Here’s a recipe that would work: a) Cap class size at 18 students. Students, teachers and parents would all rejoice.
b) Have teacher accountability. If a teacher isn’t moving students forward, that teacher needs to be moved out of education.
c) Tell employers they need to do more training. Germany is famous for its paid internships and apprentice programs. They don’t expect fully trained employees to be applying for a job opening. They take students as young as 13 and begin training them for a trade or professional path.
Our students don’t need more tests. They need a quality learning environment and relevance between their school work and the profession that interests them. We teach geometry to a 15-year-old and say “in 10 years time, this will be useful to you.”
We can do better than that.
