Story of School Episode 4

This documentary really opened my eyes to all of the different opportunities that students have in their schooling.  For example, I had never thought something like the core knowledge teaching model would work.  Even though it sounds really interesting, it seems as though it is mainly teaching English and Social Studies without giving any attention to math and science.  My schooling experience was always based around the idea that we had to know a little bit of everything in order to be successful, so the idea of having focus in one area seems weird.

It caught me off guard that this documentary gave information suggesting that test scores have not been going down.  This was startling since there are a large number of politicians who use falling test scores as an excuse to cut education funding.  This could potentially relate back to the companies that produce the exams.  They could have some affiliation with a special interest group.  If this is the case, the companies making the tests would have motivation to show failing grades.

It also feels weird to me that private schools can still receive public funding in the form of vouchers.  I’m writing a paper in my Economics class on school funding, and I have yet to find a source that effectively explains why this isn’t a problem.  Given that the establishment clause forbids the government from supporting one religion over the other, it doesn’t make sense to have public funds go to Catholic schools through the voucher program.