05-06-2010, 07:03 PM
the_poochies wrote:
This may be rather expensive and hard to do. Should we outfit every HS graduate with a GPS device so we can keep track of them? Can a successful academic career be measured simply by wealth? I agree with what you are saying but I think that implementation of your idea would be difficult given reality.
Actually quite cheap if you can get measurements from the IRS.. Of course the boyz in da hood where our friend teaches do not pay taxes on their net income from selling crack and jacking cars. :confused:
And I agree with you. The real issue is that we Americans are fascinated with 'silver bullet' solutions.... the 'one measurement' or Key Process Indicator that will 'solve all our problems'. And that fascination causes our laws to become.. stupid.
Empirically a gestalt of the student's value to society is the measurement we wish to use. But personal 'value' means so much... is the penurious cleric who counsels thousands without compensation valued less than the wall street investment banker ? Or the murderous meth dealer valued higher than the high school chemistry teacher ?
There is a reason that most educational institutions were attached to religious organizations throughout the last millennium. The better measure of 'worth' and 'value' from society's perspective is best couched in terms like 'ethics' and 'morals' and 'service to others'. And, of course, the religious teachings of the second millennium were heavily focused on such things. The old Jesuit Philosophy of "Give me the boy and I'll give you the man" used the intellect and the faith to produce superior citizens.
In my humble opinion, it is the late 20th century drive to push ethics and morality OUT of our schools that has led to the collapse of the Public education system, and as a result our inner cities. The cry that "It's the parent's job to do that" is well founded, but when the parent is incapable or unwilling to take the child in hand, then who is left ?
Ultimately it becomes the job of the police and the prisons, because the teachers have been forbidden from providing basic instruction in being a good citizen.... and don't say that they take 'citizenship' class, knowing how government works has nothing to do with actually being a good citizen.