[redwitch]

No question we need to give teachers more authority and autonomy. Kids today are rarely educated. Teachers are forced to teach successful test-taking, no chance to really teach. Personally, I would love to see standardized tests thrown out the window. Give schools core curriculums that must be taught with electives that mean something. Go back to Socratic thinking. Teach kids to think and question and reason.

Make detention a true punishment. One school I went to had the kids on detention pick up trash in the school yards. Essays about bad behavior were frequently required. Few kids repeated detention more than twice. You don't have to physically abuse a child to come up with meaningful consequences.

Suspensions do nothing today. Expulsions just create another high school dropout.

But let's not return to the fifties. Women who want to stay home and be homemakers should be applauded and not be derided for that choice. Women who choose careers should be given the same opportunities of advancement as men. Funding for public schools should be equal. There should be no separate and unequal today. Athletic and art programs are both needed in schools. Basically, let's let schools educate their students and, yes, this means discipline is needed.