Is government control of the education system a desirable "reform"

[poddster]

The question is, should government influence our education systen?

When governmet says it wants the same opertunities for every child is it really saying that it wants uniformity in education , such as what is being taught and how it is being taught.?

Is it better to have diversity in education as to what and how kids are educated?

[joz*garage]

snipe

[*crikey*mate*]

The first part that comes to mind is the part which dictates what a child is "allowed" to be taught and what school year level they are allowed to access based on their age rather than their ability.

Be careful what you wish for. When my oldest son started primary school they were just implementing a system (can't remember the name of it now) whereby every subject was broken down into units and children advanced from unit to unit according to their ability rather than their age.

When he reached year seven there was suddenly a huge panic when the powers that be  realised that all those kids who had not attempted the highest units in Maths would be going into highschool without even a basic grounding in algebra or geometry. They had to hastily devise a bridging course so that about 50% of students wouldn't be completely beyond the eight ball when they were faced with first year of maths in highschool.

I have experienced it to work very well over the last 10 years or so.

They do off level testing. So if a child is able to acheive 95% or better in the final test, then he is allowed to take the class at a higher grade level. They continue until they score below 95%.

Therefore, instead of the child being bored out of his brain in a class that he had already mastered, he was allowed into a class where he was challenged and had the potential to find interesting.

This was also then integrated into uni when the children had finished a subject to a grade 12 level - they then started the subject at uni...

I agree there, are draw backs, as I had a 15 year old at uni - and that had issues that we dealt with, and even now he is still a bit young to do a lot of stuff with his uni mates, as he isn't 18 yet.

However, we at least got him through school. If he had have become bored, it is likely that he would have switched off and maybe not even finished.

It would be equally good for a child who was struggling with their work - what's the point of insisting a child move up a grade purely because of his birthdate when he can't do the work at the level of the grade below? Why put that kind of stress on a kid?

[poddster]

In this particular thread I am trying to highlight the fact that governments are steering young kids into believing what they want them to belive and setting up the structure to achieve that end.

[joz*garage]

yea, isnt that because of what You think.. kids at school are being brainwashed into believing man made pollution - CO2 is causing global warming?

which was discussed on the global warming thread? 

[poddster]

Joz I used the diatribe that JMK posted as an example only.

I does not start and end with that aspect.

Look around you Joz at the red tape and political correctnes that has tied this country up in knots, cast your mind back to before that was the norm and you might just catch a glimps of what I am getting at

[just_me_karen]

It's not my fault you didn't understand it. Gonski will definitely prevent bunker schools from producing such poor results in the future 🙂

[poddster]

Where did I admit that Joz? 

[poddster]

Gonski will be another white elephant.

[joz*garage]

Where did I admit that Joz? 

 what prompted you to post it then? prey tell

[poddster]

In this particular thread I am trying to highlight the fact that governments are steering young kids into believing what they want them to belive and setting up the structure to achieve that end.