K-12 Education: Funding, testing, USA's world placement

A place for intelligent and well-thought-out discussion involving politics and associated topics. No nonsense will be tolerated at all.
krimsonviper
Posts: 21055
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:04 pm
Car: 2010 MS3 -PAID
2010 Mazda 3i Touring -Totaled
2006 Mazda 3i Sport -Totaled
1989 S13 -Sold
1990 S13 -Sold
Location: NorCal

Post

I am currently writing a paper about how schools are funded and how the U.S. is falling flat on its face in this regard. The a country that owns almost half of the world's available funds, the desparity between rich and poor is staggering. I find myself at utter shock that we have schools literally falling apart at its seams, kids going to bed hungry, and people on the brink of homelessness and bunking up with other family members. Sometimes eight in a one bedroom apartment just to have a roof over their heads. While others have summer and winter homes, own multiple cars, and spending close to $50,000 a semester on a single child's K-12 education. Often after attaining these things because they are given federal and state tax breaks. I have to ask, how do you view, feel, or see the world knowing that you have to make a certain amount a year to be given free rides when it's the people who are down that should be receiving equity, not just equality, in order to make it in the world that keeps stacking the odds against them?

To me, it's preplexing. I forget what artist said it in a song that "you strive to make money for clothes, and then when you make it rich, they send you free s***." I understand and believe in survival of the fittest to an extent, but I think we've reached a point that we are just kicking people while they're down. Basic human intervention is what separates us from animals and should take place and help those when you can. It seems to me that the whole capitalist movement has reached an extreme and has forgotten their human aspects. This all ties into how we fund schools and force schools to test in order to receive funding. Its a system thats out of date and failing and it just seems like we keep doubling over on this plan. Property tax shouldn't be what determines a school's budget. People in the poor communities suffer in this system, while the richer communities coast to success.

Testing itself shouldn't be the only aspect to determine how much a school receives either. Testing forces teachers to just spoonfeed information into their pupils and that in turn destroys student's intellect because then they are just reciting their books and not understanding the material. They aren't being challenged and then when they go into the real world and don't fall into a factory labor job, which is becoming less and less a thing in the U.S., they fall apart. The U.S. is on the brink of a powerhouse, but with the way the government is leading the country, and in turn the way the country is leading itself, it's going to implode on itself. The golden age of the factory worker mindset is dying if it's not already dead. It is education and being a technological powerhouse that will continue to make the U.S. stay on top of the world.

Trade schools are not less important than college education. I often feel like this field is also in need of developing by not giving enough apprenticeships and offering more education when their line of is beginning to die. An obvious source to this would be the coal workers. We will continually need mechanics, construction workers, metal workers, wood workers, and hands on technicians. They are a force that this country will never be able to go without and they are still great jobs that make a good amount of money when you can find it. But that is when you can find it. These jobs are being taken over by machines and laborers are cheaper overseas. Evidence in that is the jobs Carrier moved to Mexico ealier this year and a brick laying machine that's in it's final stages of development that can lay 10 times as much bricks than a human could. That is means less jobs for U.S. Citizens. And it seems to me that people are still sleeping on the silent fact that education is needed to further our country.

The recent testing that put the U.S. around the average worldwide in maths, science, and reading isn't an end all, be all testing. It doesn't grade innovation and determinations to find a niche in order to achieve success is allowing the U.S. succeed. That is actual intelligence. Something that can't actually be quantified and that is proof that test scores is just short changing large populations of our kids in funds that they deserve to have to have equal footing. Leaving such a huge gap between rich and poor and essentially missing a middle class sends the poor into a loop that offers no stage with which to step on to get out of poverty and makes tries to make the rich pay for it, but the rich have incredible power to prevent that. You'll eventually have a break point of two world's splitting, making a catastrophe because there is no bridge between the gap. So I wonder, why is it that we continually rely on testing for funding when it is a failed system?


User avatar
telcoman
Posts: 5763
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:30 am
Car: Tesla 2022 Model Y, 2016 Q70 Bye 2012 G37S 6 MT w Nav 94444 mi bye 2006 Infiniti G35 Sedan 6 MT @171796 mi.
Location: Central NJ

Post

Do you think giving huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, increasing the national debt, taking healthcare away from millions who recently obtained it under a previous president, and increasing taxes on the poor is going to solve the education problem in the United States?

Telcoman

krimsonviper
Posts: 21055
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:04 pm
Car: 2010 MS3 -PAID
2010 Mazda 3i Touring -Totaled
2006 Mazda 3i Sport -Totaled
1989 S13 -Sold
1990 S13 -Sold
Location: NorCal

Post

telcoman wrote:
Tue Dec 05, 2017 12:44 am
Do you think giving huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, increasing the national debt, taking healthcare away from millions who recently obtained it under a previous president, and increasing taxes on the poor is going to solve the education problem in the United States?

Telcoman
Not sure if this is a real post or a troll post. I would think the tone in my O.P. would answer this question for you.

User avatar
srellim234
Posts: 2710
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:12 am
Car: 2007 silver Versa SL
hatchback w/CVT
(sold 08/2011)
2008 red Toyota Prius
(purchased 04/2016)
Location: Laughlin, NV

Post

It's a troll post. Telco is a shill for the Democratic Party. He's incapable of thinking for himself, depending on left-leaning publications to tell him what to believe and say. He also disappears when challenged. Most of his posts are large, mindless cut and paste jobs.

krimsonviper
Posts: 21055
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:04 pm
Car: 2010 MS3 -PAID
2010 Mazda 3i Touring -Totaled
2006 Mazda 3i Sport -Totaled
1989 S13 -Sold
1990 S13 -Sold
Location: NorCal

Post

srellim234 wrote:
Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:19 pm
It's a troll post. Telco is a shill for the Democratic Party. He's incapable of thinking for himself, depending on left-leaning publications to tell him what to believe and say. He also disappears when challenged. Most of his posts are large, mindless cut and paste jobs.
Good to know. Is there a way to block people on this forum?

User avatar
Bubba1
Moderator
Posts: 18355
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 1:42 pm
Car: 2003 Nissan 350z
2008 Acura TSX
2008 Toyota Corolla S
2001 Toyota Avalon XLS

Post

He's broken no rules, and it's wrong to try to block someone on an political forum just because you disagree with their political opinions.

User avatar
srellim234
Posts: 2710
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:12 am
Car: 2007 silver Versa SL
hatchback w/CVT
(sold 08/2011)
2008 red Toyota Prius
(purchased 04/2016)
Location: Laughlin, NV

Post

I agree, Bubba. Telco is irritating but really doesn't do anything that warrants banning or blocking. Besides, if you are in a political or news forum for any kind of a discussion and don't at least acknowledge those who have differing viewpoints you are shortchanging yourself while passing up an opportunity to keep an open mind. "Preaching to the choir" accomplishes nothing except making talking heads rich. Only accepting input from like minds also makes people feel artificially that they are correct and more people agree with them than actually do.

krimsonviper
Posts: 21055
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:04 pm
Car: 2010 MS3 -PAID
2010 Mazda 3i Touring -Totaled
2006 Mazda 3i Sport -Totaled
1989 S13 -Sold
1990 S13 -Sold
Location: NorCal

Post

Bubba1 wrote:
Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:16 am
He's broken no rules, and it's wrong to try to block someone on an political forum just because you disagree with their political opinions.
I think you've misread me. I'm not wanting him blocked from the forum, I just don't want to see his postings because I don't need to waste time seeing posts that don't add anything to subjects. I'm not wanting him blocked because I disagree with his views. I am wanting him blocked if his posts don't really add anything of real thought, or his own thought. I'm far from living in an echo chamber and welcome them, which is why I posted my post, or any political post.

User avatar
srellim234
Posts: 2710
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:12 am
Car: 2007 silver Versa SL
hatchback w/CVT
(sold 08/2011)
2008 red Toyota Prius
(purchased 04/2016)
Location: Laughlin, NV

Post

Once you see a few of his posts where he copies and pastes reams of text instead of just the link to the article you'll find it very easy to ignore his posts without blocking him.

User avatar
Bubba1
Moderator
Posts: 18355
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 1:42 pm
Car: 2003 Nissan 350z
2008 Acura TSX
2008 Toyota Corolla S
2001 Toyota Avalon XLS

Post

I actually do understand what you're saying, but he's not the only one to make a post that either goes off on a tangent or attempts to pivot to something else (go Giants :) j/k). Regretfully, that's become a common attribute of modern political discussions. Heck, just watch any Kelly Anne Conway interview, she does it constantly. Doesn't make it right, but I don't think it's wrong enough to warrant censuring individual posts. If he annoys you, there are options, like calling him out on it, teasing him or ignoring him. The middle one sounds like the most fun. OK, back to K-12 education....

krimsonviper
Posts: 21055
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:04 pm
Car: 2010 MS3 -PAID
2010 Mazda 3i Touring -Totaled
2006 Mazda 3i Sport -Totaled
1989 S13 -Sold
1990 S13 -Sold
Location: NorCal

Post

Bubba1 wrote:
Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:44 pm
I actually do understand what you're saying, but he's not the only one to make a post that either goes off on a tangent or attempts to pivot to something else (go Giants :) j/k). Regretfully, that's become a common attribute of modern political discussions. Heck, just watch any Kelly Anne Conway interview, she does it constantly. Doesn't make it right, but I don't think it's wrong enough to warrant censuring individual posts. If he annoys you, there are options, like calling him out on it, teasing him or ignoring him. The middle one sounds like the most fun. OK, back to K-12 education....
That's what I'm attempting to do lol.

But yeah, back to the topic at hand. Education is a crazy subject that I think people should be heavily involved in. Education, formal or not, is a social mobilizer. It's how you move out of poverty, or the lack of puts you into poverty and the lethargy the general public has is amazing.


Return to “Politics Etc.”