Does the education system need to improve?

[Mr-K-]

What are your thoughts?

[LYON O]

this is truly a stupid ?? of course education needs to improve. and we should never be content with any amount of improvement in our schools, but always strive for more. what really needs to change is the democratic ideal that everyone/everything should be rewarded, even mediocrity. as a nation rewarding mediocrity does nothing to instill value in our youth, praise should be passed out when it is earned, not because someones feelings might get hurt if we congratulate little tommy for scoring a touchdown, but not little eddie for sitting on the damn bench.

[sarah d]

hell yeah!!! third world countries are progressing more than us in education!

[S M]

Yes...........more languages, more instense work.....
don,t just get the kids to do it.... tell'em where it can be used in life....

[xwdguy]

No, NCLB and school financing need to be replaced with something competent. Reducing teaching time by blocking out two weeks for standardized testing and forcing time to be spent teaching to those tests makes things worse by limiting what else can be done during the school day (NCLB). Implementing a system that rewards fudging numbers (NCLB) is a bad idea. Cheating schools out of money (yup, NCLB again) is a bad idea.

[xwdguy]

No, NCLB and school financing need to be replaced with something competent. Reducing teaching time by blocking out two weeks for standardized testing and forcing time to be spent teaching to those tests makes things worse by limiting what else can be done during the school day (NCLB). Implementing a system that rewards fudging numbers (NCLB) is a bad idea. Cheating schools out of money (yup, NCLB again) is a bad idea.

[Colin H]

Good question.

You're asking someone who went to seccondary school in the 1980's, was forced to put up with the choices of GCE's, CSE's and the 16+ exam. (For those who don't know 16+ was the original GCSE) Did I need this hastle when I was 15? I think not.

My personal oppinion are that...

Firstly: we should learn more diverse languages at school and not just French or German. I'm talking languages like Russian etc.

Secondly: (And this is purely based on my experiences, if things have changed then ignore this section) The study of computing should be changed. FFS do I really need to know about Napiers Bones or Charles Babbages Ana-bleedin-lytical engine?

Thirdly: Mathematics.....Its all well and good teaching some snotty nosed teenager how to quote PI to god knows how many decimal places or to get them to solve quadratic equations but how about teaching them to add up, multiply, take away or divide simple arrithmetic without the use of a calculator.

Lastly: English...I can't really say much on this subject because I'm probably just as bad. However it would be nice to see an effort as regards spelling and punctuation is concerned.

[robert c]

It certainly does!!There again so does the standard of honesty and ability of our Members of Parliament!!