<p>Anyone else watching this tonight? </p>
<p><a href=“John Stossel's 'Stupid in America' - ABC News”>http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338</a></p>
<p>Stossel is an excellent reporter and he is never afraid to report what he thinks is right… It should be very good…</p>
<p>Sounds interesting - will try to tune in. I like John Stossel too. Also re: TV, did anyone happen to catch “Country Boys” on PBS this past week? They re-ran it last night. It boggles the mind to see the challenges those kids (US rural poor) face to get an education, and a chance at a decent life. Worth watching if you can catch it.</p>
<p>I really admire Stossel - he seems to eschew political correctness and report the facts, wherever they lead. A reporter’s reporter.</p>
<p>He might be a very good reporter, I don’t know, but the piece linked to (don’t know if it was by him) certainly had a very strong pro-market perspective. Which might even be the right thing to do, but it doesn’t come across as very impartial.</p>
<p>john stossel is not a reporter but a political hack in reporter’s clothing. he only reports on things that make his free-market perspective look great, like a recent show where he took a few really rich young people who give to charity to show why we don’t need welfare. the reason he doesn’t come across as impartial, saintjude, is because he’s not.</p>
<p>As a sidebar, last night I read the the Stossel bulletin board. It is great to read the comments of educators who posted after seeing the advanced clips. A good number of intelligent educators have posted well constructed opinions. Of course, they were joined by the others who still brandish the hammer and sickle flag and criticize the report’s intent before even seeing it. After all, they have principles or as they write principals. One fairly easy giveaway, the posts of the second group are written in what appears or pretends to be English. Of course, it is hard to think and write with bloodshed eyes and a closed mind. </p>
<p>For what it is worth, John Stossel would not have a hard time finding similar stories. As far as being impartial, let’s look at where PC and playing nice brought us so far in reinventing our rotten-to-the-core education model. Do we need to hit the true bottom in the western world before acknowledging that the people we put in charge have to be shown the door?</p>
<p>Stossel is great, and even if you don’t agree with him, you can’t ignore the fact that US schools are nowhere near as strong as they should be. </p>
<p>He seems impartial enough to me, and somewhat of a unique reporter on TV. He’s not the typical talking head seen on foxnews, ABC, cnn, etc, etc, etc.</p>
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<p>I’m not saying that his analysis is necessarily incorrect and obviously I haven’t seen the program. I’m just pointing out that based on the linked article (which may not even be by him but purports to represent the views of the program), he has a very clear and definite perspective on the issue (the market will sort it out) and so it doesn’t seem like it will be a give-both-sides-of-the-situation type piece.</p>
<p>Honestly, it’s probably a combo of people at fault. There are bad teachers, bad adminstrators, bad parents, bad students, bad schools, leaky roofs, bad mold/dust, bad cafeteria food (hey, why are kids getting fatter?), not enough funds in some places, just plain a lot of bad stuff.</p>
<p>Although, I do wonder–Any parents have students in private schools or students in private schools that can share on how good their schools are for a comparison? Are private schools on average better than public ones?</p>
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<p>If they weren’t, what would be the point in paying for them? Although I suppose some good public schools might be better than some bad private schools.</p>
<p>In New York they may not be able to fire the bad teachers - but that’s not the case everywhere. Texas teachers are not unionized, and do not have the right to strike. Bad teachers are let go.</p>
<p>Roger, you might want to look at this:</p>
<p><a href=“FAIR - FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.”>FAIR - FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.;
<p>Yes, FAIR tends to be liberal. They fact check pretty carefully,and give sources.</p>
<p>Here is a link to an article about the Oakland charter school mentioned in the article:</p>
<p><a href=“http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/16/MNGAKG93SS1.DTL[/url]”>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/16/MNGAKG93SS1.DTL</a></p>
<p>bluealien - I have a kid in private school. I do think it’s better for him than the public school. It’s not cheaper, though. I pay about three times what the public school receives for my son’s education.</p>
<p>Why is it better?
Every student is there to learn. They all take the most challenging courses they can handle. That means my son can’t slide by doing mediocre work and getting As for it. The standards are very high.
No students with any kind of learning handicap, developmental difference or physical handicap go to the school. One could argue that this school isn’t better for this fact - I concede. But it does make it possible for a small school to afford to pay their teachers more than the public school pays them, which then attracts excellent, caring faculty, most having advanced degrees (Phd.s are common) in their subject area. The teachers come from all over the country.
There are a few support systems at the school for those with very minor learning problems, but for the most part, it’s not a school that would nurture those who aren’t able to keep up.
There are no discipline problems. None. If kids become a problem, they’re gone. (You are the weakest link. Good-bye!)
Along with excellent teachers and dilligent students, the school provides enough extra-curricular opportunites, sports, outdoor educational opportunities, musical, art and theater opportunites, that my son can receive a well-rounded experience. They have leadership and citizenship requirements, as well as community service expectations. The student body is fairly diverse as well. It awards need scholarships to about 25% of the student body, and kids come from all over- not just our well-to-do suburb- to attend.
Like I said, we pay about three times the public school cost for this rather exceptional experience. Even with all of this, the school isn’t perfect. (surprise!)</p>
<p>I plan to watch the show. From the sound of the article, it’s one sided, but I don’t think it pretends not to be, so that doesn’t bother me. ( I’m only peeved if a show pretends to be “fair and balanced.”)<br>
I would like to see more shows that will provoke discussion on this topic, as surely, many of our schools are not serving the kids, or our country as well as they might. Maybe the Europeans have an idea - track the kids at 15-16 into academic or trade tracks. It would certainly raise our test scores! In th Los Angeles School District, the majority of the kids are from immigrant families, many non-English speaking. We also need to address that problem. As it stands, we lump all test scores together - special ed, non english, everyone is counted- when evaluating our schools, which of course, don’t have the luxury of excluding those they can’t adaquately serve. We need to find a solution that works for every segment of our society.</p>
<p>Edit: We need to find a solution that works for the average, and the less fortunate in our society. The rich are already well served.</p>
<p>Yeah im definately gonna watch this show. Im really dissatified with my HS because we seem to be catoring to those who are below avg and dont want to try heavily and those who wish to exceed whats expected are just left with nothing(including no budget :P)
I do think our system as a whole need to atleast attempt to facilitate those who show a chance to be above average
The problem is yes we do need to help people who need it but at what point are we shooting ourselves in the foot?</p>
<p>so yes I will try to watch it since Im off work :P</p>
<p>My public HS was a third tier P-O-S. I will be watching this show.</p>
<p>our state spends less than 60% of the education budget in the classroom
a new initiative aims to change that
I like the sound of it- waiting to hear more- but throwing more money at the overall system isn’t helping, so perhaps being more delibrate with our money might
<a href=“http://www.firstclasseducation.org/[/url]”>http://www.firstclasseducation.org/</a></p>
<p>It’s on the east coast @ 10 PM.</p>