Reply #27: 1. Smaller classes, first and foremost [View All]

No more than 15 students at the elementary level.

When I tutored street kids who were studying for their GEDs, I found that most of them couldn't do higher level arithmetic. They had a lot of trouble with such things as long division and fractions. When I asked them about their elementary school experiences, they said that they began struggling in about fourth or fifth grade, but with so many students in the class, the teacher never seemed to notice.

With 15 students in the class, a teacher can handle just about anything.

2. Raise both the pay and the qualifying standards for teachers. (Based on what I know of the Japanese system.) School teaching is the highest paying job that a new four-year graduate can get, and only the best students are allowed into education programs. Require high school teachers to have a major in the subjects they teach. No more of this giving the civics class to the football coach.

3. Set state standards for general content, but not the details of how the subjects are taught. Let teachers teach in the way that best suits their personalities but don't interfere as long as the students are learning.

4. Use standardized tests for internal reference only.

5. Maintain discipline and remove consistently disruptive students.

6. Emphasize core academic subjects and the arts. Be demanding enough to earn the respect that sports coaches automatically get in our warped culture.

7. Put sports in their proper place, as just another extra-curricular activity, not the school religion. According to an article that was in the Minneapolis paper lately, high school athletes spend 2-3 hours a day on their sport, outside of matches and games, and also work on extra conditioning. In such a situation, something has to give, and it's often academics, or, if the student is conscientious, sleep and sanity.

Other activities teach all the "virtues" that sports supposedly teach. Being in theater or a musical ensemble teaches teamwork, dependability, and hard work, for example.

(Oh, and that typical coach's claim that all the athletes are on the honor roll? How many of the A students are in sports just so they won't be tormented by other jocks? Quite a few, I bet. In my day, the phenomenon manifested itself as smart boys joining the football team and smart girls joining the cheerleading squad to avoid bullying or catty behavior.