Issues like this are the main reason States were given and should be able to retain their rights as separate entities UNITED under a single country. I have always felt that education is not a "one size fits all" type of institution. There are many different contributing factors. States and local governments are MUCH better suited to be able to teach our youth without federal government involvement.

Our education system has been in decline since the start of the Department of Education. More money has been spent per student and on a global scale, our children are getting a worse education. You might write this off as coincidence, but I find this as a root problem. It's also one of the main reasons why the No Student Left Behind law won't work. It's just not the right solution for all schools.

Man... If the french teacher looked like that when I was in HS?

Man listen...

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A big part of the problem is also jobs. Here in the states, where we've been destroying the working and middle classes since Reagan, nobody makes enough money to have a full time parent at home, or even to have a sit down breakfast like those folks did.

Conserves are quick to "blame" the parents about poor work in school, but refuse to do anything about the poor state of working conditions in America. When both parents (if applicable) have to work 3 jobs just to pay the mortgage, family time with the kids suffers.

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That's a factor to some extent, but if we're going to step that far out from the education industry to look for contributing problems, we could also mention parents whose babies are born substance-addicted (five born at the local hospital last week and four were suffering from that), and the use of corn in ethanol causing food prices to go up. Yet somehow it always comes back to an attack on Reagan...

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Therein lies much oc the problem. The PTB want to turn our education system into and industry and make a profit on it. Bad things happen when you do this. Look at our medical system.....ooops, sorry, it's pretty much an industry now.

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This.

Figures one of the resident liberals would say the Constitution is bullshit and doesn't apply to today.

That sounds so hick that if not for the content, I'd think you were a conservative.

Okay, certainly. Let's pretend instead that all fifty states are all precisely the same in regards to demographics, resources, predominant industries, commerce, financial health, regional economic roles, social atmospheres, immigration impacts, climate and meteorological considerations, transportation accessibility, defense importance, infrastructure, all the connections in between, and each's impact upon local educational needs. Then we have the right to act as if the government deserves to be making one-size-fits-all laws. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

The Bill of Rights included an entire amendment to specifically redirect to the states any powers not directly and explicitly delegated to the federal government. I'd say that the Constitution, at the very least, places much more significance onto the idea than you do, which appears to be "none".

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BTW, are you for states-rights when Wash & Co legalized marijuana?

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That's weak sauce!

I don't have a huge opinion on the legalization of pot. I don't smoke it, I don't purchase it. Seems like some benefits for legalization and some negative.

The legalization of pot at a state level doesn't mean shit without the acceptance by the federal government. They can choose to ignore it, but it's still illegal.

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RIP ROAD WOES 12/2/2012

My goal of creating a better USA has nothing to do with the Constitution. If I started a business making plastic knives and plastic knives was no longer a viable market I wouldn't continue living under the standards and restrictions of a time when plastic knives were my business. Things change over time.

I think you're confusing what I'm asking for. I want our education system to be accessible to all, but push the best out of our children. That means not dumbing down our system so it makes it easy to graduate high school. That means putting money into helping kids after school, in between school and help where it's needed. I want classrooms to be a mix of sitting down, reading through a book and taking in knowledge and sitting in a small group discussing.

The end-goal of my school system is one-size-fits-all... yes, I want every single kid to leave our public education system understanding their opportunities and options and the knowledge to take advantage of those. I want math and science to be pushed and pushed hard. I want analytical thinking to be as important as critical thinking and understanding when and why both are necessary.

To your point of municipalities understanding their specific needs to reach that specified goal? Absolutely. But I don't think because you live in Iowa you should have to learn farm implements more than a kid in suburban California.

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RIP ROAD WOES 12/2/2012

Now it's about to get worse. You might have heard about the new "Common Core" standards, put together as a national movement to unify standards and get the country back into the international math/science race.

Well, our answer to our declining math scores is to apparently bump the standards UP a grade so everything previously expected of third graders is now expected of second graders. Additionally, half the states are going with a new testing company that fills their test with "all-credit answers", meaning that you're given five different problems for a math concept and have to get ALL FIVE RIGHT in order to get any credit on the concept. Parents are gonna love all-or-nothing grading. This all starts in 2014 for every state except Alaska and Virginia.

Always getting the wrong magic bullet...

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More teaching to the test eh?

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That's an entirely different conversation, and an equally worthwhile one.

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Ahhh, I figured that since you had brought up the testing subject that it was part of your point.

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I don't mind tests if they accurately evaluate students' abilities. Though I do think we're over-reliant on them at practically every level of education.

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Montana, you should watch the 4th season of The Wire. It focuses on education in Baltimore and how fucked up it is. Seems very realistic to me, but I wouldn't mind a teacher's opinion on it. It demonstrates teaching to test results in a rather...bad light, lol.

I'd look into the political ties of the "new testing company" as a start.

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I smell many thick envelopes under D.C.-area restaurant tables to politicians, and some very large checks to lobbyists. Of course, I just defined the entire smell for that whole region of our country; but still..

Home school is the answer, the government is the problem. Don't rely on the government, because the government relies on you. If you have kids, don't send them to public school. Well, you can, but it's like sending them to prison for 12 years.

http://school.familyeducation.com/home- ... 41081.html

The study states, "Even with a conservative analysis of the data, the achievement levels of the homeschool students in the study were exceptional. Within each grade level and each skill area, the median scores for homeschool students fell between the 70th and 80th percentile of students nationwide and between the 60th and 70th percentile of Catholic/Private school students. For younger students, this is a one year lead. By the time homeschool students are in 8th grade, they are four years ahead of their public/private school counterparts."

Five areas of academic pursuit were measured. In reading, the average home-schooler scored at the 89th percentile; language, 84th percentile; math, 84th percentile; science, 86th percentile; and social studies, 84th percentile. In the core studies (reading, language and math), the average home-schooler scored at the 88th percentile.

The average public school student taking these standardized tests scored at the 50th percentile in each subject area.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/200 ... z2FOzpG9fT
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Sources....

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/200 ... nal-tests/

Read more on FamilyEducation: http://school.familyeducation.com/home- ... z2FOyVAy1U