From: Clint O'Dell (clintodell@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Oct 06 1999 - 14:14:51 MDT
>From: Chuck Kuecker <ckuecker@mcs.net>
>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.com
>To: extropians@extropy.com
>Subject: Re: Reforming Education
>Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 18:40:33 -0500
>
>At 03:28 PM 10/5/1999 MDT, you wrote:
> >
> >How about an agency that creates tests covering all materials and
> >difficulty to test students understanding of several areas. Each >school
>submits all subjects being taught (not material) and then >the students
>will be tested on those subjects ranging all >difficulties of the subjects.
> The results would then be compiled >and compared with other schools. The
>schools would credit the >student (thus verifying the students abilities to
>employers and the >rest of society) and the agency would rate the schools.
>Here in Illinois, the public schools have tests like these now. The state
>mandates the tests and the schools are rated according to test scores. Poor
>schools have been put on 'hit lists' until they bring up their grades.
Does Illinois allow parents to choose which school their children attend?
Instead of puting schools on 'hit lists' they should be shut down by
competition. Only the most succesful schools will survive. Also, wouldn't
it be great to have statistics on success rates of graduates?
>The only problem is that if the state does this, it's just another
>bureaucracy to get out of control. Private testing on the order of what UL
>Labs does for electrical appliances, perhaps? A school could earn a 'Better
>Housekeeping Seal of Approval'...
When I said agency I didn't necessarily mean a government agency. I would
like to see a non-profit organization test the schools.
Also, school should be optional. If schools were optional we as a people
would be more free from government control (as a first step to not allowing
government to tell us what we can and cannot do), and education would become
a desire driven enterprise. Desire driven education is more successful than
obligated education.
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