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Education Comments

News Headline
May 21, 2005
$100 Laptop
The MIT Media Lab is planning to develop a laptop computer that will sell for $100 a piece (volume pricing). It is designed to be usable by children all over the world and includes some unique features, such as wind-up power, to eliminate dependence on electricity. I suggest you check with MIT.

R. Dalton

1. Get back to basics=Reading, Writing, Arithmetic
Everything else depends upon proficiency in the basics. We are "graduating" young people who cannot read or write a complete sentence.

2. Declare English to be our official language or at least declare that we will NOT educate children who do not have adequate English skills to attend classes. We should not have to pay for Spanish (or other language) books nor hire interpreters for our classrooms. (My wife is a teacher and must have an interpreter present at certain meetings with non-English speaking parents.)

3. Declare that it is LEGAL to ask if a student is a legal citizen of the USA. Right now that question cannot be asked. Ridiculous.

Makes good Sense but are the kids using them are going to be responsible enough to safe keep them and use them for instructional purposes and not sell them and say they lost them. Worth looking into.

What about a national standard for education? We moved from CA to MD and I was so far behind, my Dad had to teach me math and Mom had to teach me English to catch up with the rest of the class. That was the 3rd grade.

If they are to have laptops, they will require seats to accommodate them, as the desks they have now do not facilitate working on a laptop computer.

Interesting idea, but you have to take into account the fact that Laptops are MUCH easier to break than books, and often need just as expensive of quarters as books. Personally, I would stay with the books, since they cost about the same as Laptops, yet are much less fragile.

The computer idea is not workable. The maintenance required to keep them operating correctly, especially in a student environment, is not something we want to fund. I know, I am in the computer business. Secondly, what is blatantly missing from this discussion of education in America is that education, "state controlled education", is a farce. No longer is knowledge taught in our public schools. It has been replaced with indoctrination for the collectivist thinking of the new world order (NWO). Any discussion of education that speaks of dollars and does not attack the sham that education is today is a waste of time. I am surprised that a discussion of education by a political party seeking national recognition would be so simplistic and status quo. The discussion should enter the domain of returning control of our schools over to the local districts where parents exhibit more influence. After all, the children are the children of the parents, not the state. Additionally, the discussion should include returning to real knowledge teaching and backing away from the propaganda being taught today.

Jeff "Mario" Smith
Lexington, KY
jeffsmith@blueone.net

Great idea!

This is a simplistic solution to a complex issue.  Without reporting the demographics of the mentioned community, it\'s somewhat meaningless.  Let me offer some rambling thoughts for comments:
CSPAN recently broadcast a program (surely available on the internet) about textbooks. Currently, there are only 4 textbook publishers. (From past experience, a review of some of those texts, conspicuously exposes errors and why our children are failing.)
We're allowing ourselves to get mired in Creationism nonsense and no longer teaching science and evidence.  Shouldn't we instead question why we were able to graduate competent people in the past, but not now?  If you traveled to a white, affluent community right now, in any state, and wandered through the halls of their public schools, into their classrooms, their purpose and direction would be quickly apparent - education. Sadly, their counterparts would be otherwise occupied. Parents' interests, concerns and motivations are dismissed with a blanket prescription. The simplistic solution of providing laptops is precisely that - simplistic. It reminds me that, as an ancient adult, I took math in college - with college-aged students. After a class in which we discussed Trigonometry, I made a comment about remembering using a slide rule as a kid when I learned Trig. A student commented that he had seen slide rules being sold in the Flea Market, but didn't know what they were used for. While I was capable of using a calculator to determine the functions, I understood what the functions meant. The meaning and importance of the foundations of learning seem to be discarded.  I seem to recall, prior to our Iraq invasion, reading statistics that indicated that, in Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, more per capita graduates in Physics, Math, Sciences were graduated than in the U.S.  Recently, a comment was made about the Fall of Rome being caused by Romans viewing the spectacles in the Coliseum and abandoning intellectual pursuits. Is that any different from the 'Evening News' that currently reports the local sports team's status and neglects international events?  It is known that deprivation of intellectual stimulation in infants reduces their intelligence. What happens when adults/children watch endless hours of mind-numbing television? Look at your local television listing. Intellectually challenging?
President G.H.W. Bush made a comment last year condemning critics of our current Iraq Fiasco as 'Fancy Pants Liberal Elitists.'  Every single dictator, throughout history, has condemned, killed or exiled 'Intellectuals.' (If you can think of one who has not, please comment.) The purpose of education is to convince you of your stupidity so that when you \'complete\' your formal education, you will continue to read and educate yourself. The U.S., in the past, was the greatest consumer of books in the world. Where are we now?

WOW !! I agree, just as we in the military constantly put new technology to good use, the government bodies that work for us need to do the same.

PC's are the wave of the future, and I believe you are ahead of the curve.......remember! your first class in supervision, in the service........." there is always resistance to change".  Again I say you are ahead of the curve!

These planks are GREAT as far as they go but I see the difference in a few points. First I believe that the US Government has absolutely no business in education aside from funding and setting standards. The No Child left behind BS that President Bush has installed is a failure pure and simple. Give the money to the States and let the States be accountable for it. The US government should do two things, DEMAND accountability for the funding to the schools (as in results) and set a minimum standard for teachers. In teaching just like any other profession there are good and bad. We the people need to find a way of taking the bad teachers out of the equation.
Donald Zoutte
iowachair@veteransparty.us

Every child is entitled to an education. If at the present, the government seems to think that funding a public school with government funds (school tax) and pervading funds for home schooling is OK, then why not fund religious schools. After all, home schooling is no more then a form of faith based schooling.

Go Vets!
Not only will "Less Books, More Education" let schools save money, but it will save trees as well. I like trees.
-A HUGE FAN

I'm all about e-learning and such. It's the way of the future.
I don't school libraries to become a thing of the past though, and I want students to appreciate books and literature.
Also, what kind of long-term maintenance, upgrade and upkeep costs are we looking at? Computers have planned obsolescence, and give out after only a few short years of use. How does this fit into the plan?

Hmm everyone poses good questions. I believe we should be returning to education as opposed to indoctrination. Ask your kids any question about American history or government, bet they cant answer it. But dimes to donuts they can tell you what multicultural diverse month it is or what groups/peoples/countries that the evil empire has subjugated. And no I'm not trying to be jingoistic. I always thought that America was a "melting pot" we bring the best of our country and ourselves creating stronger weaves in our culture.
abnnurse101@yahoo.com

You have some good ideas and some very extreme ideas. I go to a public school and I don't think your policy on school funding works. Setting a standard for school to earn funds will only contribute to the decline of public school. In my state standardized test are too sporadic to pass. Also there are many special ed students and esl students who can not pass the test, not because they are stupid but because they have not learned how to. Schools should be focused on the education of our children not earning money.
I think text books are a major part of learning. I am a student and I really don't enjoy text books, but I know that they are important to the learning process. Respect is declining in schools but taking extreme measures is a bad idea that is why they took it away in the first place. Please explain your views on punishing students before I vote.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4292854.stm

Good idea. All states can use the info highway to get education done. Need to get back the basics reading, writing, and arithmetic.

My God ... say it isn't so...someone FINALLY caught on to the fact that a 200 year old training process isn't going to fill the bill !!! I've got a couple more ideas for you, stop grading students on tests (oral or written) and grade them on their actual UNDERSTANDING of the subject. We have been generating a society of MEMORIZERS not learners for years. This is why when I have young people come to work for/with me I have a really hard time getting them to actually THINK.....
Keep up the good work.

I completely agree

It makes perfect sense to move to computer use instead of strictly books. After all, information is the key to everything and the computer is far more capable of storing and disgorging information than the more clumsy and destructible book in the hands of children.

And, according to the lead-in where the overall expense of handling books is detailed, the end expense might well be less even now. When bulk purchases and more innovative laptops come along, the expense should equalize or even be reduced.

Good thinking!

The Veterans Party of America