general discussion about the education system.

[Legendary Apophis]

eh?

i'm not suggesting all schools be run by authorities be exempt from any kind of regulations. obviously a national standard would have to be put in place, but that standard should be put in place by head teachers and not some Govt appointed/run body. and this would only apply to normal schools, specialist schools catering for physical/mental disability's could implement something similar for them, but again, Govt should play no part.

See, the issue would then be regulation. There's no ideal solution for education. No news. There will always be a flawed part in the system, whether it's inde, or not.
Government putting its nose into education makes it screwed up. Making it independant would make it even more screwed up (I talk about public schools). Private schools well there's good and bad there, but it's not the matter here, but rather public schools' case, right?

If it's about how selection has to be done inside education, I already posted my stance in past.

[[KMA]Avenger]

correct, we are talking about public schools. BUT, since the topic is tiled "general", there's no reason why we cant use private schools as examples or talk about them if peeps wish

personally, i think it could be made to work, and work better than what we have now, so long as its done right from the start and the right people are brought in to oversee the curriculum.

[Kit-Fox]

Removed

[Brdavs]

Economy style competition in education is a really bad idea.

The private/public - local/centralistic etc. distinction is really superficial (as long as the state sets all the rules like curiculum), and jsut a matter of "equal opportunity for every kid" debate.

And as far as the uniformal setting of standards and rules go, gociety at large has the greatest of interests in moulding kids into induviduals.

A lot of education really is a type of "propaganda". Thats kinda unavoidable. A kids attitude towards certain things will be influenced through his education in his most succeptible ways. It`s imperitive that society keeps watch of that process and ensures it is adequate. Its job is to provide "good" propaganda and prevent the "bad" one. Its an easily stepped over line and I consider kids reciting the pledge of allegiance in US schools a tad much heh... and then Fox shouts "omg they sung a song about obama, propagandah!". Please, US is no better than the chineese as far as bigging up the state at every turn goes heh.

But you have to realize that big brother watching is not allways a bad thing, especially in this case. If it does it well and in just the right ammounts the effects are positive.
Speaking of the EU, how do you think the european nations of france/germany etc. are able to coexists peacefully mere, what, 2 generations after ww2 that came on the back of centuries of deeply rooted hate? It`s precisely because after WW2 the "big brother" that eventually evolved into the UN and EU put enourmous emphasis on education of new generations ensuring a somewhat standardized, but most of all, hate free curriculum.

Without that intervention to prevent subsequent generations being rased in the same climate as those before them situation today would surely have been vastly different.

A responsible society cannot leave the moulding of its youngest members completley to chance counting that the invisible hand of the "market" will bring only positives. Thats where enourmous problems have their roots. Just think howmuch less radicalism would be in the world without radical religious schooling that imprints it on many an induvidual from the get go.

[[KMA]Avenger]

its a good thing that i have taught-and continue to teach my sons to think for themselves and gain further education than what they are taught at school.

for instance, my eldest boy is 12, 2 belts away from a black belt in martial arts, wants to open up a string of his own schools and study/teach philosophy. all i have done is spoken to him as an adult from a VERY young age, he was the one who told me that's what he wanted to do, and in 2 years of martial arts and first hearing about philosophy, he is more determined than ever. i would NEVER in a million years would have said that's what my son will do by 12 years old...point being, children are VERY much wasting there brains away with the current curriculum in the UK, and are capable of MUCH more than we give them credit for.

[Kit-Fox]

Removed

[[KMA]Avenger]

to true, i remember in the mid 70's and early 80's people used to come from all over the world to study in the UK.

[KnowLedge]

should be FREE and HARDER

knowledge is one of those things that everyone is entitled to.. and those needs are free, why isnt education free.. EDUCATION Must be free

[HonoredSLayer]

education should be free.
but how do we pay the teachers. more taxes of course.
back to the topic.
the truth is we need better teachers. it is not the curriculum that is the problem it is the way it is taught and who teaches it.
what if you had some ku klux clan member teach you about the civil war. just imagine what that lesson would be like.
now thats a nugget to think about.

[Mister Sandman]

you cant force people to learn, and it is a waste of money and effort if people dont want to learn...

education should be free but not at the expense of others education....


I.e It should be free to the ones who want it.

[[KMA]Avenger]

in simplistic terms (not trying to say anyone here is simple minded), what we need is a system that encourages younger minds and challenges them to learn and enlighten themselves in a more engaging way.
lets not forget that young minds are nothing more than sponges soaking up information, we should encourage and nurture the brains development with real and factual information.

the problem we have now is that kids are being groomed, trained and indoctrinated to take their place in an economic society, to work till they are 65+, get into debt by buying useless junk, paying taxes most of their lives and eventually dying hoping they made enough cash so their kids can carry on pushing that "grindstone".
is it any wonder most kids will go along with that kind of mentality, and the rest are nothing more than a "road-side" statistic?


there is so MUCH MORE than money and possessions to life and we are not teaching our kids that most important of information.