Andrewmc wrote:
look - you asked, I provided an answer knowing full well that whatever it was there would be a problem with it.
I've absolutely no issue with Private Schools OR Public Schools, and in fact at a policy level, there should be no difference between setting a national curriculum for 500k and 100m if the fundamentals are reading, writing and arithmetic.
I have as much skepticism as the next about bureacrats or technocrats but the issue with setting a national policy direction is that you need to have EITHER a solid grasp of the brief and the subject matter at hand OR a demonstrated willingness to seek out advice and to use the best evidenced based knowledge to underpin the direction of travel.
Now I may have misunderstood here background - but I am pretty certain that she does not have a background in education or a solid grasp of the brief and her professional background is investing in quackery (brain performance centers)
I'm not worried that on a day to day basis her views on education are going to filter in to a classroom and teachers are going to move away in the short term from focusing on fundamentals, but there are questions as to whether, in the absence of a solid understanding of education systems and policy decisions, that we are left with someone who is a heavy investor in a business that is supported by no clinical research - snake oil saleman and I am not sure that that is the sort of person you want making "informed" (or not) decisions on something like education
I though it was worth noting that they have about 1/7 the population we do. You say it's just as easy to educate 5 million as it is 300 million, I disagree with that. I think as a nation we would be better off leaving education up to the states and have the Federal government out of it. I think if you look at where we were ranked and the cost of education historically, we were better off before the Fed's stepped in and helped us out.
I have no opinion one way or the other on the nominee for DOeD.
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#WeAreTheForge #BlackGunsMatter
"Look, will you guys at leats accept that you are a bunch of dumb asses and just trust me on this one? Please?" BarryP 7/30/2012