Is education a right or a privilege in America? How do you think it should be viewed?
363432
Education is a privilege; just as is driving, having a job, or owning a house.\nSchools in America are available for anyone who can muster up the minimal effort required to attend; yet there are many who consider it a burden to do so.  It really isn't that hard to get an education anywhere in the Western world.  Go to the places I've been in the Third World; the people there routinely risk their lives to get what we take for granted.\nNo one has a "right" to force others to provide an education for anyone.\nPerhaps if we Americans concentrated more effort on our responsibilities (including doing our best in school), and took less for granted, rather than creating new rights du jour every day out of thin air, we would do better at things that require an education.
299500
I think America has come along way to be more ethical and to show more humanity and humane treatment of one another because of fair labor laws, the equal rights amendment, civil rights movement, fair housing, and laws to protect people against discrimination, age, sex, and religion.  If people feel discriminated against they can just sue someone anymore.  Also, I believe American's on the whole are more educated these days.  But I have known people including myself who have been treated poorly and their civil rights stepped on by those in control and authority.  We still have alot of evil-doers in this country who are very corrupt and we unfortunately still have the "good ole boy" system in our country where money talks.  And with the treatment given to American POW's by our own American military makes me not proud at all to be an American sometimes.  Especially violating the Geneva convention.
858648
Better education - education that focuses not on how well you do on a standardized test, but in thinking and reasoning through a problem you are presented with.  Education should also include a firm grounding in other cultures and on a variety of religions in order to counter the insularity and intolerance that has led to the current international situation.  We've got a lot to be proud of and our own unique heritage, but we've also got a superiority complex that isn't entirely deserved and which leads to a lot of conflict.\n\nBetter health care - I know that a lot of people think that it's socialism to provide universal health care, but if you think about it, who's benefiting by the current system?  Hospitals are going bankrupt because poor people can't pay thousands in medical bills.  People are dying or needing expensive long-term care for conditions easily treatable in their early stages - but that were not detected because the patients had no insurance and therefore could not get the checkups that could have saved their lives.  Their families are going bankrupt trying to pay for the medical care to save their lives.  Businesses are losing millions because of workers who are either missing or working sick.  The only ones making money are the pharmaceutical companies, and they're making a killing while taking us for all we're worth and then some.\n\nHigher minimum wage.  A person who works hard for 40 hours a week should not have to be on welfare to feed their family, and should be able to take their children to the doctor for their school shots without having to wonder how they're going to pay for food for the next week.\n\nThat's just the top three.  But take care of those, and you've taken care of a whole lot of the problems that are plaguing our country.
901502
I don't think any of it should be banned.  I think the advantage would lie in teaching everything, so that education isn't subject to some kind of cultural censorship.
471094
Great question.\n\nThe short answer is no.  There is no federally guaranteed right to a free education.  \n\nBut the longer answer is that free public education was in place in America before the Revolutionary War and it has been an ingrained part of our civic lives for hundreds of years.  It's probably not in the constitution because:  1) it's so universal, the founders didn't see a need; and 2) education being a local issue, the founders didn't believe the federal government should be involved in it.\n\nAnd though there's no federal right to an education, there is a state right to an education.  Almost all states guarantee a right to a free education in their consititutions.  For instance, New York State's constitution says, "The  legislature  shall  provide  for the maintenance and   support of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children  of this state may be educated."  And every state has extensive laws which guarantee a free and apropriate public education to every child.\n\nIn 1979, the federal government established the Department of Education to oversee the provision of education by the states. \n\nWhether created by statute or not, a long line of court cases insist that education, having been given by the government, cannot now be taken away.  And that makes it a right.
548968
looking at no child left behind... I almost start to wonder if this isn't trying to destroy an already underfunded education system... \n\nWith no public education...the wealthy would be the only ones that could afford to become educated and then keep control of their wealth through that control of education... \n\nah... capitalism at it's best...\n\nDon't you just love how freetyme813 insults basically every American with his rants on public school... almost everyone attends public school and if we're all that "stupid" then why did the majority vote for conservatives?\nTest scores are at all time highs... so if he's calling today's kids dumb... and you graduated a long time ago like I did... then he's calling all of us really dumb....\nI think we all know who the "dumb" one is here...\nSorry we didn't go to private school because our daddy was rich like you apparently did... some of us have to actually work for what we have...
1057839
You might think I am crazy but our society is to blame for our education disaster. Today people are not allowed to say "your child is smarter than this child" so we have to lower standards so know kid can be singled out as smarter. The other day I heard a story about a school where teens who achieved honors could not wear there cords in graduation because it might offend the kids who did not achieve high grades. So we lower our standards and only test kids on memorization so they can cram stuff in and get good scores. If we taught kids how to think and analyse they would all be better off but we don't. Instead we indoctrinate them with useless stuff and leave out vital things like financial education, realistic sex education, and other vital skills. America needs to disregard the easily offended for the best of everyone else. Let's drop political correctness so we don't get dumber. On that note, I don't believe in ADD or ADHD I think it is just bored kids stuck in a school that is not challenging them. \nwww.todaysperspective.com
38049
I am a special education teacher.  I believe that all people should be given an education to the their own particular abilities and interests.  Very few people are totally helpless, even some people with severe physical disabilities have normal IQ's.  Those with severe mental handicaps should be taught at the very least to bath, feed and toilet themselves.  Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison would all be considered Special Education students today.
852337
The scholarships in America need and should be given only to AMERICANS.  We are looking to educate our own. Get a job, save your money and if you want to go to school here pay for it on your own. But US money can not and will not support a foreigner when we have too many Americans wanting that money for school. Sorry.
1117624
No, if you have been listening, like most haven't, it's all about wealth and power. The only way democracy factors into it is an excuse for the people in power to get their country to fight. It's like fighting for "GOD", Fighting for "Democracy". This 'sham' on normally good people has been perpetrated for centuries. The more educated you are the more you understand. So why do you think the Neocons in the US are cutting back on education like there is no tomorrow?
708535
I think you're right.  The education paradigm is about making the slowest learners "feel good" about themselves while ignoring and belittling those who excel.  A modern BA/BS degree is what a high school diploma once was.  Universities are complaining about having to dedicate more resources to remedial programs to get (American) students caught up to the point they can pass minimum math and science requirements at those institutions.  Our students continue to decline in scores across the board while teacher's unions demand more money.  Am I the only one seeing the disconnect there?
720636
I think you can get the best possible education in America, but I think that is more of an exception than the rule. I taught in public schools in the US before I left to teach abroad. It was pretty frightening how badly educated the students were. They came to me in grade 9 reading and writing on a 3rd grade level, and many of them were 16 or 17 already by then. \n\nMy education was quite good, but I went to a girls' Catholic school. It was small, so teachers could give us more individual attention, and our parents held us to high standards. I think that is the biggest difference.
424481
(1) The government doesn't know how to properly handle education so it encompasses ALL students\n\n(2) They're trying to fix problems that have their roots in centuries-old practices \n\n(3) They want to make it look like they're doing something useful for American education\n\nBasically one of the underlying issues is "separation vs. inclusion", and no one knows how to properly address it. Probably because there will always be some types of students who fare better in inclusive classrooms, and others who do better with separate instruction. It's too much of a "problem" for the government to figure it all out so everybody gets what they need, so they try to offer a solution that STILL excludes some children.
552559
Hi, I'm an Indian, doing B.Sc. from an American college.\nI feel that though American colleges have been good in giving practical knowledge, it is loosing on the account of theoritical knowledge. Just for a basic example, in India, a 14 year old student knows what is trigonometry, which is taught much later to an American student. Although, as i said, practicality wise, American education is very good.
659233
HOT TOPIC!  I have mixed views.  On the 1 hand the test is at an 8th grade level, so yes I want high school graduates to pass.  And, they do get 6 chances to pass.  On the other hand some of the students that have to take the test are immagrants new to the state.  It is unfair that they have to pass an english test.  I do think we as a state need to revisit the law and develop an ammendment to better meets the needs of every student and takes each circumstance under consideration.
976918
I think education will do a lot. Inequality is based on the ignorance and misconceptions people have about those who are different than themselves. If you can erase the ignorance by educating people and teaching them to see people as people (without feeling the need to think of the color, sex, religion etc. of people), we will go a long way.\n\nPersonally I don't assume or judge people in advance, I give everyone an equal opportunity to show me what they are like as individuals and what they are capable of. I also fight for and support laws that encourage equality.
1030565
America is one of the few industialized countries that does not have free education for its citizens.  Other nations feel, as do I, that education is a fundamental right...not a privilege.  Other nations understand how empowering education is and how, without education, the general populace sinks into despair that often translates in joblessness.  People in extreme poverty, with no way to meet their needs, often resort to non-peaceful methods to express rage when their needs are continuously denied, generation after generation.  And who wants to be around ignorant people?  They do stupid things like support people who support war.