Posts by mistyfalcon3

jadetinker85 said:Homeschooling? What does that actually yield? A bunch of socially awkward kids. Before jumping into an experiment like this, we really should have focused on making school a place where kids actually want to be, rather than a high-stress pressure cooker—something plenty of American psychologists are already sounding the alarm about. Apparently, one in three students is struggling with some form of anxiety these days. I just hope they include student satisfaction levels in the metrics for this pilot program. And teachers, too. Their well-being matters just as much.

Socialization doesn't have to happen exclusively within the four walls of a classroom. Homeschooling could be a vital lifeline for children with special needs, those dealing with severe bullying, or students who simply can't attend school in person for various reasons.

If the USA actually follows through with this, I suspect we’ll see a massive surge in demand for alternative education models, specifically homeschooling. Given the sheer chaos we've been witnessing over the last few days, it feels almost inevitable.
It would be a welcome move if they finally legalized homeschooling nationwide.

@Mad Hatter I don't have kids myself, but I frequently hear stories from a colleague of mine who does—she’s got one in second grade and another in fifth. She spends her entire afternoon hovering over them, drilling in homework and lessons. On top of that, there's this constant stream of instructions being blasted out by their teacher through various group chats. It makes me wonder: how is a child ever supposed to develop any sense of independence when you're constantly spoon-feeding them every single piece of information? 🕺

silverbear74 said:Two years is more than enough. They breeze through their coursework in just two semesters. A classmate of mine finishing her degree right now said the exact same thing when we compared my textbooks at the FBI to hers. She’s prepping for an exam with only two days to go. Maybe she spent a whole week studying for one of those exams during that entire five-year stretch.
I'm not disrespecting the job, but making a College of Education program last five years is just unnecessary and frankly ridiculous—for them too.

Fine, I'll admit the FBI program is brutal. I've heard that on certain courses, you have to achieve absolute perfection on the exam or you simply fail—there are even stories of people retaking a single subject ten times. All in all, at least it prepares you for the actual job.
But there is another flaw: almost every professor has their own teaching assistant. In my view, it's completely superfluous, given that not every subject is that vast or demanding. Instead, these assistants are worked to the bone while the professors just coast along. I remember my time at my own useless university; most of the lectures and exams were handled by assistants, while the professor would only show up to scribble a grade and a signature in the gradebook.

nimblelynx7 said:So we really need five years of college for this?
Every job has gotten harder, but that doesn't mean every single one requires a five-year degree.

Look, I’m not trying to disparage anyone’s career path here, but I have to ask: why should a preschool teacher be required to complete a full five-year degree instead of the two-year programs we used to see? Why must the educational requirement be stretched out for so long? If there are any professionals from that field here, perhaps you could offer some insight.

Does a longer degree necessarily equate to higher quality or deeper expertise? Not necessarily. The sheer volume of coursework is often bloated and redundant; many young professionals don't even begin truly mastering their craft until they actually enter the workforce. I know the inevitable rebuttal will be that no university degree can ever truly substitute for hands-on experience, but we should certainly be increasing practical training while slashing—or entirely eliminating—those courses that exist solely to provide job security for tenured professors. Furthermore, wouldn't it make sense to halve enrollment quotas or perhaps just abolish degrees in fields like philosophy or Egyptology that offer little utility in the modern economy?
Take, for instance, why would MIT students be forced to sit through psychology or economics classes? I can wrap my head around economics—everyone needs a solid grasp of how money works—but only if it’s taught with actual substance rather than just being a way for an instructor to clock in their hours. There is a cascading series of failures within our educational system, but at its core, it all boils down to the fundamental rot in our society: corruption and cronyism. Of course, nobody is going to fire their relatives or political allies.
The Daylong school schedule, even if we set aside its detrimental psychological impact on most students, is merely a drop in the ocean of failed initiatives. We attempt to blindly transplant models from other successful nations—like the Finnish, British, or German systems—while ignoring the most critical factor: implementing a Western model requires a Western mindset.

Susan James said:Parents who need after-school care for a 4th grader aren't acting normally.
I actually wrote this eight years ago when I first heard they were offering these programs in Chicago, and now I'm writing it again as they try to push full-day schooling for fourteen-year-olds.

One thing is providing a warm meal, and I think it would be wonderful if kids had lunch available to them (even a cafeteria tray); it really makes family life easier (personally, I love being able to grab a bite at work).
Or perhaps just having a roof over their heads while they wait for violin lessons across the street (so they can finish homework, read a book, or just stay out of the rain).

But the other thing is the actual supervised help and structured homework time—being stuck in an indoor space with a bunch of students you didn't exactly choose to spend your life with, under the constant watch of an adult.

Exactly. I understand the first graders who haven't mastered navigating traffic yet and find everything so overwhelming; let them stay in after-school care until their grandparents pick them up. Since they've only recently transitioned from preschool, I believe staying at school is actually less traumatic than it would be for the older kids, who are already moody teenagers.
Not to mention those students dealing with bullying; forcing them to remain trapped in a school building would only make things worse.

Absolutely not. Let kids enjoy those few hours at school while they still can; an eight-hour workday is inevitably waiting for them once they enter the workforce. As for the argument that children need somewhere to be, I suspect modern parents have become far too overprotective. In my view, it is perfectly reasonable for a child up to the end of fourth grade to walk to and from school alone and remain home for a few hours until their parents return. Of course, unless they live a great distance away or lack basic independence, the alternative would be after-school programs—though, as we know, not every school even offers those. It makes me wonder, though: will they eventually just force full-day schooling on everyone?
I truly hope this doesn't turn out to be yet another failed project by our illustrious U.S. Department of Education.