Statistical herding offered as a substitute for education
And just because it happens to be so timely, pop on over to Vox Day's place and have a look:
I'm looking forward to watching the continued self-demolition of the American public schools. You might think they can't possibly get any worse, but I have no doubt that we haven't seen anything yet.
posted by Anonymous | 11:39 AM
2 Comments:
Last month, Principal Bennett Lieberman sent off a stern memo to teachers. "If you are not passing more than 65 percent of your students in a class, then you are not designing your expectations to meet their abilities, and you are setting your students up for failure, which, in turn, limits your success as a professional."
Well, of course this guy is off base. I say that no standards should be lowered, maybe even raised, and flunk out the losers. Eventually, the school's numbers improve because you've eliminated those who don't and won't, and all that's left are those who do and will. Public school, like any public service, is a privilege for those who perform within the guidelines. Now, if the school wants to create its own standards, fine — then it should no longer a public school and gets no public money.
Personally, in the case of public schools, I'd be for full state control, no feds involved.
Public school, like any public service, is a privilege for those who perform within the guidelines.
If only that was true. Public schools are funded by taxes. As long as that is true, they must always appeal to the lowest common denominator and they must always be totally inclusive.
The bureaucrats who operate the schools are well aware that if they start tossing Johnny and Sally out on their ears for non-performance, parents are going to start complaining. They will make (and have made) appeals to collective "fairness." Never mind that such an appeal to fairness ignores the fact that many of us are paying for the schools and obtaining no benefit whatsoever. Even in the doubtful case that said bureaucrats would turn a deaf ear to such complaints, the political powers that be most certainly will not.
Now, if the school wants to create its own standards, fine — then it should no longer a public school and gets no public money.
Who sets the standards? Public school bureaucrats? That's how we got to where we are. Once again, the only way to set such standards in a publicly funded institution is to allow the public to set the standards, directly or indirectly. There is no other possible outcome from that than a regression to the mean. Excellence cannot be tolerated any more so than failure. The result will be exactly as we see here. Mr. Lieberman is simply accommodating the reality of a defective concept.
Personally, in the case of public schools, I'd be for full state control, no feds involved.
That's nothing but lipstick on the pig. The state is no more likely to adopt stricter standards nor to enforce them if they did. As well, good luck getting the piggies at the public school trough to give up their federal money.
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