All the money in the world won't change anything. You can flood the schools with more teachers but by the time they enter the system you have more students and improving the infrastructure and equipment does nothing bake make it look all pretty. That is not to say many schools won't improve with their education of the students. It is simply not the answer. It is the structure of education that is failing. Children are still being taught by a 19th century formula. It is the 21st century. Get the picture. Yes it will cost to implement these changes but it will be money that visualises growth. We all know that at five a boy would rather beout in the ground playing stick or whatever, while a girl is at the age where she is interested or better stated capable of being educated. While at fifteen, sixteen or so education has nothing for her. This is a blind generalisation but they are facts that effect the learning curve in children. As for the adult crisis, what percentage of those are immigrants and how many of them can afford the time to sit down and learn between jobs and family duties. It would be cheaper to cater for their languages thus allowing association of information to bridge the barrier.

In the state I live we give the driving instruction permit test in about 15 different languages. Tell me how they will be able to read road signs and I will be able to safely drive if they can not read road signs or signs for construction? Sure, some can do it, but an English proficiency test is on the citizen test. Why don't we require it for driving? I'm not absolutely sure where I exactly stand on this issue, but at the same time I do think I would feel a little safer if I knew the guy going next to me at 70mph could read the construction signs.

__________________
"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." Alexander Hamilton

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
Plato

Most road signs are universal all round the world and they are recognisably described in the hand outs. Mind you I don't think it changes the way anybody drives. What is more dangerous a young bloke doing 80 in a 60 zone, or an oldie doing 40 on the same road at the same time that you are doing your 60?

My point is that the handouts you talk about help to associate their language with that of yours. By the way did you know there was a, (I think you call them Referendums), held when your nation was born as to what your language was to be, German or English?

This is true, and we hated the English so much that we almost made our official language German. Now days a bill is in Congress to make English the official language (not that it’ll do much good, it’s just more of a formality in my opinion).

__________________
"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." Alexander Hamilton

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
Plato

Though Politicon that does allow grounds for your arguement to be cut down.

Ya, I kinda took away my footing. I just feel sorry for the cops who have to try to explain to someone who doesn’t understand English what the ticket is for.

__________________
"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." Alexander Hamilton

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
Plato

Rather than put an X throught the picture in th learners book place a dollar figure, if they can't figure out what it means they need to know how to find out. The cop can always carry the current learners book and just flashing it will tell two things.

But, yet when I complain about the incorrect spelling and bad grammar some people use on this forum, I am roundly attacked.

Why single out public schools? By-and-large private schools are no better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/23/ed...?ex=1313985600 &en=da3cac0396a1eac7&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rs s

Study of Test Scores Finds Charter Schools Lagging

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/15/ed...rssnyt&emc=rss

“The Education Department reported on Friday that children in public schools generally performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than comparable children in private schools.”

Note this comparison was between almost 7,000 public schools and only 530 private ones. The study also found that “students in conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind their counterparts in public schools on eighth-grade math”.

http://tennessean.com/education/arch...tml?Element_ID =58917298

“Unlike public schools, private schools don't have to report their test scores to the state, nor do they publish or post them on the Internet for public scrutiny.

“The Tennessean requested test scores from the 20 largest private schools in the region, those with more than 500 students last year. Most schools released some information; some released nothing.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0510/p11s01-legn.html

“After accounting for students' socioeconomic background, a new study shows public school children outperforming their private school peers on a federal math exam.”

“Overall, private school students tend to do markedly better on standardized tests. But the reason, this study suggests, may be that they draw students from wealthier and more educated families, rather than because they're better at bolstering student achievement.”

“Analyzing raw data from the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress for 28,000 fourth- and eighth-graders representing more than 1,300 public and private schools, Mrs. Lubienski, whose research focuses on equity issues in math education, was surprised by what she was seeing. When children of similar socioeconomic status were compared, the public school children scored higher.”


http://www.america-tomorrow.com/brac...RA/EDDRA12.htm
“In October, 1994, Money magazine compared private suburban schools to public suburban schools. ‘We were shocked’ wrote the editors. They clearly expected to find a pronounced superiority for private schools and they didn't. ‘The best news to come our of Money's survey of public and private schools across America was that, by and large, public schools are not lacking in experienced topnotch teachers, challenging courses, or an environment that is conducive to learning.’ Should you send your kid to a private school? ‘Here's the bottom line,’ wrote the editors. ‘You're probably wasting your hard earned money.’”
And the NEA claims that more public schools than private ones offer AP courses http://www2.nea.org/goodnews/. This fact alone shows how badly private schools as a group perform. If you wish to compare public and private schools you must include all of the private schools that don’t offer any AP courses.

http://susanohanian.org/atrocity_fetch.php?id=2965

Regarding national SAT score averages:

“Nationally, factoring out private schools brings mixed results. Private school test-takers boost the national verbal score by 4 points but pull down the math score by 5 points.”

Sounds like private schools do as much harm as they do good.

Haven’t studies shown that the benefits of Head Start are negated by 3rd grade (or is it the 5th grade)? So how does Head Start influence the reading skills of adults? If the beneficial effects of Head Start have worn off by the time a student leaves grade school, of course Head Start has no bearing on adult reading skills.