patrick.net

High home prices can be attributed to the "Two Income Trap."

http://www.amazon.com/The-Two-Income-Trap-Middle-Class-Parents/dp/0465090907/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352532962&sr=8-1&keywords=two+income+trap

I think push-education should be limited to K-6. Then, students should know what they want to know more and educators should help them find answers themselves.

A robust society has people with very different perspectives. For this to happen, education must be flexible. We do not even need a lot of teachers.

Education quality is not the problem, parenting quality is in most cases.

1) Encourage at least one parent to stay home and raise the kids

Not practical since today it takes two median incomes to raise a family with any kind of financial security. Of course, if half the domestic work force dropped out of the market, wages would rise. But ever family has a strong incentive to defect, so that won't happen.

2) Dissociate school assignment from residency

Absolutely, and there's only one effective way to do that. See below.

3) Teach kids to find passions, ask questions, and get answers with help

It is impossible to teach passion. The best you can do is start a government funded project to breed nerds with supermodels. Their offspring would be beautiful and passionate about learning -- both dominate traits. I've been advocating this for decades to no avail.

4) De-emphasize higher education for all except specialized areas

Raising the bar is essential for degrees and certification to mean anything in the real world. However, doing so will not increase the education of the masses.

The real solution is...

What's wrong with the educational system and how to fix it.

This guy is a genius. He explains everything that needs to be done to end the education crisis and ensure that all people regardless of income, ethnic background, or anything else have the opportunity to maximize their educational potential.

Get rid of mindless classes and double up on Math, Science, English, and History.
Cancel everything else ! extend to 9 hrs and 11 months in a year.

Fire teachers who fail.. merit increase who succeed..

This is the Steve Jobs ideas...