Agreed. Could use tests for a child's learning style to get into these new schools. Not some kind of educational hierarchy though, but simply "your child learns *best* this way, so he/she would do well at our school".
I remember a few problem kids in my classes. Some of them were actually very intelligent, but would skip class because they didn't see the value in education. Others were just a disaster, like you say wasting everyone's time and energy. And you probably see that daily. :(

First, what's "easier" doesn't enter into it. None of this is "easy". "Easy" is dropping your kids off at free day care everyday from 8-3...and THAT is what needs to stop. (The non involvement is what I'm getting at with the "easy" stuff.) "Easy" isn't working.
I would be in favor of private schools (if the class sizes were small) and I think a wide variety of them should crop up offering different than typical daily schedules, different types of security (I for one would only send my kids to a private school that had armed employees, but that's another discussion), different types of teaching techniques geared toward getting each student to their highest levels, honing in on strengths and areas of creativity. So many kids get lost in the shuffle of one sized fits all teaching. Also..something needs to be done about disruptive behaviors. A problem child can suck the teaching right out of a room....but putting all of them in one room turns into an insane asylum where virtually nothing gets taught and it's all day behavior management instead. Typically these parents are a complete wreck. Scary actually. Parents would HAVE to be involved, like they used to be.
I keep thinking about tutors too. Back in the day when families would hire tutors to teach their kids, they grew up to be brilliant (okay, brilliant compared to today's standards)... Well versed in history and languages and reading and writing and math. They were in their homes so the parents were on hand.... that is probably the best solution if we get right down to it, but I know of no one who would get on board with that idea...then again they haven't given much thought to alternate schooling. They just accept what is and figure the powers that be must know better than they do. (IF they've even thought about it at all) People slay me. Mooooo

I hate that "I don't like it but we can't ruffle any feathers" attitude too. Just a waste of time. So what are you thoughts on private school? What about abolishing public schools, then turning to home school or existing/newly created private schools to educate kids?
And I wasn't saying it's the school's job to teach social skills, but it's easier to get kids involved in activities like sports or after school programs when they're regularly together.

The people who lack value for education, and information before they vote, and interest in how things work and who controls what etc... It's a chain reaction that grows from mass stupidity...and they have ZERO idea they may be the cause...."the cause of what?" Is what they'd say. And waking them up seems to be next to impossible if not entirely impossible.
The ones who do value education, are informed voters and understand how things are working (or not working) are currently outnumbered. I work at a school with a hundred others and I'm pretty darn sure I'm the only one with a clue to the truth. It's extremely disappointing and frustrating beyond words.

You mean "capitals"?
or SacrAmento?

Or NATIONAL "Capitals"? There's only one in the US, and it's affectionately called D.C....

What year did YOU graduate high school?
per Wiktionary.org, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capitol

The Capitol comprises the buildings that are the seat of government; the Capital is the city they're in.

Strike 2....

Now, as you were saying???........... :)

I know they're not all hopeless...but that's probably no thanks to the school system. I'm really close to thinking starting from scratch IS the answer. Everything is too top heavy and nothing will go voluntarily. The teachers don't have the leeway they used to and it is only getting worse. I had a teacher ask me today when I was complaining about the never ending testing which has a convoluted scoring/keep track system (which is so time consuming I feel like I'm accomplishing nothing), what could they do to make it better and I said, "Re do the entire school system for starters." Her reply was, "But with what have to work with, what can we do to make it better?" THIS is the attitude that grinds me....rather than say, yeah it's ridiculous and we really need to do something about it...it's accepted as 'just the way it is so we have to deal with it'... why don't people understand that things CAN be changed if enough people get to together and make a move. sigh.
Ability to mingle socially is not the schools job to teach either. Just because that's how it's been for so long does not make it so.

I had to leave home to learn social skills, the way my family worked. But I realize that's not typical.

Actually, I never mentioned being okay with common core. The current schooling system is messed up. The standardized tests we had to take in 6-10th grades were a joke, and everyone knew it. Some of the best teachers in my school had their own (awesome) lesson plans for the year, but then would deviate for a week or two to teach us "test taking techniques". Not any of the english or math that would actually be on the standardized tests, but tactics for eliminating multiple choice answers or deciding not to waste too much time on a question so as to maximize the student's overall score. It was ridiculous, but it was also common practice as far as I could tell. Students were also threatened with punishment for intentionally failing these tests (filling in "C" for every answer, for example)

No the system doesn't work now, but I don't believe we need to throw everything out and start from scratch. Or do you think the US school system is too far gone and there is no way it can be salvaged?

Also- I learned proper change counting in second grade, and started Calculus in high school. Not all of us young ones are hopeless. ;)

Many social skills start at home...much like learning and any level of discipline...if it's not backed up or encouraged at home it doesn't matter what the schools do.

There ARE great teachers...I work with many, but they are a cog in a wheel and don't even realize it.

How many people your age can count back proper change without a machine telling them how much?

Why are you okay with the Gov dictating curriculum and mandating INSANE amounts of testing?

I know, but you also get less opportunity to interact with different kinds of personalities--an important job skill-- when you're home schooled. We had a few home schooled kids in my middle school (they started at 6th grade), and while they were among the smartest they were also shy and socially awkward. And I mean more so than everyone is at that age - because I definitely was too.
I agree that it can be done better, but I don't think it has to be at home. There are some excellent teachers out there. You're comments above are right - smaller class size is a good place to start.
I'm 25, and yes, I see many people my age having problems with basic skills. I actually know people who can't read analog clocks! I have a personal vendetta against improper use of apostrophes, which is part of the bigger issue of kids, now adults, not knowing how to write properly, but that's a topic for another day.

You're not in a cage when you're home schooled...you have interactions with other kids...there are ways to do that without going to indoctrination tanks. I don't know how old your are but school today is NOT like school when I was a kid. As for life skills... how many adults do you know who don't cook even. Kids at school struggle to converse intelligently... it can all be done at home and better...check the stats.

I'm glad I was NOT home schooled. Looking back, everything important I learned in middle/high school was from reading fiction (most of which was not part of the curriculum) and interacting with fellow students. I have a very different view on life than my parents, and I don't think things would have turned out well for me if they tried home schooling. School is about learning life skills, and that means more than just looking up lesson plans on the internet.

Well, I think there is several real causes for kids being what they are today:
1. Schools are a social educational platform, with materials designed to be inoffensive to all, so when you take the offensiveness out of truth and facts, you end up with an empty sack.
2. The administrators are there for themselves. They cater to the deciders who can threaten their secure jobs. No administrator should be paid more than the maximum teacher salary.
3. There is a stranglehold on who is "admitted" to the club of educators. I don't care if my kids teacher is a phd or a BS, I care if they actually know what they are doing and can actually encourage the curiosity needed to learn.
4. Money rules all. I took my kid out of school when another kid hit him in the head with a rock, and the superintendent told me that my kid was to be suspended and the other kid could not be punished because he was "special ed" (i.e. took too much paperwork and kid as worth 2X in funding).
5. Parent now need to work multiple jobs to survive and provide all the things society tells them they need to (form food, 'things"(like playstations, netflix, cell phones, etc) to make their kids "happy". Our town has a lot of low income people , some good , some not so good. Lots of drugs/alcohol issues. Most get Oregon Trail (food stamps). A lot of kids go home to empty houses, and mom/dad (sometimes just one) come home at 7pm. Between 2:30-7 they are on their own and "hang out". Gone are the days of PTA and after school things like sports etc.
6. Whats important has changed. Now it is the moment that is the priority, not the future. tell a kid they have to study hard, to go to school and get a good job, they look at you and say "why?"
Common Core is just another set of smoke and mirrors.....

Good call, plusaf... ask a kid to name 25 national capitols... and the country associated with them. How many adults can do the same thing (without resorting to Google)?

Great video! My high school English teacher just posted this to facebook. She was the one who would reluctantly prep us for CSAPs (the Colorado standardized tests) every year.

All of what you have written is so true. If my mom had gotten a call because of something I did, I would have been in deep uh, doo doo. I hold my kids accountable for their actions. There are consequences for them. Good or bad. It's my job to teach them at home, not just turn them over to someone who may have an agenda, or clearly needs to get out of he teaching profession. Common Core is being implemented here, and I am just sick about it.

I'm for self responsibility in action. Not having the resources, wherewithal and energy(?!!), or educational background is no excuse. The internet is full of everything you could possibly look for for homeschooling. Who do kids belong to? Who's responsibility are they? GTGHOMK I just made a new acronym... Get The Gov's Hands Off My Kids. Or maybe HOG (Hands Off, Gov!) would be a better one.

Well...class sizes can be controlled... society's value on education can't. Right now value is low, so I'm back to class size. Hey..I'm even for putting the kids of parents who DO value education in a classroom away from the kids who's parent's don't care. Okay..not really, but if we had them in classes according to learning levels it would probably end up pretty close to those lines anyway. The apple and the tree and all that.

In saying that, you imply that all families have the resources, wherewithal and energy, let alone educational background and such, to be able to deliver that "product."
I suggest that MOST families today do not have the resources, training, education or inclination to do what you're asking.
Home schooling is a great solution for some families, but not all.
Saying "Home schooling is the answer" just reinforces my Second Law... "Never Trust Generalizations."
[ http://www.plusaf.com/falklaws.htm#2nd ]

Some time back, I looked at a graph of SAT scores. There was a peak, somewhere back in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and a drop after that which took decades from which to recover.

I wonder if the "recovery" wasn't more the result of lowering the standards than improving the education process.

Class sizes for the kids that grew into the people that put the first human on the surface of the moon averaged well over 25-30 students.
There are tons of data that show that smaller class size OR higher "investment per student" is not "the solution."
You need to start with a society that puts a high VALUE on education... where the proverbial "note to the parents from the teacher" brings the parents to SUPPORT, rather than attack the teacher for their message.
... just one or two of MANY "starting points" to look at. Yes, this IS a very complex problem. CORE is one of many simplistic solutions, and not a good one. Easy, maybe, but not good.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Maphesdus.
Could use more "speak=outs" by students
like yourself....