Dissolution of Class Ranks Until High School

Imagine a situation where young kids who aspire to be cartoonists or guitar players are placed in classes where they are regularly graded and ranked on their prowess.  If students scored near the bottom consistently, how more likely would it be that they give up or develop an inferiority complex?  Hell, I know confident, well-adjusted … Continue reading »

A Few Points on Why the Gold Standard is a Bad Idea

I recently listened to the latest Intelligence Squared debate where the two sides essentially argued for and against returning to the gold standard (debate link).  While the side arguing against returning to the gold standard did a decent job of attacking some of the historical inferences used as evidence by the opposition, they neglected attacking … Continue reading »

Teacher Evaluations

Most schools have simple, ineffective systems of teacher evaluation that do not provide much useful information for teachers seeking to improve their skills or administrators needing to make crucial judgments about their personnel.  A better system of evaluation would include the assessment of student achievement and the involvement of faculty and parents.  Assessment tests in … Continue reading »

Executive Council as Opposed to a President

No other branch of government hinges on the efficacy and judgment of a single person as does the executive branch. There are other options as is evidenced by the Swiss Federal Council and a couple of other executive governments. I propose that we use the single transferable vote system to elect executive councils. To keep … Continue reading »

Teacher Dismissals and Transfers

Being able to dismiss poor teachers or those that do not fit in with a school’s culture and philosophy is an important aspect of education reform.  To do so, I think it is pivotal to do away with the current system of tenure.  However, there should be measures to protect teachers.  If a useful evaluation … Continue reading »