teachers union more. Its a disgrace of a union that cares more about self preservation than it does the well being of the kids
I have a degree applicable to secondary education, did student teaching, and ran off to the corporate world of education. Pay, red tape, and administrative types have pulled the teacher away from actually teaching.