The July 10 Tribune editorial ("Businesses as educators") is an intriguing idea, especially in light of our current economic challenges. There are many examples, decades old, of business-industry partnerships with K-12, as well as with higher education. Some good local examples come to mind immediately: Boeing, Intel, and even the (old) General Motor's "Technical Education Program."
However, all parents and citizens should look beyond the surface attraction of turning the education of our young people over to yet another entity. It would be naive to ignore that age-old, time-proven adage, with any business-industry entity, just as with government: follow the money.
Any investment that business-industry investment makes will absolutely carry along with it both their social and their political implications. Be prepared for some quirky (possibly disturbing) curricula.
It's equally true that, in today's economy, no business-industry will invest its precious capital without a clear expectation of a return. Parents should be prepared to, in effect, sign over their children's future. Just as with historical apprentice programs, you cannot simply take the education (money) and run.
There will always be a place for public education in modern human society. In the U.S. we've been doing it for hundreds of years; and, we're still looking for new models and best practices? That's not very exceptional. It's time to get back to basics.
John Latson, Mesa
Dale Whiting posted at 10:54 am on Wed, Jul 20, 2011.
John,
You hit the nail on its head. You have the big picture. We have departed from basic education. Not only do we leave some children far behind, we fail to stimulate all children to do their very best. Not so elsewhere.
RationalHuman posted at 7:24 am on Sat, Jul 23, 2011.
So true...and Dale, you may have noticed that in the countries with the best education standards, one thing is missing from their curricula...religion (Creationism, denying biological evolution, etc.).
And here we ("we" being Rational Americans) are still fighting against the hordes of imbeciles trying to get this nonsense into schools and forced on innocent children.
Praying isn't the answer - time to get off your knees, unclasp your hands, and DO something.