From the sound of it, if there's one thing we gotta fix in America, it's our nation's education. We used to have a great system, but now it's failing our children. Everyone's got a solution for all our woes, from charter schools to ending standardized testing. From union busting to bringing back corporal punishment. But really, what are the problems? How is education actually worse today than before? How can we know we're failing if we're not sure what our goals are?
I hear all sorts of things, and I've encountered some of my own as a teacher. These constant complaints and worries have pervaded the American collective psyche. But they presuppose answers to a question I never hear asked: What do we want out of our education?
I don't know if we've even examined this. We certainly haven't enough. So that's what this diary is about. I intend no subtext, I have no agenda, I've got no axe to grind. I am merely raising some questions for the dailykos community, to get a debate going, and to learn something.
(Some of the questions might seem to you to have obvious answers, but please don't forget a key rule of teaching: Nothing is obvious to everyone. Especially that kid in the back who's playing Angry Birds during your lecture.)
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