Controversial Opinions: School & Education edition

[Anonymous]

Special Education funding is a drag on school systems and they should not be required to provide it.

DCPS spends 25% of its budget on special education. I can list at least 15 things that that money would be better spent on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special Education funding is a drag on school systems and they should not be required to provide it.

DCPS spends 25% of its budget on special education. I can list at least 15 things that that money would be better spent on.

I still think they should spend money but special education and ESOL services are bankrupting Fairfax County. People actually shop around school districts. You don't need a Cadillac plan when a honda civic will do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think old school "tracking" is beneficial for both the higher achieving and lower achieving student. I don't think it should start too early, but by upper elementary I think it helps both groups of kids.

Agree for the higher achieving but it hurts the lower achieving

Multiple studies show this it makes sense if you have all the challenging kids in one class the teacher is going to burn out during that class

You believe bright/advanced = not challenging, and less advanced = challenging? LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special Education funding is a drag on school systems and they should not be required to provide it.

DCPS spends 25% of its budget on special education. I can list at least 15 things that that money would be better spent on.

So would happen to kids whose parents can only afford public education and need services?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Education funding is a drag on school systems and they should not be required to provide it.

DCPS spends 25% of its budget on special education. I can list at least 15 things that that money would be better spent on.

I still think they should spend money but special education and ESOL services are bankrupting Fairfax County. People actually shop around school districts. You don't need a Cadillac plan when a honda civic will do

That's such an awful thing to say. I hope you don't have children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not believe in letting 17 year old kids pick fluff majors. College is to work hard and get an education. Parents should keep up with economic and career trends and be responsible and guide their kids into successful careers.

I agree completely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Education funding is a drag on school systems and they should not be required to provide it.

DCPS spends 25% of its budget on special education. I can list at least 15 things that that money would be better spent on.

So would happen to kids whose parents can only afford public education and need services?

They'll find a way. I think they'll find they don't "need" as many services as they're demanding. Or they'll do it themselves.

[Anonymous]

They should rely primarily on multiple teacher recommendations for admission to gifted programs at the middle and high school level, and there should be fewer seats overall. Most students being accepted to programs are simply academically advanced, due to early education benefits and often also intensive supplementing outside of school. Truly gifted students who pick things up quickly, think above and beyond and around everyone, and just have killer minds are few and far between. But really, they NEED a very different type of learning than they get now and would benefit from a true cohort.

As a middle school teacher I've dealt with 30-50 students per year applying to HS programs. Maybe 20 were really strong academically, 7 or 8 would be accepted, but only 1 or 2 were actually gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should rely primarily on multiple teacher recommendations for admission to gifted programs at the middle and high school level, and there should be fewer seats overall. Most students being accepted to programs are simply academically advanced, due to early education benefits and often also intensive supplementing outside of school. Truly gifted students who pick things up quickly, think above and beyond and around everyone, and just have killer minds are few and far between. But really, they NEED a very different type of learning than they get now and would benefit from a true cohort.

As a middle school teacher I've dealt with 30-50 students per year applying to HS programs. Maybe 20 were really strong academically, 7 or 8 would be accepted, but only 1 or 2 were actually gifted.

I think there needs to be a more challenging curriculum available to any student who benefits from it, gifted or not. My kid is not gifted but he gets his math concepts the first tie he hears them, yet he is to sit and wait for others to catch up. There are no gifted programs where we are and he needs to be truly gifted in order to say have instruction together with higher grade level kids.

[Anonymous]

Diversity is overrated. Group kids of similar aptitude together and call it a day.

[Anonymous]

Not everyone - or even most students - should be taking the four year college path after high school. There are thousands of high-paying trade jobs that are sitting unfilled because we’ve convinced ourselves that college is the only worthy route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Education funding is a drag on school systems and they should not be required to provide it.

DCPS spends 25% of its budget on special education. I can list at least 15 things that that money would be better spent on.

So would happen to kids whose parents can only afford public education and need services?

They'll find a way. I think they'll find they don't "need" as many services as they're demanding. Or they'll do it themselves.

This is simply awful. I hope you don’t ever have any SN kids. Total lack of compassion and understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Education funding is a drag on school systems and they should not be required to provide it.

DCPS spends 25% of its budget on special education. I can list at least 15 things that that money would be better spent on.

So would happen to kids whose parents can only afford public education and need services?

They'll find a way. I think they'll find they don't "need" as many services as they're demanding. Or they'll do it themselves.

This is simply awful. I hope you don’t ever have any SN kids. Total lack of compassion and understanding.

There are kids who can't speak English... and no esol teachers
Bathrooms with no doors on the stalls
Chemistry classes... and no chemicals

But those kids aren't white so I geuss they don't matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone - or even most students - should be taking the four year college path after high school. There are thousands of high-paying trade jobs that are sitting unfilled because we’ve convinced ourselves that college is the only worthy route.

Completely agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone - or even most students - should be taking the four year college path after high school. There are thousands of high-paying trade jobs that are sitting unfilled because we’ve convinced ourselves that college is the only worthy route.

Completely agree

The problem though is that they don't pay enough or the risk to be paid adequately is too high.