"Maxprop" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...
I think it starts, as you said, with instilling the desire to learn in
kids from their parents. So, part of it is to try and keep families
together, or if that's not possible,

A lofty goal, to be sure, but we already have three or four generations of
people (crossing all racial and ethnic lines, by the way) who are
convinced that the two-parent home is obsolete and that education is
pointless. The situation is exacerbating, not remitting.

Well, you may be right, but one has to fight against the tide, else be drawn
along with it.

ensure that single parents have enough bandwidth to help their kids and
still earn a decent wage.

Care to translate your "bandwidth" analogy into English?

Not having to have three jobs to make ends meet, so that they actually have
time to spend with the kids.


We need to pay teachers more, since this will attract better teachers.

Numerous studies have demonstrated redundantly that money is not the prime
motivator in attracting individuals to certain professions, teaching
included. But tying the teacher's hands with respect to discipline,
leaving him prone to litigation, open to student abuse, and hating his/her
job is hardly conducive to attracting quality individuals to education.
Once again the *solution* of throwing money at the problem is and has been
a failure.

Something being a prime motivator has only a little to do with making it
financially viable for people take on a profession.

I don't think raising teacher salaries can be defined realistically as
throwing money at a problem.

We need to test kids, but not put the emphasis of teaching to the test.

Of course, all this smacks of socialism, but actually it makes good
business sense.

Education in the USA is highly socialistic already, so what's the big
deal. A proper identification of the problem is the answer, however. Too
bad that every time the problem is examined under a microscope and the
real issues are unearthed, the political correctness police prohibit
airing and dealing with them. Heaven forbid that we might examine the
drawbacks of single-parent families, cultural anti-education biases, etc.

I think we would all benefit from knowing the answers. However, just because
someone is a single parent does not preclude doing a good job with one's
kids.