Me and my roommate discuss this a lot, and so far we’ve only come up with one semi-decent solution. We thought it’d be best to make all kids go through grade school, and at that point there’s an assessment. if they want to continue to piddle around in general areas, they go on to normal middle school. If they don’t show any passion for learning, they’re thrown into a vocational school to learn a trade. If they show excellence in an area they more into a more specific middle school (while still learning, yet less emphasized, the basics) Do the same for high school and college. College would be paid for, for those really skilled and what not.
But even that would take a lot of government intervention and patience that people do not have.

I agree that it’s a terrible issue with the school systems here in the US. That’s why my son, even though he’s about to turn 4, lives in China with his grandparents for the school year. He already can read/write, add/subtract count to 100, play the piano and do lots of other things (China starts school at age 3).

Back in January this year, I was interviewed by the Las Vegas Review Journal Newspaper concerning my thoughts, from a CEO position, as to concerns with the local school system ( see: http://www.lvrj.com/news/38442504.html ). There was also a follow up editorial ( http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/38589704.html ).

After my comments were published in the paper, a very po’ed school system lobbyist tracked me down to my San Jose office and demanded to know how much tax I paid and insisted that I send him my grocery bill receipts to “prove” I actually lived in Las Vegas. Turns out that this guy was the head of the group that oversaw and wrote the math exit exams for Clark County Schools.. the very same exam that 91% of high school students failed… yes, 91% failed his exam… He has web pages up as a professional tutor of math on the side.

This was too funny to me. My key comment written in the paper was that there was an apalliing lack of critical thinking skills in the general population of Clark County. I guess that “teacher-turned-lobbyist-tutor” just had to go and prove my point.

Anyway, I couldn’t help but notice this line from your blog – “…He brushes on nature vs nurture and how IQ is not determined by genetics….”

I don’t know where that guy got his information, but IQ is, in fact, determined by genetics. There are many studies that show this to be the case and there are, quite simply, many people who can not learn, no mater how hard they try, no matter the “perseverance and drive” of the person. Maybe that author intend to relate his statements to folks with “normal IQ” ?

For example, below is from a book on my shelf here … this is an extensive study of heritability traits in twins. (there are tons of similar studies on the web, google “IQ and genetics”…. )

“The first law of behavior genetics states … ..cognitive abilities (IQ) show a strong genetic influence. Developmental comparisons yield the finding that the heritability of general cognitive ability increases from infancy (20%) to childhood (40%) to adolescence (50%) to adulthood (60%). In other words, the older you get, the more your IQ resembles that of your biological parents (even when you are not raised with your biological parents). The finding that heritability increases with age stands in stark opposition to the common notion of environmental influence….. The second law of behavior genetics is that the effect of family environment is not as great as the effect of genes…. … so overall the INTERACTION between genes and the environment make us what we are. Genes are the scaffolding, but the fine details are from interaction with the environment” (Ethical Brain, Michael Gazzaniga, Dana Press).

Dan Connell’s last blog post: (NL-0038) Mock-O-Polo (mock the deaf guy)

Anyways….education….first of all…I think year round schools would be a good start. Second of all, actually pay teachers something. Third, supply us with what we need to run the classroom. Just last year I spent over $1000.00 dollars out of my own pocket for my classroom.

So yes, when corporations want a quality candidate, they can offer a big salary and be picky about who they choose. But you can guarantee that if that person doesn’t perform, they won’t be kept around for 30 years.

Derek J. Punaro’s last blog post: Gil Perreault’s 500th Goal