While I agree that our educational system needs a major overhaul, privatizing its control IS NOT what is needed. Education should never be about profit from government contracts. Somethings should never be for sale.

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I just blogged about this report yesterday.

I think the report is flawed at best. They want to end school at 10th grade, but they feel that most children should enter school by the age of 3. That essentially keeps the number of years a child is in school the same. How does that benefit anyone? And how, exactly, does that end up saving money? Are they not planning on extending their proposed $45,000 a year teacher salary to all of the pre-k teachers? And how are parents going to pay for these in - between schools: the vocational, the community college, the college preparatory schools that are meant to follow the early graduation? I don't know about you guys, but I want those extra 2 years to help beef up my kid's college savings plans.

Public schools are in desperate need of novel thinking, but I fon't believe this report really solves anything. Like so many other government led proposals, this would only create new sets of problems.

Have we learned nothing from NCLB?

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I disagree with the previous poster. I tend to think privatizing the school system would create competition and,in our nation, competition is what breeds excellence.

I do not see ending at the 10th grade as a viable option. I teach high school. Few of these students are ready for college at the end of 12th grade. I think it is a great option for mature, over-achiever's but I do not think it would work overall. I see it creating a less educated general population.

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I'm writing this as I read the report. I agree that a major overhaul needs to take place. But I think that it should be done from the ground-up, not from the top down. What I mean is, we need to look at the school system, as it is now, and decide what's working and what's not. Then build from there. Are kids learning what they need to function in the real world? Are they learning to read, to write properly, to express themselves in an intelligent manner? Do they have a functioning understanding of mathmatics and science?

Then we need to look at the structure of the system. Is it working? Is the Department of Education a hindrance or a help? How about the Teacher's Union? From what I've seen, both should be abolished. They keep demanding more and more of our tax dollars, but the quality of education continues to drop.

I completely support the teachers. But I do NOT support the buraucracies and huge administrations (hello Chicago Public School System!) that just keep tying everything up in knots, and damning the kids.

So, yeah, a complete overhaul is a good idea. Not sure if I like the mandatory pre-k thing... some kids do better at home for a longer period of time. Also not sure about the 10th grade thing, although a comprehensive analysis of where a student is, at that point, might be a good way to keep kids on track, or catch the ones who aren't, and turn them around.

Finally, I think a voucher system should be put in place. Let us choose with our dollars where our kids go. It will give US the power, and not the government. If you don't like the school where your child is going, you will have the ability to take your tax money and your child, and go somewhere else that better suits you. A little competition among the schools will help to keep the School System Machine honest - no more $80K cars for the school superintendant while the kids have to work with torn and inadequate books. And, yes, I know there are people who gripe about people using those vouchers to go to a religious school, but that's an invalid argument - because those people are CHOOSING to go to a religious school, the government is not FORCING them. And that's the essence of the "establishment clause".

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I wrote about this on my blog today as well. http://www.brightminds.wordpress.com. I'm in agreement with Nicole and Lara on this one. Enough with bureaucracies and no to the privatization of our public education system. While I agree partially with Jessica and her statement that this proposal would create a less educated population in general, I don't believe that privatizing our education system would spur competition and thus excellence. If we think that kids have been left behind now, I think that we could see even more kids left behind through this proposal and the privatization of our education system.

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Close down the government brainwashing facilities. Let people educate their own as they used to before "planners" decided "we" needed a society of easily manipulated, dumbed down worker bees for the managed economy. Why can a mom homeschool a kid for less than $200.00 a year, but government schools are fleecing people out of their assets and homes to "educate"??? These "schools" are abominations and crimes against humanity.

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Yeah, KG!

Of course, we still need some schools because not everyone can or will home educate. These schools should be locally controlled. The school board is responsible to the parents. Keep it small and education will happen. Let the higher levels of govt get involved and you have failure.

Let the kids start school whenever they're ready. For some few, that will be age 3 (very few). For others, it'll be 6-7. Still others won't be ready until they're 9 or 10 and a very few can start later (and catch up quite quickly, I might add).

Let the kids advance at their level in each subject. WHy should the math whiz have to suffer through basic math instruction...just because s/he's 7 yrs old? And why can't an 8 yr old read the classics, even though s/he is struggling with basic addition facts?

QUit all thie "one size fits all" garbage and let kids be themselves and learn.

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To Sandy:

While letting kids learn at their own pace is a nice thought, it would only work if the students WANTED to learn. It might start out okay in the younger grades, but once they hit middle school and high school and find themselves in the middle of social hell, it all goes downhill.

I graduated high school in 2005, and I can tell you the only reason the majority of students were there is because they have to be. If you let them "work at their own pace" in 10th grade, I guarantee you they will stay on the bottom rung of the ladder and be completely content. They just don't care; I've seen it first hand.

Also, the theory of "one size fits all"- most elementary schools have TAG, which stands for Talented and Gifted, that students who score high enough or are perceived to be above average are placed in and work at an accelerated pace with their peers. Continuing on from there, middle school and high school levels also provide accelerated classes known as Pre-Ap, Honors or AP, which is also for above average work, or the bright student who wants to get ahead.

I took accelerated English all the way through high school, as that is my strong point and I plan to major in English in college. Whereas, I took the basic math class, since I have more trouble in that area.

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