Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion What's the Point? Busted meritocracy?

Jon,
Glen Seaborg (Seaborgium is named after him) was a graduate of David Starr HS, not a great school now or then.
Teacher salary is not the whole issue. SES does matter overall, what you live is what you learn. The entire public system as a whole needs work. There are bright spots out there and some incredible teachers and administrators. I see the biggest issue is lack of competition. There is no perfect fix, but having no real accountability that involves parental input takes the responsibility off of parents and places it on the state. Parents (overall) need to have the ability to choose the best school based upon the merit of the school. Money will still buy a so called better education, but money in each persons hand rather than this is the school you must attend, will drive the schools to perform better. Public schools will always have a problem because they must serve all students, this is a tough one. If it was based upon misbehavior perhaps an easier dilemma, but what of special needs, of 2E. Not so easy, costs are higher and results can be lower. A 100% economic model does not work so well. No answers hear, I just know what we are currently doing is not working well.