Anna1111 wrote:
I confess to being a complete radical on public schools.
I think they're an "entitlement" that like welfare should be offered to the poor & incapable, not freely distributed to those who don't choose to educate their own children while having means to do so. (Any more than we give free groceries to the middle & upper classes)
There. Told you I was a radical ; )
Additionally, I don't think standard education should be offered to near-adults. 17 & 18 year olds should NOT be sitting on their bums all day still in high school. They should be out working &/or attending college &/or serving their country. Many of these crimes are done by near-adults who have been coddled too long.
Okay. Go ahead & tell me how weird I am ; )
I agree 100% with the real-life skills thing. I've long thot that 1 year of high school should be EXCLUSIVELY those classes my counselors tried to steer me away from - typing, home ec, auto shop, consumer math etc. They were the ONLY high school classes I really used after high school. ( I DID use my elementary courses at university - but not my high school ones!)
What would end up happening, i think, is we'd have those kids running the streets causing more problems!!! Pre-adult institutionalized "education" is really just a babysitting service to keep kids occupied until adulthood. If they went out and got jobs it would deplete the job market for those that need to support themselves.
I'd favor a work "environment" where the kids learn to care for the "school". Mow the lawn, do maintenance, clean up the gum and graffiti, dump the trash, wash those toilets, cook in the kitchen, do the dishes, scrub the floors, man the phones, help the accountant, attend the school board meetings - take part in all the elements of this institution they take for granted and learn what goes into making it happen. Oh, and make a lesson plan and carry out a class here and there!
This should happen around 9th grade, imho. Maybe 9-10, then they could job-shadow/interview so many jobs to see what's truly involved. Much less with the trigonometry and such and much more with day to day life, including strategies for getting along with difficult people, what to do if you disagree, so many other relationship things.
Yeah - i'd structure education quite a bit different than what is the norm.