LowIQ hit the nail on the head. The biggest problem with the current education system is not poor teachers - though we do have an unfortunately large share of them. It's not from lack of funding - though what funding there is certainly needs to be spent more efficiently - fewer administrators would mean more money for more and better teachers, among many other things, including the billions wasted on nationalized mandatory (and quite useless) testing.
No, where the main problem lies is the modern U.S. attitude in education that little Johnny's feelings of self worth are more important than whether he can actually readd when he leaves the 8th grade. The problem lies within the overall attitude of entitlement our society has developed, that somehow mere existence should automatically be rewarded with nothing but success and praise for doing nothing.
It may sound harsh, but the truth is often harsh. We do need to reinvent the concept of losers - because with our current lie that everyone is a winner regardless of how much they work at it, is turning us into a nation of mostly losers who don't even have the background in critical thinking to know it. We need to get back to the days when grades were handed out based on actual performance, with comments giving credence to effort rather than basing 50% (or more) of the grade on perceived effort. (ie - any excuse will do to get the little yard ape the hell outta the classroom and on to the next).
We need to get back to a system that rewards extraordinary effort AND extraordinary ability. We need to get students with extraordinary ability and group them with each other. Fine minds feed off each other. As it is now, treating exceptional learners differently is somehow perceived by the touchy-feely psycho-babble morons as "unfair" to other students. Yet at the same time we'll spend 10 times as much as the average student on the mentally handicapped - and somehow that IS fair? Yes, the special needs students need extra help. But guess what SO DO THE ADVANCED LEARNERS!!!
In short, we need to get back to a system that rewards - or punishes if need be - the actual output of the individual students. We need to group better performers with better performers - that would take a HUGE load off teachers from trying to accommodate the too wide learning gap we see in classrooms today. We need to hold back students who are not making the grade. We need to actually have the GALL to discipline those who desperately need it, and actually (GASP!) FLUNK those who cannot (or, more often, will not) do the work and gain the knowledge supposedly represented by passing.
We need to recognize students who put in top effort by giving them top prizes. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but here they did away with valedictorian because it was "unfair". Bullshit. The incidence of top students getting out in the community as part of their education has fallen over 60%, since they no longer have any motivation to do more than maintain their 4.0 average. (Which is a lot easier to get these days, since the incidence of 4.0 graduates hass risen by 50% the last decade - and I guarandamntee you it is not because they are doing better academic work!!)
Yes, we need to reinstate the concept of winners and losers. Everyone WANTS to win, so making it hard to win makes most people try harder. How is it "winning" if we give blue ribbons to everyone just for showing up? For MOST people (contrary to the touchy-feely psychobabble morons theories) losing results in trying harder the next time. MOST children have a decently strong self concept to accept that it takes HARD WORK to win. Our youth have become mental wimps because they are cushioned from the concept of losing - and their educations are one of the biggest failures do to that "no losers" whiney assed concept.
