Changing the American Public School System: A Wish List

[Amy in NH]

My main wish is that the federal government be completely removed from educational policy; removed from setting standards, removed from funding, removed from setting policy. Then I would like to see local governments be willing to boot behavior problems out of the classroom, have small classes that are grouped by ability (similar to the levels that someone mentioned above), no homework until high school, The option for a top-notch vocational or academic education, and a move away from multiple choice testing for the purposes of determining graduation status.

 

I really can't see all of that (most of that) happening on a widespread basis if it is all dependent on local control.

 

[Reefgazer]

No, realistically, I don't either. I guess that's why we homeschool. But it's my wish list.....

I really can't see all of that (most of that) happening on a widespread basis if it is all dependent on local control.

 

[kubiac]

I want American public schools not to look and act like derelict prisons, complete with chain-link fencing, window bars, cracked asphalt, peeling paint and a general air of totalitarian command-and-control in a milieu of rusty industrial distress.

 

I want beautiful garden plantings, skylights, blond-wood furniture, room to move, inviting libraries full of books and cozy chairs and soft rugs, sophisticated office furniture, computers that are less than a year old, decorative fountains, real art, cafeterias that serve beautiful locally sourced plant-based meals, uncluttered administration buildings and paperless offices and shiny musical instruments and clean glass windows and intentional architecture and mature trees.