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U.S. Education Overhaul


The following is the process of gaining a marketable education:

student desires - education - learning - marketable skills - employer desires







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    Lejan .

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      Gail .

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      In the USA, it is.

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        Worker class - Middle class - Leading class









      We're on the same page :)
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          Also, you've said, and I agree with:

          One day we may get there."

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          "putting them right into focused employment"


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    Dec 2 2012: Instead of taking them out of high school, I would try and get back to the original concept of vocational education. There are some school districts, such as Nashville, which have implemented "learning academies." They have brought companies into the education process and they allow students to move around the school system to partake in those that cater to their interests. I don't believe we should eliminate secondary education, but we should modernize the old concept of "vocational education," now called "career readiness." I don't believe that college is a "waste," as you say; rather, it is not affordable to many families and steps should be taken to ensure that every family can afford some type of college education should they choose to purse it.
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    Dec 1 2012: I agree with Lejean that the purpose of education goes far beyond preparing students for specific employment and includes exposing students to a range of disciplines that might interest them, conveying skills in critical thinking and interdisciplinary thinking, giving students an opportunity to engage with experts and scholars working in the disciplnes, and so forth. Giving not only future scientists but all students opportunities for science laboratory experiences, as an example, broadens everyone's ability to understand scientific processes and the potential soundness, or lack thereof, of conclusions that are drawn that affect everyones lives. I give science laboratory experience only as an example.
    The same is true of the style of thought and work in other fields.
    The breadth one can get through education also enhances a person's flexibility to change tracks and integrate understandings over the course of a life or a career.

    Education is an area in which many tend to make assumptions that are too narrow.in terms of what education does and can do. The vast majority of people under-estimate both. It is important not to mistake confidence and assertiveness for knowledge and understanding. Education also can give us a 'nose" for that.
    • Dec 1 2012: I agree. There is more to an education than what I propose here but this idea is young and the page space was short.

      Perhaps students could progress through a chain of professionals in different fields.
      When I was a kid, if I wanted to learn the piano I didn't study history or college algebra. I practiced piano. Practice.

      Instead of having kids learn things by studying them, I propose that students learn things by practicing them and this is the heart of my proposed idea.

      And I believe so strongly in exposing students to a range of disciplines, and encouraging critical thinking and interdisciplinary thinking. Our system today doesn't teach these as efficiently as it could either, but they must be worked in to a viable education model.
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        Dec 1 2012: I understand, with two reservations. One is that education in any context, very much including the classroom, should involve continuous application. We learn not just by listening but by a combination of listening/reading, thinking, and doing things in a hands-on way. This is true in the classroom and beyond it. People who do not use material in a context in which they get competent feedback often think they understand something better than they do.

        Second, I doubt that when you wanted to learn piano, all you did was practice piano. I bet you were also learning other things that same day and week, though not at the same moment you were practicing piano.

        Single-minded, narrow specialization is not necessarily the best course.
  • Dec 1 2012: If you find this hard to believe, I won't blame you.

    For many skilled positions, your solution was exactly the way many people were trained, by their employers. Then came the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Equal employment opportunity was a BIG issue then, and over the next several years this law resulted in many law suits against employers, some of them baseless. Employers needed a way to standardize the employee selection process. Most employers took the easy way out, by simply requiring a college degree. This solved the equal opportunity problem and also provided employers with better candidates. Coincidentally the draft for the Vietnam war was producing many veterans eligible for the benefits of the GI Bill; one benefit being help with college tuition.

    To this day, many skilled positions that could be filled by high school graduates still require a college degree. Changing this would involve changing the law.

    One of many unintended consequences.
    • Dec 1 2012: That is perfect to know. It totally makes sense, so if we were to change education in this way, we'd need a way to make it fair. How about supplementing the mentored learning position with two things:

      1) A classically designed education but from a far cheaper and accessible online source like coursera or udacity?

      2) Have peers of students under an employee. Then the employer discriminates less because he hires more, the peers can help each other through the learning process. The employer may not be able to hire all the students, and that could be a problem.
  • Dec 1 2012: Aren't we focusing on the crazy way we Americans do things? Early creative individuals in America would freely borrow from others. e.g. Ben Franklin The other industrial countries don't delude themselves with the idea of keeping all students in school for thirteen years. So we've helped our country by the educator professional agenda? IS that what you are approaching. Want 1,ooo Phd physicists a year The American federal government nudges that to fruition Even if there aren't that many jobs. Your idea is right in that we should always think and analyze.