Funny political pictures

[Griff]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I have a lot of problems with the education system as it is. The idea of a massified and uniform approach to something as fluid and invidual as learning seems clunky and inadequate. And the insistence on attendance, coupled with sanctions against children and parents for non-compliance seems heavy handed. A one size fits all system is never going to answer the whole question of teaching and learning.

But. Wherever education is left to the private sector it fails or completely barrs the lowest economic strata. Where education is not mandated, gender inequality becomes much greater. It was only in my mother's generation that if a family had enough money to send one child to college and university they'd almost always choose the son, because girls left work when they got married. Without mandated education families forced to choose which children were educated would make a calculation based on many such factors. Such is the way of it in some countries now.

Heartily agree.

Parents are just people. They know their individual child better than anyone. But they are no more or less likely to make good decisions than anybody else.

Heartily disagree. The say 10-20% of children our system fails today have those parents but they rest do not. Those kids were uneducated before and remain uneducated. Public ed gives them the opportunity but few take it.

The system as it is is inadequate for the needs of modern society. Its inflexibility is increasing at just the wrong time. I am in no way arguing for less funding, but I am arguing for more of an open system with more choice.