Just think, schools are going to be cutting back hours thanks to Barry err Obamacare. Still worship the guy now that he if screwing with education?

Great ideas and combine them with magnet schools in the larger districts and you might change the whole system.

Oh yeah, and outlaw teacher unions.

They're thinking about cutting the teacher's hours - not the school's hours.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/14/us-usa-healthcare-schools-idUSBRE97D0IJ20130814

Not just the teachers but EVERYONE who works for the schools. They are screwing good, hard working people. We are going to become a "Part Time" nation.

If you think it makes a Difference,just have a look at Congress!
Or other governing Bodies around the World!

no clue what you are on about,,,state employees already have healthcare,,,its no effect on school hours

You didn't read the article, did you?

Personally i think the PR idea was quite brilliant.

I also believe we need a higher quantity of teachers.

(I know this is almost a contradiction)Provisions should be made making it easier to fire older ones (as i have seen many who get tired and focus their career on getting paid for doing as little as possible at the expense of their students' education).

There has been a huge push in my state to consolidate schools into larger districts. This is a horrible plan as now taxpayers' funds get put into a large pool and issues in smaller schools get ignored despite increased taxes. We need to get rid of this consolidation and allow for a greater independence of individual schools. Then we can study the more successful ones and learn from them.

I have never been a fan of the Department of Education, as their blanket policies often hinder smaller specific situations. I would not know how to overhaul the system without studying it a great deal, however.

(This may or may not be related to the above). Children with violent behavioral problems should not be kept in public classroom. I have seen this on several occasions where a child hits other students, destroys their classwork, destroys school property such as laptops, and yells/screams, yet the teacher cannot restrain him due to laws, even though he is literally punching other kids in the face. This is wrong, and we are traumatizing many just to cater to one. That mentality needs to end.

This push to create "more rounded" students by focusing on everything at a young age is also a hindrance. At a young age the old fashioned "reading, writing, and arithmetic" should be focused on. This is also an issue in college. In an attempt to "create more rounded students" you have to spend years (yes multiple) on subjects that have nothing to do with your major. For example; in order to get my pre-medicine degree i needed to take 3 semesters of art (That's 1.5 years). This is a waste of time and money.

Which leads me to another complaint;

Colleges are getting too bloody expensive. This means the system needs an overhaul. Step 1: get rid of the courses you don't need. Step 2: Get banks the heck out of our educational system. Governments should subsidize the students rather than the banks. Besides, student loans are creating hyperinflation of tuition costs. Personally i am expected to pay almost $300,000 for my college before i am finished. I know MANY who have Bachelor's degrees and $100,000 or more of debt. This plays havoc on the economy as again, people like me will be paying $2,000 a month for 30 years on graduation.

Again, i apologize for ranting...

All we need to do to improve education is get government and unions out of it and focus once again on what's important.....the student!

I would like to see a plan similar to Mexico.
Schooling from first to sixth grade is state funded. After sixth grade, the parents pay for schooling.

If the parents have a monetary interest in the childs education, the, otherwise trouble makers, would be more disciplined.

Screw burdening tax payers with kids that don't want to be there anyway.

are you serious?

are you AWARE of how low Mexico ranks internationally in education

or that they have about 5 times the rate of homicide

or that their poverty rate is NEAR 50%

,,yeah, I will pass on emulating mexico,,,

There ya go again.
Not wanting parents to take personal responsibility and lay the burden of kids that cause problems on the shoulders of tax paying property owners.

makes NO SENSE

my post said nothing about parents or personal responsibility,,,

not any part of the point I made whatsoever

my point is MEXICO is not a model to hold up for education or 'troublemaking'

Persons who do not own property do not pay property tax.
Property taxes are what pays schooling.
If individual parents took on the responsibility of funding their own kids education, those parents wouldn't put up with delinquent kids.
I fail to understand the welfare mentality.

seems that's not the only thing

schools aren't strictly funded by property taxes

and education isn't just for the well off's kids

Cradle to grave.

When a person rents they are paying the owner's property tax in their rent. The owner of the house increases the rent to cover it. Just sayin.

My parents rented when I was kid. I turned out alright.

You turned out great!

I was referring to the welfare mentality that believes the tax payer owes them for their irresponsible breeding.

If they were forced to pitch in, their kids might not turn to thuggery or gangs.

But, they seem to only want cradle to grave care.

No personal responsibility or consequences.

I agree , something is wrong with people who CHOOSE to live out their lifetime on welfare

however, I would guess very few fit that description,,,

The thing that were missing here is, Schools can only do so much. Too much money not enough money, they do the best that they can. It is up to the parents and eventually up to the students to take what is there and do the best with it. Weed out the ones that don't, give to the ones that do. Eventually, the ones that don't will wake up or be left out.