[OT] tele-education

[Bryan Richard]

On Tue, Feb 10, 2004 at 11:01:32AM -0800, Brian D wrote:
> --- Bryan Richard wrote:
> > 
> > Could be but one wonders what the point was. Even
> > the semi-rural area I
> > grew up in had what would be considered excellent
> > education when placed
> > against the majority of what can be found overseas.
> I'm not sure what the majority is, but
> we are far from the best in education. 
> Australia, Russia, Germany, Japan, France. I'm sure
> many European countries (I didn't list and have no
> direct knowledge of) as well have excellent  education
> systems. In Germany for instance, many grade school
> teachers in this country wouldn't be able to get a job
> teaching. It requires two masters degrees to teach. Of
> course that is a sought out profession in Gemrany, as
> it is *very* well paid. </rest of my long rant
> deleted>

I think, overall, worldwide education is rather dim. There's something
like 1 billion adults (over 15) that can't read. I don't mean to imply
that the US is the leader in education -- I'm sure it's not -- but I'd
rather go to school here than in one of the countries that doesn't make
those lists of top education countries (Africa, Mexico, China).

It requires a Master's degree and testing to teach for any length of
time in California and they still attract a crop of miserable
teachers. A Master's degree is no indication of quality especially with
some of the degree programs out there. I pulled my son out of public
education in an affluent beach city outside of Los Angeles where the
school was so new the paint on the walls was still wet, simply b/c the
teachers were so bad. By contract, his teacher here in Kansas, which
only requires a BA/S, is one of the finest teachers I've ever
encountered.

Get a great education in France and when you get out you face 14%
unemployment. It's all relative to some degree, I suppose.

I went to a decent school and we really didn't need the linkup. Pump the
education via television to the people who need it.

- Bryan