Education and intelligence
Charles Murray is a genius. (Genius here is defined as "he agrees with me so he must be really smart.")
This is part II of III. Murray is the author of "The Bell Curve" which was roundly criticized as being racist when it came out. His work was subsequently confirmed by peer research. Murray notes that he hoped to spark a re-evaluation of intelligence and education and how the two are related.
We've seen the progression of a procrustean system for students of all abilities. I doubt anyone thinks this is a good idea but nobody is willing to take the slings and arrows that accompany discriminating between student abilities. Imagine the uproar that would ensue if the principal told 20% of the students at A.I. DuPont that they would be directed to vocational education classes. He'd be out of a job faster than Christine O'Donnell at NARAL.
I can't speak for Delaware schools (or even public schools in the last 15 years) but when I was in HS they were starting to eliminate "banding" as it was known then in favor of "one size fits all" education. Vocational schools were dead long before I ever got to HS. There was one that I knew of in all of Northern New Jersey.
I'm a firm believer in vocational schools. There are a great many people who would benefit greatly from not being trapped in school being force fed history or literature that they have no interest in or use for. Rather, let them out to work with their hands where they will succeed and begin earning real money. Additionally, those jobs are never going to be outsourced anywhere. In fact, most of them will be out earning their peers when they graduate from college four or six years later.
The idea that every American should get a college education is lunacy. While I am a firm believer in education for education's sake. The caveat is though, that people with a sheepskin often feel entitled to be the boss no matter how suspect their alma mater. There is a sense of entitlement that some people feel comes with earning a diploma. We end up creating a nation of people who all think they should be managers. People who think they deserve to be in charge and are not are usually resentful, unproductive employees. Moreso if they're young.
All of this is not to say I think people should be restrained from achieving or rising above their station or any of that nonsense. Rather, I think we need to reframe expectations and how education is delivered.
This is part II of III. Murray is the author of "The Bell Curve" which was roundly criticized as being racist when it came out. His work was subsequently confirmed by peer research. Murray notes that he hoped to spark a re-evaluation of intelligence and education and how the two are related.
We've seen the progression of a procrustean system for students of all abilities. I doubt anyone thinks this is a good idea but nobody is willing to take the slings and arrows that accompany discriminating between student abilities. Imagine the uproar that would ensue if the principal told 20% of the students at A.I. DuPont that they would be directed to vocational education classes. He'd be out of a job faster than Christine O'Donnell at NARAL.
I can't speak for Delaware schools (or even public schools in the last 15 years) but when I was in HS they were starting to eliminate "banding" as it was known then in favor of "one size fits all" education. Vocational schools were dead long before I ever got to HS. There was one that I knew of in all of Northern New Jersey.
I'm a firm believer in vocational schools. There are a great many people who would benefit greatly from not being trapped in school being force fed history or literature that they have no interest in or use for. Rather, let them out to work with their hands where they will succeed and begin earning real money. Additionally, those jobs are never going to be outsourced anywhere. In fact, most of them will be out earning their peers when they graduate from college four or six years later.
The idea that every American should get a college education is lunacy. While I am a firm believer in education for education's sake. The caveat is though, that people with a sheepskin often feel entitled to be the boss no matter how suspect their alma mater. There is a sense of entitlement that some people feel comes with earning a diploma. We end up creating a nation of people who all think they should be managers. People who think they deserve to be in charge and are not are usually resentful, unproductive employees. Moreso if they're young.
All of this is not to say I think people should be restrained from achieving or rising above their station or any of that nonsense. Rather, I think we need to reframe expectations and how education is delivered.
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