Article about residency shortage: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/health/train-more-doctors-residency/index.html We also have a much higher shortage in some areas -- rural/gp, especially. I think part of it is again looking at the absolutely massive cost of medical school and looking at paying it off on a surgeon's salary vs. a gp's salary. Several of our good science majors here have gotten into med school via a rural physician's initiative, where the cost is significantly reduced as long as they agree to practice as a rural pcp for a certain number of years. It's designed for people who are still mid-college and of course you need to maintain a certain level of gpa.

I feel also that there's a lot more pressure to go as fast as possible and not continue because of the cost increase.

Which is a pretty sure sign that any "magic bullet" is going to fail, heh.

I don't think most people are advocating this, but I think that was one of the points of the speech; that curriculum should all be decided locally, not even at a state level. It's hard to say even on the nth reading, because it was so full of platitudes and so empty of nuts and bolts. But one of the specific quotes: And this, I think, is what people are objecting to. I am thrilled by the idea of giving teachers more freedom over how to teach; how to structure their day; what learning aids they use. I am excited by the idea of giving schools and teachers freedom to choose from multiple curricula, that have similar scopes but different sequences within the year, different emphases, potentially allowing teachers to differentiate by giving one child who loves math something like beast academy (which would have him working ahead; but that's no problem as long as the grade basics are already learned) and another child who just wants to get it over with something like saxon. But I don't at all like the idea of scrapping any sort of coherent year-based sequence in skill-based subjects completely. I don't think that end of year tests are necessarily bad, but I think the tests themselves are bad and the curricula are designed by the same people who write the tests, so of course you will have superior results when they write the tests aimed at their own curriculum. This is a marketing tool and is repulsive. But I think teaching towards a well-structured test with a good free response section and qualified people to grade it wouldn't be at all bad, especially if it were done every 2-3 years instead; comprehensive review is an excellent teaching tool. Also, pearson is evil.

Well -- for me it's more not wanting to get into arguments of the "Someone is WRONG on the internet!" type.

This happens every time something appalling happens in a homeschooling family; I doubt it will have any lasting effect, but you will probably have a lot of people arguing with you for some time.

That is the difference between a country that values education and a country that values credentials :(

I was going to say "huh?" and then I read more. The snooping bothers me. Leaving a random file on the computer is, to me, kinda like leaving a random typed paper on a table; I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone picked it up and read it. But having someone who goes looking for your stuff is creepy.

I see that you feel rather strongly about this, but I think that many students would learn and retain more from a targeted culture class/sequence; the language requirement can often be satisfied by two semesters, which is often spent mostly studying grammar and syntax that is forgotten once the class is over. It would also make it possible to teach in more variety than we currently do; my undergraduate school offered French, German, and Spanish, so everything was European or American. I am not, btw, speaking of a "culture" class where the students dress up in funny hats and eat weird foods, but rather a serious look at geography, religion, social structure, governmental structure, recent history, relations with neighboring countries, and so on. (Edit: and I was not sufficiently clear in my original post; were I to allow computer languages to count, I would still require cultural exploration classes in the general education curriculum, as I think it is one of the most important things that students are exposed to at university. I just don't think that foreign language classes are the only medium for this.)

Some universities are moving towards allowing programming languages to count for language requirements at college; I think it's an interesting idea. I'd like to see more looking at "how can we satisfy our educational goals" rather than "how can we tick the same boxes that we've been doing" at the university level. I especially hate using college algebra as a catch-all math class and requiring it for general education ... but if I got started on that I could rant for pages.

You can add spices into baking recipes without altering how it works chemically. In other words, it won't change the texture or how it works. I increase spices all the time because I find that most recipes are a bit bland. IME, 99% of the time, if the dough tastes good, the baked good will taste fine spice-wise too. I add spices and keep sampling the dough until it's a bit stronger than I want it (because the potency decreases a bit while baking). For what it's worth, if I were going to try those I would have added at least double the cinnamon they say, and also ginger and a bit of nutmeg/cloves/allspice.

I'm not so worried about what one person is going to choose to teach. There are groups that perturb me with what they recommend, but I don't think that laws about what to teach would really help. But there is a big difference between that and what a school should be able to choose to teach (or especially not teach) to other people's kids. This applies especially to the public school, which by default collects all of the children with the least invested parents and the least knowledgeable parents (as well as many others, of course).

Gosh, my mother is still working on that for me ;)

Kids who move; a lot of kids move schools frequently, and children who are already disadvantaged are most likely to do so. When the coverage is very different year to year in a sequential subject, and especially when one state/school is grades ahead of another, it causes issues -- similar to indiscriminate curriculum hopping. I do think there should be a lot more freedom in *how* to teach, and I have no issues with complete local control in subjects like elementary school social studies/science as long as they're not omitting them entirely.

Just to make sure I'm not missing out on something ... is your post autocorrecting nested?

You can make it the same thing. http://bakingbites.com/2015/04/how-to-make-quick-cooking-oatmeal/

Cell phone shots are one way I tutor my students through e-mail. This is nice because you can see exactly what they wrote and point out things like "do you see there where you wrote cube root of x and then at the next step you wrote 3 square root of x?"

I think that's exactly the opposite. Your kid is the one that the kids who are sleeping 4 hours a night studying for their AP classes that are making them hate learning are trying to be. Or, more likely, the one their parents are trying to make them be ... anyway. If it's natural for your kid, it's not "playing the game".

This is a good point; it wouldn't make much sense for an alternative school focused mostly on "credit recovery" to offer classes like that. It would be very useful to have them broken down by school type. Still, though, I think there is no excuse for a school to not offer these as independent study through distance learning. Basically, have a study hall in a computer lab where the students who are doing independent study are all in the same room together. If they start mucking around and especially disrupting the learning environment for others, they lose the privilege. Is it as good as a class with a dedicated teacher? No. But it is better than no class at all or a makework class, for a motivated student.

So incredibly true. It's like pretending to be someone you're not to try to get a relationship.

Free textbooks in many subjects, including math: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/ Most have reviews. It includes pre-algebra, elementary algebra, elementary geometry, intermediate algebra, college algebra, precalculus, calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, finite mathematics, elementary statistics, math for liberal arts, differential equations, introduction to proofs, abstract algebra (one or two semesters), number theory, probability, combinatorics, college geometry (Euclidean plane one, the other one is HS), real analysis (one or two semesters), data structures and algorithms, linear regression/programming I will draw specific attention to: Math in Society, a Math for Liberal Arts class that would be an excellent 4th credit for a struggling or uninterested student, and do equally well for supplemental material for a bright younger student. Open Logic Project, rigorous but non-mathematical, aimed at students in the humanities. Advanced Problems in Mathematics, which looks like a collection of challenging problems that would be a fine supplement for any student eager for more. Intended to be for those taking examinations at Cambridge, so some problems may rely on A level material, which includes calculus. Algebra and Trigonometry, which is a college algebra/trig textbook that includes significant review in the first two chapters, ideal for someone who's forgotten a lot. Calculus for the Life Sciences I and II, which look ideal as a first exposure for someone more interested in those areas. Proofs and Concepts, designed for undergraduates but suitable for mathematically mature high school students as well. OpenIntro Statistics, a more advanced text that uses some calculus.

I think one problem is that it's kids who are just ... not allowed to develop into their own selves ... because their parents are so busy trying to push them into the "mold" ... and they'd probably be better off, not just as far as college admission, but life itself, if they been allowed to develop interests, even non-academic, even if it meant fewer APs. I mean, talking with enthusiasm about your welding certificate from the CC and how it's going to be relevant towards your intended career in independent agribusiness is just not something that you could fake.

For something like that I'd rather err on the side of underscheduling than overscheduling. I would wait for the next C and P.

If you are working hard and understanding it well and can apply it in your other classes (especially science), please do not worry about it. Suppose you were half a step behind? So what? If you changed to a more accelerated curriculum, you would just have to move back a step anyway ... and then maybe you would not be understanding it so well. So if TT is making sense to you, finish TT all the way through pre-calculus, and then check your knowledge with whatever curriculum you intend to continue in -- unless you're ready for college by then, in which case, the college will place you. Edit: To elucidate a bit: When I said "if you are working hard", if you find TT too easy and boring, you might look at a more challenging curriculum, or adding some supplemental challenging problems. Also, for what it's worth, I teach math at a small public 4-year college. I wish my calculus I students actually understood everything in TT pre-calculus. They don't.

Right. Prep is "prepared to take math that counts towards your degree", not "prepared to enter any standard major and graduate in 4 years". Argh. And then we talk about the lack of diversity in STEM. Gee, maybe your failure to provide an education that would, oh, I don't know, allow those without family resources to be prepared for a STEM major has something to do with that?