Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] [MLUG][Politics] State of the Union

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Jonathan King wrote:
> On 1/31/06, Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:

> > I think a good example is education.  A lot of people talk about how
> > much money is spent.  But the real test is whether people are getting
> > better educated.  (Even test scores are not a totally adequate measure
> > of this.)  Clearly the American education system has deep flaws, and we
> > seem to lag behind other countries.  But is this because we don't spend
> > enough money?  Or is it because some people are trying all kinds of
> > different wacky education techniques?  Or is it because teachers are not
> > given sufficient authority to keep good discipline in the class?
>
>
> Interestingly, I wouldn't lay much blame on any one cause for the
> state of our educational program today.  I think NCLB is a fiasco, but
> that was a bipartisan effort.  The one positive proposal on education
> I noticed in the SOTU was the (vague) plan to get better math and
> science teachers into the classroom.  That coudn't hurt, but it almost
> surely would cost real money, since one big reason why people who know
> math and science don't go into teaching is that the salaries are
> uncompetive, especially once you figure in the lost wages involved in
> getting certified.

Part of the problem with education is perhaps not that the politicians 
don't listen to the experts, but rather that the so called experts don't 
know what they are talking about.

Stephen

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