Very old bumper sticker:
It only became “defund the police” because abolishing this fascist institution requires far more backbone than liberals can muster.
Now… how to actually get suburban people to vote yes on the referendum to raise their own property taxes to get the school repaired…
We should just nationalize the schools and their funding, ridding us of thousands of inefficient and expensive local and regional administrations, pay the most highly qualified teachers a higher salary, give teachers the freedom to craft and administer their own curricula, and give students more freedom in their spare time and at school.
Don’t worry, radical change is not even on the table with this or any viable administration. I’m just saying how things ought to be.
We should just nationalize the schools and their funding,
Yes… through increasing taxes.
ridding us of thousands of inefficient and expensive local and regional administrations
I’m really not sure how you imagine making that work. Maybe you’re just not all that familiar with what local government does? Because it’s usually a lot. For very little pay.
Basing these takes on a book I read about schools a few years ago. The Smartest Kids in the World. Some of it may be outdated or misremembered, but the clear one was how inefficient it is to have this many school districts in America. Overall cost of adminstration has gone up while teacher pay has stagnated.
Not sure about now, but in the 80s, from 7th to 12th grade for me, I attended a federally funded USA school, and our average student tested in the top quartile of state funded schools nationwide.
I understand your approach but you have things mixed up imo.
The shool administration needs to be local to a reasonable degree. It starts with things as simple as predicting schooling demand. Did a new company create 50 jobs in the district? Means probably 20 more kids to come than before anticipated. The state road is in for a major reconstruction? Some kids are not reachable for this school with the bus in reasonable time anymore…
This also goes the other way round. The availability and attractiveness of the schools will affect other local government decisions.
Meanwhile curricula definitely should be standardized and there should be a high level of federal standardization, leaving space to specific local topics like local history, geography and the like.
What makes you prefer standardized curricula, rather than rigorous testing and well supported teachers?
Academic rigor, we will agree, is crucial - constraining how teachers work is, in my view, not.
