http://www.nola.com/education/index....calls_new.html

There are some crazy schools out there, but I am not sure that anything should be done about them. The parents sending their children to those places are already teaching them that at home. In the article linked in the OP they identified that 19 of the 119 schools they identified as participating in the program teach that silliness. I would expect that as time goes on, the private schools that aren't participating (the better ones) may begin to participate bringing the percentage of craziness down further.

The other thing to consider is that in the area where the craziness is taught, it might be in such high demand that it is "secretly" taught anyway in the public schools.

Secretly taught yea, but it can be squashed rather easily. A lawsuit bankrupts a school so the risk is high, and craziness gets removed quickly.

I don't want to pay for someone else to be taught unless I CHOOSE to. Nobody should be forced to pay for anyone's "education"

I don't think it does. The teacher will say "here is the the theory of evolution that the so called experts say we have to teach." Without saying a word about it, the teacher just let the students know that the crazy from home is ok.

I think a lot of people on this forum under estimate the level of crazy in the rural south.

That's great, but see the rest of society decided otherwise a long time ago. And we aren't getting rid of the goal of educating everyone despite the radically few protests of the people in this thread. I know I know you're being stolen from, and forced, and thugs and all that. I hear you. It's just the vast vast majority of society doesn't want what you do. And we aren't moving towards that in your lifetime EVER.

I'm just as shocked as you are that the 30 or so of you who are constantly persecuted by the rest of us haven't packed your bags and started something new where we couldn't get you. So I'll assume you've decided the system we have now is better than the system you could create. Either that or you don't really believe all the "don't tax me bro" BS you spew. Clearly freedom from the government isn't the most important thing in your life. It's just what you spend the most time whining about.

No. That's not what I'm saying at all.

The difficulties in getting people who would otherwise be good math/science teachers to be certified and stay certified as teachers keeps many from doing so, along with pay structures that prevent them from being paid at market value.

How so? What makes you say this?

I was gonna say something about how idiotic it is to think that having a master's/PhD in some random field makes one qualified to teach in that (or any) field, but I doubt most of the naysayers here would accept that, much less accept the idea that teaching, like writing, math, or playing an instrument, is a skill that is usually not magically inherent.

1:1 student:teacher ratio tho.

Hmm. I wonder.....wonder......wonder whether teaching is the only profession to expect and require continuing education in that field in order to maintain one's credentials?

A teaching masters usually only takes a year. My friend got his, spent a few months in his student-teacher gig, decided to do something else. Another friend of mine loved her student teacher gig, from everything it sounds like did amazing and really connected with the kids. She's been substituting for 5+ years because none of the old biddies in the Orange Co. school district will retire.

Of course it's not. But that doesn't mean it isn't an obstacle. And not just that, but people who are able to teach RIGHT NOW that would have to jump through so many hoops, it's not worth it.


Arbitrary requirements that make people who wish to move from industry into teaching jump though hoops that make it not worth it. Pay scales based on seniority without regards to subject matter or market value (thx teachers unions).

A+

Amen brother. The lack of reasoning and critical thinking in this thread is a tragic comedy. I want to respond to the insanity, but at the same time I realize the futility in explaining the reality of the world we're actually living in versus some utopian dream that has so many philosophical deficiencies in it's theory it would never actually be applicable, to some people on the internet is near pointless.

I'm hopefully that a vast majority of the people can grasp the basic concept of the argument in this thread, and it's still a minority that either don't get it, or just want to argue a mute point.

The two basic points are:

1) You're free to teach whatever you want to your kids. But if society has collectively agreed to fund a public education system, we better have standards set in place that eliminate ythe teaching of unfounded beliefs and junk science.

2) The school voucher system provides more options for parents/students, but it also undermines our current educational standards. You can argue what you want, but public education teachers are more highly educated and held to a much higher set of standards than their private school counterparts. School vouchers are undermining these standards and can potentially completely undermine public education and create more private schools teaching junk science and belief systems.

That stuff happens all the time. When I was in 8th grade I had a history teacher find out which religious sect I was and railed on theology in the guise of history for a week. At the time I didn't know he could have had his ass sued so I requested to be moved to another class.

Holy crap