Schools should never be autonomous, but I dont believe they should be considered to work for parents either
Schools should work to produce well rounded educated productive citizens for the community. That includes the parents, but also includes childless citizens, businesses, etc.
The politics of both parents, AND teachers have muddled the true mission of what a school should be. I would like to see schools return to actual education, and less politics.
Schools should work to produce well rounded educated productive citizens for the community.
No. Children are not a commodity, to be molded by the needs of the state by the educational industrial complex.
Children are people. Their own interests should be paramount. Not those of the community, the state, or even the parents. (The parents are generally more trusted because they have their children’s best interest at heart more often than the bureaucracy does.)
I know enough people thrown out of their home for being gay that I hesitate on the idea that the parents are the most trusted (which is why I like the way you phrase it — more trusted). There are a lot of cooperating and competing interests at play, which is how it should be.
There’s a limit, though. If we followed this to it’s logical conclusion then vocational training in schools would be limited to firefighting and pilot training.
At a certain point kids can’t lead you in the right direction because they don’t know where they’re going yet. Guidance is in their interest even if it goes against their desire at that point in time.
Not those of the community, the state
But most kids have their education free at the point of delivery, paid for by the community and state. So it’s inevitable they have a say in things. If you don’t want that then homeschooling or private schooling is a viable option.
Their interests are best served by becoming educated productive members of society.
This feel good, utopia, idea that children have no need to be concerned with learning a skill set, or learning how to be productive members of society (which yes means often working for companies) is part of the moronic political drivel that "education reformers" and teachers unions are pushing that are causing the American schooling system to fall behind the rest of the world.
Lets start teaching hard science, math, etc. Lets start grading with red ink again, and Lets stop with the participation trophies and the like
(Few childres are taxpayers, for starters, at least not in any significant capacity. They are a primary, but still not the sole nor determinative, stakeholder.)
Comments
Schools should never be autonomous, but I dont believe they should be considered to work for parents either
Schools should work to produce well rounded educated productive citizens for the community. That includes the parents, but also includes childless citizens, businesses, etc.
The politics of both parents, AND teachers have muddled the true mission of what a school should be. I would like to see schools return to actual education, and less politics.
No. Children are not a commodity, to be molded by the needs of the state by the educational industrial complex.
Children are people. Their own interests should be paramount. Not those of the community, the state, or even the parents. (The parents are generally more trusted because they have their children’s best interest at heart more often than the bureaucracy does.)
I know enough people thrown out of their home for being gay that I hesitate on the idea that the parents are the most trusted (which is why I like the way you phrase it — more trusted). There are a lot of cooperating and competing interests at play, which is how it should be.
There’s a limit, though. If we followed this to it’s logical conclusion then vocational training in schools would be limited to firefighting and pilot training.
At a certain point kids can’t lead you in the right direction because they don’t know where they’re going yet. Guidance is in their interest even if it goes against their desire at that point in time.
But most kids have their education free at the point of delivery, paid for by the community and state. So it’s inevitable they have a say in things. If you don’t want that then homeschooling or private schooling is a viable option.
Their interests are best served by becoming educated productive members of society.
This feel good, utopia, idea that children have no need to be concerned with learning a skill set, or learning how to be productive members of society (which yes means often working for companies) is part of the moronic political drivel that "education reformers" and teachers unions are pushing that are causing the American schooling system to fall behind the rest of the world.
Lets start teaching hard science, math, etc. Lets start grading with red ink again, and Lets stop with the participation trophies and the like
Agreed, but who defines this? Parents deserve input, as key stakeholders and as taxpayers.
Stakeholder != Owner
Yes, parents have a role. Yes, parents have a stake.
They are not exclusive in this.
Is there a better definition of who “owns” a school other than the public tax payers?
Parents are a subset of taxpayers.
Taxpayers are a subset of stakeholders.
(Few childres are taxpayers, for starters, at least not in any significant capacity. They are a primary, but still not the sole nor determinative, stakeholder.)
The public is everyone, citizen or not, taxpayer or not.