Should we make public schools based on the year kids are born?

[Gizmo j]

Instead of sending kids to different schools when they get older I think we should make schools based on their birth year and just let them grow up in the same school from daycare years to college years to retirement and the curriculum and living conditions can evolve through their lives.

What do you think?

 

[IronWing]

Waldorf schools have a system where a single teacher takes a class from k through 8th grade. I think they use multiple teachers in their high schools.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Instead of sending kids to different schools when they get older I think we should make schools based on their birth year and just let them grow up in the same school from daycare years to college years to retirement and the curriculum and living conditions can evolve through their lives.

What do you think?

what about school size?

 

[highland145]

So you get to keep that shitty 2nd grade teacher for life? Eff that.

 

[sdifox]

Instead of sending kids to different schools when they get older I think we should make schools based on their birth year and just let them grow up in the same school from daycare years to college years to retirement and the curriculum and living conditions can evolve through their lives.

What do you think?

I think it is a good thing you are not in charge of anything.

 

[sandorski]

It is an interesting idea. There are some potential issues with it, but there could be some potentially interesting Social benefits from such an idea.

 

[highland145]

It is an interesting idea. There are some potential issues with it, but there could be some potentially interesting Social benefits from such an idea.

Way back, my 5th and 6th grade teacher taught both grades in the same classroom. I liked that but I don't think something like 1st and 5th+ would work. I could be wrong.

 

[sandorski]

Way back, my 5th and 6th grade teacher taught both grades in the same classroom. I liked that but I don't think something like 1st and 5th+ would work. I could be wrong.

That's one of the issues. Having specialized Teachers helps to improve Education or at least it should.

 

[Ajay]

That's one of the issues. Having specialized Teachers helps to improve Education or at least it should.

Yeah, definitely this, especially at the high school level. It’s an increasingly specialized world and demands specialized instruction, including trade schools.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It sorta is already like that, if you stick to the the same system (ex: french/english catholic/public) you tend to just be the same crowd following each other through school. You might switch school buildings once in a while but it's becoming more common to combine middle and high school in the same building. Either way you are all in the same "system" unless you decide yourself to switch. I switched from French Catholic to French Public myself when I hit high school so I had to make new friends but before that it was all the same people more or less.

Over time the curriculum is also updated so someone in high school now is probably not learning the same as when I was in high school. Though THAT is something that perhaps could use more work, as I don't know how often it really is updated, don't think it is updated as often as it should. For example with the lack of job security now days and the idea of being able to land a job you keep for life is a thing of the past, I think schools need to concentrate on teaching how to run your own business, rather than how to apply for a job. Do both, but concentrate on how to run a business. Graduates should come out ready to start a business, or heck, already have a business started, by the time they graduate. I think that is the future, more small business owners, as the idea of working for a big company is going to be a thing of the past, as companies are always looking at ways to cut jobs.

Schools do need to evolve more with the world trends.

 

[Ajay]

I think schools need to concentrate on teaching how to run your own business, rather than how to apply for a job. Do both, but concentrate on how to run a business.

I would prefer school emphasize individual and group problem solving and critical thinking skills which will be useful for any career path.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would prefer school emphasize individual and group problem solving and critical thinking skills which will be useful for any career path.

Are you from the USA? Public schools, teaching "critical thinking skills"? Bwahahaha. Good luck.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Are you from the USA? Public schools, teaching "critical thinking skills"? Bwahahaha. Good luck.

IME, the ones complaining the loudest about schools not teaching "critical thinking" are the ones whose positions aren't backed by the preponderance of evidence.

YMMV though, some schools are just better than others.

Anyway, w/r/t OP, it wouldn't work because elementary schools have the little kid sized toilets.

 

[Ajay]

IME, the ones complaining the loudest about schools not teaching "critical thinking" are the ones whose positions aren't backed by the preponderance of evidence.

OK, do you have evidence the contrary? My evidence is only anecdotal, to be honest, only based on people I know who have and haven’t taken such a course in college.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

IME, the ones complaining the loudest about schools not teaching "critical thinking" are the ones whose positions aren't backed by the preponderance of evidence.

YMMV though, some schools are just better than others.

Anyway, w/r/t OP, it wouldn't work because elementary schools have the little kid sized toilets.

I've never seen a "kid sized toilet." What kind of never never land do you live in?

 

[pmv]

Not sure what you mean by 'to retirement'...at some point you leave school entirely, surely?

I don't know what terminology is used in the US for different schools, but personally I do agree that the leap from one type of school to another that occurs around the age of 11 can be extremely tough. For one thing it coincides with the point at which children go from being open-minded and easy-going and malleable to being hormone-poisoned angry crazy people (apparently adolescents can't be diagnosed with personality disorders, because at that age almost everyone would meet the criteria).

I don't see why 'college' should be merged in as well because by that time you are an adult, and quite likely _want_ to move away and make your own choices. But I think there is something to be said for somehow easing the transition between the first two stages of schooling, because for me and everyone I know that was quite a difficult transition - the gulf between the peaceful and happy nature of primary school to the Lord Of The Flies mentality of an inner city secondary school was vast.

 

[sdifox]

I've never seen a "kid sized toilet." What kind of never never land do you live in?

Seriously?

https://goo.gl/images/KbCJbV

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Inconceivable! Where the he'll are the adults supposed to go?

 

[sdifox]

Inconceivable! Where the he'll are the adults supposed to go?

Teachers' washroom? You are from some backwater country aren't you.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Teachers' washroom? You are from some backwater country aren't you.

Not as backward as a school board willing to spend education money on kid sized toilets and urinals. Who's brilliant idea was it to give kids tiny toilets not found anywhere else in the planet? Oh and, then we can spend all the extra money the education system has on separate facilities for teachers and other adults. Does the Principal get their own bathroom? Somebody's priorities are effed up.

 

[IronWing]

Not as backward as a school board willing to spend education money on kid sized toilets and urinals. Who's brilliant idea was it to give kids tiny toilets not found anywhere else in the planet? Oh and, then we can spend all the extra money the education system has on separate facilities for teachers and other adults. Does the Principal get their own bathroom? Somebody's priorities are effed up.

Your post sounds kind of ragey. In every school I attended, there were separate restrooms for the teachers/staff. Turns out that adults would rather not wade through piss because the boys decided to have a contest over who could hit the urinal from the farthest distance.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Your post sounds kind of ragey. In every school I attended, there were separate restrooms for the teachers/staff. Turns out that adults would rather not wade through piss because the boys decided to have a contest over who could hit the urinal from the farthest distance.

I guess because I grew up in a time when all the boys would be scrubbing the floors and toilets if such a thing were to happen. I worked in an elementary school feeding kids for a year and all the bathrooms had normal sized toilets and the teachers used the same bathrooms. Of course, this was in Arizona where education is a way to collect federal money.

 

[sdifox]

Not as backward as a school board willing to spend education money on kid sized toilets and urinals. Who's brilliant idea was it to give kids tiny toilets not found anywhere else in the planet? Oh and, then we can spend all the extra money the education system has on separate facilities for teachers and other adults. Does the Principal get their own bathroom? Somebody's priorities are effed up.

Lol you guys spent all your school budget on the sports teams didn't ya.

Ontario's education budget is about 29B for about 2M students, so around 14,500 per student (elem and sec)

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Lol you guys spent all your school budget on the sports teams didn't ya.

Ontario's education budget is about 29B for about 2M students, so around 14,500 per student (elem and sec)

State politics. Arizona is one of the state's that does the minimum to get the maximum federal dollars. That's what passes for smart there.

 

[Mike64]

I guess because I grew up in a time when all the boys would be scrubbing the floors and toilets if such a thing were to happen. I worked in an elementary school feeding kids for a year and all the bathrooms had normal sized toilets and the teachers used the same bathrooms. Of course, this was in Arizona where education is a way to collect federal money.

I went to elementary and middle school in a small (year-round pop. 2000) town in Massachusetts, in the 1970s. In the first (and maybe second) grade classrooms, there were were attached single-person bathrooms for each classroom, but I think that was just to avoid having to send (much less "escort") 6 and 7 year olds all the way to the other end of the building where the regular bathrooms were.) Even those toilets were "normal" sized, and and I don't recall anyone really worrying about "falling in" (though we joked about it, nor any kid ever re-appearing soaking wet. Which I'm quite sure I'd still remember if it ever happened, or even if I'd only heard about it happening in another class...)

I also don't remember ever seeing a teacher in the "regular bathrooms" (the ones we kids used). I assume now that there must've been staff bathrooms somewhere, but at that age, what teachers did when they weren't in front of the classroom was still pretty mysterious... I don't remember hearing whether the the girls were kept an eye on the same way, but our principal and the janitor did "pop in" regularly to the boys' room - not to use the facilities, but often (and randomly) enough to make us wary of making too much of a ruckus (mostly involving one of those old-school "communal" sinks where the water came out of a lot of small holes in the middle of a semi-circular trough, rather than the urinals...)