Tough Choices or Wrong Choices
"The education system is merely a support for the political system we choose." - Vicky Davis
In 2007 the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) produced a report entitled Tough Choices or Tough Times. In it, they outlined a view for the American education system as the supplier of workers for the 21st century in a global economy. From her blog Channeling Reality, Davis summarizes the the findings of the report below:
Problems in the Current System
- Teachers are recruited from the lower strata of the intellectual talent pool
- Waste in the system, allowing students to fail in lower grades and paying for remediation in later years when costs are higher
- System is inherently inefficient. “Standards have helped but only moderately relative to cost” over 30 years
- Growing inequality in family income as a contributing factor in growing disparities in student achievement
- Failure to motivate students to achieve
- Teacher compensation rewards longevity rather than performance
- Testing system measures rote learning and does not