Bill Pelland
Joined: 25 Feb 2008 07:34 am
Posts: 268
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Posted: 02 May 2008 10:02 am
Post Subject: Re: One High School Read Article
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I am not a Tyler resident nor did I grow up in this area and so I must confess I do not understand this issue with Lee and John Tyler schools. Having said that I would like to comment on education in general and "No Child Left Behind" also.
The "No Child Left Behind" mandate passed early in the Bush administration was an attempt that evolved over many administrations to improve public education. Unfortunately, like many federal mandates, States are asked to do the federal governments bidding but are not provided the neccessary funds.
Nationwide, our public education is suffering and we should be looking at education as an investment in our future. Nationwide, the percentage of students that fail to graduate from high school is just under 25%. A little research points out that the median income for a high school grad is about 35,750 whereas a non grad makes about 26,250. An assosiate degree brings a median income of 44,400 while a bachelor degree 57,225.
The benefits therefore to local communities that improve their educational system are: 1. Higher sales tax revenues 2. Higher property tax revenues assuming higher income people buy more expensive housing 3. More taxes paid into social security and 4. higher income taxes paid. 5. Higher graduation rates and a better educated public also draws business to open up new employment opportunities thus providing more jobs.
Now somehow we do have to measure both student and teacher performance but teaching to a test seems counter productive. There is a great joy to learning and once children discover this there is no limit to where they can go. Nationwide testing for purposes of measuring successes and identifing where we need to improve could be productive but as it stands now it seems it is just a tool to withdraw federal funds when in fact more resources are needed.
I think a discussion of methods to improve education is most important. The first step to solving problems is to figure out what is working and what is not. It's been proved that a lower teacher to student ratio enhances results. Another writer mentioned the new technologies now available that was not available in years past. Training and re-training teachers and administrators as new technology is developed is also important.
I graduated High School over 40 years ago but even then the High School I attended had an electronics lab to train High School students. There were other vocational oportunities as well both in the High School and after High School in the form of apprenticeships. Of course the school also had an excellant college prep curriculum.
It would be interesting to hear, in this forum, ideas from parents, teachers, school administrators, and (yes) even politicians. How can we move forward and what monies are we willing to invest?
Bill Pelland
Murchison Tx
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Bill Pelland
Murchison Tx
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