More OT
<<<There are a few points in there I agree with. The first being that NCLB is underfunded>>>
I think it's important to look at what is actually being funded in the first place. Hand the kiddypoos a piece of paper and score the results. The kids are in the class room taking tests. The teachers are in the class room giving tests. Do you believe there is likely to be a major budget short fall as the result of conducting activities that take place as a matter of course every single day of the school year? You can't even make an argument for the cost of the paper, since on the days they take the tests, they're saving money for paper on something else. The argument that implementing this sort of program should be expensive is absurd. It's as simple as substituting one term exam for another and including the results as an extra line of print on the already published report cards.
<<<I think there should be some admission that there is not a level playing field.>>>
I think there should be some admission that the playing field has already been leveled. A poor black child with an IQ of 100, has the same intelligence as a rich black child with an IQ of 100, has the same intelligence as a poor white child with an IQ of 100, has the same intelligence as an Asian child with an IQ of 100, has the same intelligence as ANY child with an IQ of 100. The only variable is the IQ, attitude and aptitude of those teaching them.
A white bigoted prima donna might score higher teaching a school full of rich white kids, than the same bigoted white prima donna would score in what you refer to as "inner city" schools, but that doesn't have anything to do with a child's ability to soak up information. The problem is teachers who would rather spend their time in the teachers lounge bitching about how much they hate the kids they're responsible for teaching, about how bad it is they don't make more money for teaching kids they hate, about how they can't be fired because they have tenure, about how they can blackmail tax payers by going on strike. The list of excuses and rationalizations by these repulsive incompetent parasites is practically endless, but the results they turn out are identical. Poorly educated children.
<<<Educational darwinism I think will result in the death of schools in areas with the most hardships.>>>
Easy times for the individual, makes for hard times for the species. The current species of educators hasn't been culled in the past hundred years for the simple reason survival of individual educators is not based on competitive excellence. Our entire educational system is a monument to the failure to eliminate culls.
<<<So my question is: Is this cheaper or more expensive than building more prisons in the long run?>>>
Your argument does not support the logic of that question. The question is: Is it better to fire educators who have proven their inability to perform their jobs to minimum standards, and force them into other lines of work such as driving a wheelbarrow? Or allow them to continue in their present positions, turning out hundreds of students with educations too poor to qualify them for any position other than driving a wheelbarrow? |
