Sunday, September 10, 2006

THE REAL AMERICAN EDUCATION COMES FROM OUTSIDE THE HIGH SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

The school system is what most people think of as "education." It consists of 125,000 elementary and high schools and 2,500 four-year colleges and universities. It has strengths (major research universities) and weaknesses -- notably, lax standards. One reason that U.S. students rank low globally is that many don't work hard. In 2002, 56 percent of high school sophomores did less than an hour of homework a night.

The American learning system is more complex. It's mostly post-high school and, aside from traditional colleges and universities, includes the following: community colleges; for-profit institutes and colleges; adult extension courses; online and computer-based courses; formal and informal job training; self-help books. To take a well-known example: The for-profit University of Phoenix started in 1976 to offer workers a chance to finish their college degrees. Now it has about 300,000 students (half taking online courses and half attending classes in 163 U.S. locations). The average starting age: 34. The American learning system has, I think, two big virtues.

First, it provides second chances. It tries to teach people when they're motivated to learn -- which isn't always when they're in high school or starting college. People become motivated later for many reasons, including maturity, marriage, mortgages and crummy jobs. These people aren't shut out. They can mix work, school and training. A third of community college students are over 30. For those going to traditional colleges, there's huge flexibility to change and find a better fit. A fifth of those who start four-year colleges and get degrees finish at a different school, reports Clifford Adelman of the Education Department. Average completion time is five years; many take longer.

Second, it's job-oriented. Community colleges provide training for local firms and offer courses to satisfy market needs. Degrees in geographic information systems (the use of global positioning satellites) are new. There's been an explosion in master's degrees -- most of them work-oriented. From 1971 to 2004, MBAs are up 426 percent, public administration degrees, 262 percent, and health degrees, 743 percent. About a quarter of college graduates now get a master's. Many self-help books are for work -- say, "Excel for Dummies." There are about 150 million copies of the "For Dummies" series in print.

Up to a point, you can complain that this system is hugely wasteful. We're often teaching kids in college what they should have learned in high school -- and in graduate school what they might have learned in college. Some of the enthusiasm for more degrees is crass credentialism. Some trade schools prey cynically on students' hopes and spawn disappointment. But these legitimate objections miss the larger point: The American learning system accommodates people's ambitions and energies -- when they emerge -- and helps compensate for some of the defects of the school system.

In Charlotte, about 70 percent of the recent high school graduates at Central Piedmont Community College need remedial work in English or math. Zeiss thinks his college often succeeds where high schools fail. Why? High school graduates "go out in the world and see they have no skills," he says. "They're more motivated." The mixing of older and younger students also helps; the older students are more serious and focused.

This fragmented and mostly unplanned learning system is a messy mix of government programs and private business. In some ways it compares favorably to other countries' more controlled governmental systems. Of course, that isn't an excuse for not trying to improve our schools. We would certainly be better off if more students performed better. Nor should it inspire complacency. "Other countries are picking up these models of community colleges and online learning," says Chester E. Finn Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a research group.

But the American learning system partially explains how a society of certified dummies consistently outperforms the test scores. Workers and companies develop new skills as the economy evolves. The knowledge that is favored (specialized and geared to specific jobs) often doesn't show up on international comparisons that involve general reading and math skills. As early as the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that Americans are addicted to practical, not abstract, knowledge. That's still true.

Source





NO PROBLEM FOR "CORRECT" POLITICS AT CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITIES

Steve Frank writes:

A subscriber to the California Political News and Views wrote a letter to the editor after she attended a graduation ceremony (California State University at Monterey Bay) in Monterey. Read it carefully, the speakers spoke in both English and Spanish..not English alone--I just visited Monterey about a week ago and I had the impression that English was the language of the area--and at a college level you would think all the graduates already spoke English, guess I was wrong. Here is the letter to the editor:

"Frightening is what I call the experience at CSUMB at the graduation of 6/20/06.

Amalia Mesa-Baines, Director of Visual and Public Art, spoke at the direction of the President of CSUMB. Luis Valdez, Director of Teatro Campesino, was also a speaker. Ms. Mesa-Bains loudly and proudly proclaimed her membership in MEChA, which many (including Hispanics) consider a racist organization dedicated to the furtherance of the aims of Hispanics (to the exclusion of all other races, in reality). Most of them support the "reconquista" of the southwestern states for Mexico, asserting that this territory was "stolen" from Mexico.

Mr. Valdez mentioned many movers and shakers, including Karl Marx. I gathered he is one of his heroes. Parts of the speeches were in Spanish and it was made unmistakably clear that a "no borders and bilingual (Spanish) America" is one of the main goals of CSUMB. No American flag was visible anywhere.

Several students of other races told me later they wanted to get up and walk out since they were not represented in any way although I could count no more than possibly a third of the graduating class names being Hispanic. I feel as a half-Hispanic woman that the Hispanic people are being hijacked by these radical groups. We must wake up as we may face civil war on down the road. Call CSUMB and voice your displeasure.






More Bible education coming in Australian public schools?

Jesus Christ, Judas, biblical stories and Australia's religious divisions may soon be classroom topics to help students understand our past. Aboriginal history may have caused angst at last month's History Summit in Canberra, but it was the thorny question of religion which had educators most perplexed. Transcripts from the summit obtained last night show delegates struggled with religion in the national curriculum. It was Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Blainey who told delegates much of society could not be explained to students without religion. "Many of the great statements and parliamentary debates, be it about Judas, 13 pieces of silver or touching the hem of government, mean nothing now," he said. "Yet to that (previous) generation they were made powerful because they were metaphors chosen from the Bible." He said he believed the history curriculum needed to include religious knowledge, "irrespective of the vehicle used".

The broad gulf between Australian Catholics and Presbyterians in the first half of this century was a "lively" event which could easily engage youngsters, the summit heard. One unidentified delegate said religion became pivotal to Australian history in 1917 when the nation diverged "spectacularly" over the issue of conscription. "A Catholic archbishop was about to lead the flock against conscription," the delegate said. "Australians broadly of Presbyterian and Anglican background took a different viewpoint. At that point the different belief systems become lively and Australians get engaged. Until that point it is a boring story."

Curtin University of Technology Division of Humanities executive dean Tom Stannage disagreed. Professor Stannage said religion encompassed a far wider issue but was removed from the state curriculum and suppressed for 100 years. He said some students got their religious education from Sunday school and other sources. He said it was "a tough call . . . a major national decision to re-inject, it seems to me, religion back into the state schools in a non-controversial, open, inclusive sort of way." The one-day summit seeking a new path for the national history curriculum has agreed history should be compulsory for Years 9 and 10.

Source


Update

The following comment via email from a reader concerns the leading post above for this day:

"You have this quote: "In 2002, 56 percent of high school sophomores did less than an hour of homework a night."

It caused me to dig up my high-school grade book from 1959-1962. (In Chicago, we had 8 years of grade school and then 4 years of high school)

It stated in bold print, "Daily preparation of lessons at home is expected to take at least an hour and a half of the student's time." In reality I probably spent 3 to 4 hours every night. Looking back though what really stood out was what I studied. There was no time for the "hold hands and sing kumbyya..."courses, we studied.

4 years of English
Algebra and Science as a Freshman
Geometry and Biology as a Sophomore
Algebra, physics and history as a Junior
Solid Geometry, history and chemistry as a Senior.

Now consider this. I was majoring in music! Add to the above full courses in band, orchestra, marching band, instrumental music, harmony etc.

My younger associate at work went back to community college to update from a 2-year tech to a 4-year degree and had to take remedial math. The "remedial" stuff they were teaching him I learned in GRADE SCHOOL.

And finally an anecdotal note: Although I just retired, during my commute I often drove by a bunch of high-school kids queued up to board the bus. I'd estimate half of them had no backpack or tote, implying no homework at all. My own swag is that for many "under an hour" really means "none""

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"


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