Bad Education

you can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make him think.  you can however maintain high standards, which I have seen, to varying results, in my local schools - all urban, overwhelmed by poverty, and multicultural to the extent of something like 80 languages spoken in the system.  I tend to think families play the most important role - instilling a love of learning in their offspring.  But, on the other hand, I've been surprised at the watering down of social studies, to the extent that kids I know have only barely been exposed to the constitution, bill of rights, or the various structural forms of government, here or abroad.  Math I've seen intensified, way beyond the way it was when I was in school.  The sciences seem to be taught about equally well.  Learning a second language seems to be diminished, which is a pity.  But these are just my impressions of a local district which is beset with a myriad of sociological challenges and still turns out an impressive array of well educated students.  At least when the students step up to the plate and take what's being offered.

All that said, I don't think education in general is "bad", but it has been subjected to too much theory, overly politicized, and is currently being bogged down with those very tests you speak of - ones that encourage cramming without comprehension - courtesy of politicians who want to be considered the "education" candidate, who then burden school districts with red tape and extraneous testing from a centralized source far removed from the classroom.  Which is probably good for bad school districts, but diminishes responsible districts.  I'm at the point where I just say "fuck it."  Everyone needs to turn off the tv and read a book.  Then teach their children to do the same.  Every day.  Can that be legislated?  Can we legislate that families must look up words in a dictionary as a form of family fun?  Buy an encylopedia so every time a child asks an interesting question, parents can help them find the answer and enjoy the process?

I just read a snippet the other day about a study that found nearly 50% of children, at the age of 3 months, watch television on a regular basis.  I find that alarming.