Are we wasting money by educating dumber students?

[floridayankee]

Mar 26, 2011 21:58:35 GMT -5 steff said:

So thanks Tea Party folks for helping dumb down our kids. Job well done.

Some of "our kids" aren't even smart enough to wear pants that cover their underoos.

[chiver78]

oped, I'll agree with you for your particular example. there are definitely kids that will never benefit from the added attention and expense. I just bristle when I hear about cuts to special ed because I've seen the kids that have flourished at my sis's school.

[chiver78]

Mar 27, 2011 19:11:57 GMT -5 oped said:

"Ok then Ma'am what are they indicative of?? Wouldn't a poor eduction be a causal relationship??"

That my typing isn't as good as it used to be? And i don't always use spellcheck in an informal setting...

Oh, and honey... its worst of the worst...

oh, and some of us in Boston do know this. short-timers notwithstanding.

[privateinvestor]

Are we wasting money by educating dumber students

Who cares?? Find something else to whine and bitch about..we have much more important things to worry about i.e Radiation may be coming to a neighbor hood near you if you live in California, and people are standing in line to buy iodine pills and asking the EPA whaasss up?? Up= radiation clouds and rain..

[workpublic]

what's the ROI for the majority of the citizens(tax payers and students) from the special needs education system being "mainstreamed"?

is it worth it in the overall picture?

is mainstreaming special needs fair to the overwhelming majority?

[Deleted]

chiver... I agree. Like i said, i don't think we should do away with special education (although personally, i think if we relaxed our 'standards' a bit... and actually taught in varied and developmentally appropriate ways with developmentally appropriate expectations, we'd need less 'special' education ) ... But like end of life and nicu and other areas where ethics and morals play a role, we spend disproportionately more $$ on cases where less benefit is/can be expected.... I'd rather take that one child, pay a third on less, but more appropriate care, save a third of the money, and funnel the rest into an extra teacher or materials or aides to help the LD/ES kids succeed... because they are likely to have better results and actually benefit, themselves and society, from the support/intervention...

If that makes sense...

[ronbuck]

www.cato-at-liberty.org/a-picture-is-worth-300-billion/

Interesting chart showing the relationship between increased expenditures for education and test scores in math & reading.

[Shirina]

OK. Then we will have a lot of highly educated Dumbys who don't know how to change the oil in their cars.

I'm not sure where this strange belief that education is this weird zero sum game began, but it's ridiculous. Just because someone's formal education increases doesn't mean their practical knowledge decreases. I've heard this a thousand times, and it is just as untrue the thousandth time as it was the first time I heard it.

By the way, if everyone knew how to change their oil, there would be thousands of unemployed "oil changers" collecting welfare. Wouldn't that be a hoot.

Now this generation who can sit for hours as immovable lumps playing on computers but cannot put in a door frame or miter a corner are eventually going to be the "low skilled" labor pushing computer buttons and the craftsman are going to make a great comeback.

No it won't. There aren't going to be any great come-back kids in the private sector. Technology is taking the art out of being a craftsman. Now it's just a matter of entering the right parameters on a computer to program the tool to do the work. Besides, I would hardly call a person who sets doors a "craftsman." Construction work is often too unpredictable ... and very seasonal in the northern climes. Unless you are VERY well-paid, the off-season is a struggle to get through.

We are "educating" our kids into oblivion.

No, we are dumbing our kids down into oblivion. An education is more than just learning how to do a job, and we treat "knowledge for its own sake" as some sort of anathema to the fabric of this country. If all we want to do is teach our kids how to be good little worker bees, we can skip all education that doesn't directly relate to their career paths, but what a dull country we would live in. Even our forum debates would be nothing but arguments over the best way to miter a corner or to hang a door.

Meanwhile, the elites of this world - those that have the money and power for a true education, would eat everyone else for breakfast, and we'd be too oblivious to notice.