sarah1911 Poolesville MD
07/03/13 6:25 am
Somehow the quality of the public education system needs to be raised to the level of private, and better yet charter and magnate schools. There is no sane reason I can think of that everyone can't have the best education can offer.
PenaltyKill Colorado
07/02/13 3:38 pm
The system must hold students (and parents) accountable for their learning. Measuring teacher effectiveness needs to take into account the effort put in by both students and teachers. Students, parents, and teachers need to own the process.
PenaltyKill Colorado
07/02/13 3:36 pm
Do away with tenure. Create a system where teacher effectiveness is measurable, achievable, and rewarded. Knowledge transfer should be measured based on ability to apply and not on generic one size fits all testing.
bubbaman
07/02/13 9:31 am
Get rid of the unions. Hold teachers accountable results. hold parents accountable for their children. Stop turning over responsibility to the school. And stop teaching subjects that should be learned in the home. Focus on fundamentals.
CoffeeNow Powderpuff Leftist
07/02/13 7:46 am
It's very simple:
1) Disband the dept of education (it's a misnomer, they don't help educate anyone)
2) Give states the power to run their own education
3) Assess the results of each state and copy the high performers
olympus California
07/02/13 7:36 am
Also get the gov out of higher education. The gov subsidizes student loans so there's no risk to universities they just collect the $.This is why tuition has sky rocketed, the quality of education hasn't risen just the cost b/c why not its free gov $
olympus California
07/02/13 7:34 am
Get rid of grades as in 5th/6th on up. Have each child progress based on ability. Think about an 8th grader who's in a 4th grade English class, talk about motivation to perform and not get behind. School performance would improve overnight.
JHawk3205 MD
07/02/13 12:46 am
EEE: eliminate educational elitism; prohibit massive donations to already high profiting schools, or distribute that amount to schools that actually need that money
TheAntiLib Putnam County, NY
07/01/13 7:52 pm
It should be mandatory for any "would be" teachers to pass an exam like "the bar" for law. This exam would be very extensive and would have a great deal of psychological questions as well.
potusa Virginia
07/01/13 7:02 pm
Foreign language programs moved to early ages instead of high school level. Replace them with classes that teach vocational skills to students and occupational skills. Face it, some kids won't be going to college we should make sure they can succeed
agashi24 Alabama
07/01/13 6:32 pm
Less administrators, more teachers with better pay and more power for the teachers to teach in a way that works for their kids. Parents taking more of an interest in their children's education.
cat3675 Bowling Green, KY
07/01/13 6:25 pm
I think schools should be more competitive; they shouldn't force teachers to teach a certain way, teach how the students learn. Also, give teachers the ability to discipline their students. A little humility never hurt anyone
prbeth
07/01/13 4:43 pm
There is a great movie called The Cartel.
It is about teachers unions and the disfunction of the American school system. I think it is available on Amazon Prime.
ams1210 Pennsylvania
07/01/13 4:08 pm
The government just needs to let the teachers teach. There was never an issue with education in the past. There are a lot of other major problems in this nation.. Why fix something that isn't broken? Of course... Now it's broken!!
Toranius California
07/01/13 11:58 am
No more teachers unions protecting bad teachers. Increased wages for good teachers. And I mean wages that would get the best minds switching over to teaching. This would increase the number of teachers and increase the overall quality of education.
gelina44 Missouri , MO
07/01/13 7:06 am
Redeploy 2/3 of the administrative positions as teachers at teachers pay use the influx of money to increase wages for good teachers and hire more. Abolish teachers unions. Eliminate Common Core Standards. Implement vouchers. Include private schools
ajtndfan
07/01/13 5:36 am
Get the federal government out. Let states run it. Get ride of the unions. Explain to parents this is a compliment to you educating your son/daughter not a baby sitting service and we need your participation for success.
honest
07/01/13 5:32 am
Take politicians out of the decision making process. Cut back on testing. Cut back on curriculum content. Stop micromanaging the classroom environment. Support teachers with programs that make sense. Hold parents accountable for child's performance.
katiee78 city
07/01/13 4:58 am
First off, I am a teacher who taught in a Title 1 school. Many people want to be tough, but I found if my kids love me, they will do anything for me. Try a little tenderness...
meormond New Hampshire
07/01/13 2:58 am
Public education is one of the best things this country offers to ALL children. Imagine only the wealthy being able to afford an education for their children....
keabrook Los Angeles
07/01/13 12:11 am
Keep in mind that this is coming from I liberal student. I think that teachers unions should be disbanded. They protect horrible teachers. I also believe an end to standardize testing would make a huge difference.
peacechik approaching.infinity
06/30/13 9:43 pm
I agree the teachers union comments are taking over the comments a bit. While I do see that they are a hindrance to education at times (CPS strike, enough said), perhaps they wouldn't feel the need to do so if they were paid more (and perhaps administrations were paid less). Just a thought.
Gunfighter
06/30/13 9:07 pm
Get the federal government out of the classroom. Return education to the states, or better yet individual communities.
juicebox Suburb
06/30/13 8:17 pm
Allow students to narrow down their courses for themselves individually. If I want to be a politician, why do I have to take a rigorous biology or calculus course?
zitro34
06/30/13 7:42 pm
Throw away the teachers union. Second get rid of ALL standardized tests no matter what the state. They aren't as a effective as people think.
Daniel17LU Virginia
06/30/13 7:26 pm
Destroy teachers unions. Localize education standards to a district, county, or state. And let people choose where to send their kids to school, either public or private, and send their own tax money to that school (like a voucher program).
dtumad Minnesota
06/30/13 7:22 pm
encourage kids to learn. I love math thanks to my tenth grade math teacher. he would give problems where everyone had to find a different way to get the answer and problems that we didn't know how to solve yet. it got me to think about why things work rather than just mindlessly applying steps.
bien
06/30/13 7:18 pm
The best public education system in the world is Finland. No standardized testing, a minimum of 40 minutes of recess a day, small class sizes, high teacher salaries and high expectations have proven to be successful.
Brrrrrrrrr
06/30/13 6:53 pm
USA:
#4 most educated country on the planet
#1 most prolific publisher of academic papers on the planet
Whatever problems there are with the education system, they're clearly blown out of proportion.
mariella9911 Colorado
06/30/13 6:43 pm
This question should have said "besides get rid of unions". Everyone on here seems so detached from anything that goes on in a public school. There are so so so many things that need to be fixed before even discussing unions. Like NCLB...
arste New York
06/30/13 6:07 pm
Schools need to spend their money better. The education system needs to be less focused on testing and more on critical thinking.
paidert1 Columbus, Ohio
06/30/13 6:01 pm
Implement an operational excellence program and eliminate the issue of not being able to fire low performing teachers. No standardized tests. They're terrible and only there for funding reasons. I've also read that parental involvement is the best ..
ultimo240
06/30/13 5:58 pm
I also believe we should do as most sane people and allow people to more easily volunteer or become cheap classroom aids at school. Japan's elementaries are amazing and they make it happen with hordes of volunteer aunts & people who can't have kids.
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