patrick.net

The following changes will go a long way to improve the public education in the US:

- Reduce class length to 40min (who can focus for longer?!) with 10 min breaks in between, and with one or two longer breaks for snacks.

- School stats at 7:30 and ends at about 12:30. This gives the students enough time in the afternoon to rest, do their homework and have some free time.

- Those who need baby-sitting in the afternoon, can stay at school and do their homework there with minimal supervision. The supervision can be done by teachers, while they prepare their lessons and/or grade homework and assignments.

- Reduce the number of elective classes in high school.

- Increase the number of classes a student takes each year by teaching some classes only 2 or 3 times a week.

- The above will allow to start teaching physics, chemistry and biology much earlier and to teach them over several years. This I think is crucial. These subjects should be taught each year (at a rate 2-3 hours/week) starting from 7th or 8th grade.

- The length of the textbooks should be limited to 200 pages. The current textbooks are horrific. A very important part of the learning process is to identify the key, important points of the material, and to make connection between them. The high school textbooks achieve exactly the opposite. They are so voluminous that they obscure what is important.

- Reduce team work in class, focus more on individual work. The latter is what current students are weak at.

Of course nothing will change because the school boards are run by idiots who were raised in this system and don't know anything better, but believe that they are very competent.

Patrick says

Let middle school and high school students test out of any subject

In college I tested out of many subjects. Don't see why high school students shouldn't get the same opportunity.

Of course a virtual university would be better. You could proceed through every subject at your own pace, no matter how fast.

Let anyone test out of any subject. You should be able to walk in and take a bar exam if you studied the law and knew your shit. If you can pay to take the final exam for a Doctorate in anything.
You should be allowed to take the test or exam.

Sounds good to me! Just don't ask them anything about history before, say, 2015.

Patrick says

students should be able to gain the sweet release from the endless drone of a teacher by passing the final exam for the class at any point in the semester.

This almost exists already to the point where it is reasonable.. And actually doesn't make that much sense as a policy in and of itself that could be added on to the current system. But I agree with the basic premise behind what you're suggesting.

The truth is that high school is already tracked, as it should be, especially in Math. But as one might expect this is not nearly as simple as people might expect.

I have often thought structuring high school like college, and possibly even charging students beyond a second time that they take a course might be a good idea. Make high school courses something that students and parents consume and shop for. You only get so many credits paid for by the state, but by law you have to get up to a certain level (allowing options for those with lower academic potential).

Then make courses prerequisites for others. IF this was done well enough, then students would be competitively driven, and some would choose easier paths., or paths more appropriate for where they are in their development. Electives and study halls could fill in the gaps. I'm a strong believer in the strong elective options such as music, art, and technology. These should even be required more than they are, while students are still at an age when they feel they have the time to explore these subjects.

There needs to be some classes there for everyone. How do you minimize the students that end up feeling left behind ? And the behavior and social and emotional problems that can result from that. Those questions and problems would still be there, but way more students could be served much better.

continued

But the cost would be much higher. It would require more on site administration and counselors, and it would only work well if the school is large enough to have reasonable sized courses for all of the different options.

It's more complicated than you think. But yes, it could be done SO much better than the current system. Technology is going to make a lot of improvements possible.

related

www.nccryZOcrUg

Maybe one day we will spend more on education if robots are doing way more. Systems change, hopefully.

FP says

Reduce team work in class, focus more on individual work. The latter is what current students are weak at.

Lot of people who go to Med school and get into residency, often suck at the former, which is important in last two years Med school, residency and beyond.

@Rin anything to add here?

marcus says

have often thought structuring high school like college, and possibly even charging students beyond a second time that they take a course might be a good idea

They would probably drop out before taking class second time

FP says

The above will allow to start teaching physics, chemistry and biology much earlier and to teach them over several years. This I think is crucial. These subjects should be taught each year (at a rate 2-3 hours/week) starting from 7th or 8th grade.

This is more or less what is done in India. Of course, many go to school after school to review said topics

Ironman says

If anything, make them longer. Classes need to be teaching/leading kids to what they will experience in the real world. Does you boss only give you projects now that only last 40 mins? Does you boss give you 10 min breaks and snackie breaks every hour? You mean these kids can't get through a few hours without eating anything?

This sounds like an argument for secular home schooling for those who can afford it and just use the school district for extracurricular activities(forbidden in California)

Or online curriculum, bypassing classroom altogether. Teachers should just record their lectures and allow the students to watch those who talk like Ben stein at double speed at their own convenience.

Patrick says

to quietly converse (fuck split infinitives)

Patrick, you can sleep well tonight. Split infinitives are not really a broken rule anymore. At least according to MLA and OED, and Chicago Manual of Style et al. agree. It would be interesting to know if they still teach that nonsense in school today.

Split infinitives were used without controversy in English well into the 19th century, including much of our greatest literature, when crusty Victorians decided to invent another thing to fetishize.

http://www.grammar.com/split-infinitives-2
http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2006/03/go_ahead_split_.html