Here's what we get for starving our schools for funds.

[Brigid]

For decades, we've been underfunding our public school system, while lying to ourselves about its quality. Here's what it gets us.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/06/the-permanent-recession.html#more

[BR_Parkway]

1. People who listen to Rush and watch FAUX news without any critical

thought

[jody]

2. I've lived in GA, CA, MO, IL, CO, AL, FL, WY, OH and schools are different. I also know the problem

of quality is not as simple as increasing teacher salaries.

I support increasing teacher salaries because IMO they are underpaid but I do not expect quality to increase if and when salaries are increased.

[gatorboy]

3. We have members here that seem to like the below par quality of our schools.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5799131#5799287

[Sabriel]

4. OK, time for some comparison numbers

The article mentions comparing the U.S. to Finland and Switzerland, so here goes:


Total Poverty Rate Child Poverty Rate
Finland 5.4% 2.8%
Switzerland 6.8

U.S. 17% 21.9%

It's not an education issue; it's a social class issue, and that means areas like access to pre- and post-natal health care, adequate nutrition, safe and healthy living conditions, access to educational enrichment...the list goes on.

Want to "fix" education? Try starting with the social system first.

http://www.epi.org/page/-/old/books/swa2004/news/swafacts_international.pdf

[KamaAina]

5. "people who do better on standardized tests grow up to be more productive workers"?

This assertion is made without any backing. This untested assumption is at the heart of the mad (and quite profitable for some) rush to high-stakes testing. :eyes: