Classic Stossel: Stupid in America

Exciting things are happening in education suddenly. In some places, charter schools bucked the unions, and got results. Inner-city kids do well on benchmark tests.

They are excited to learn! When Stossel tells fourth graders that school is boring, they yell at him, “No, it’s not!” Says one boy: “Reading is rockin’ awesome!”
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Stossel reports on the innovations at the Success Charter Network and Harlem Village Academy in New York, and at the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, California.

“Let’s destroy the system… create a system that serves kids,” says charter school director Deborah Kenny. Hurricane Katrina made that experiment possible by destroying much of New Orleans. Now 70% of New Orleans students attend charters, and they’re learning more.

A Classic Stossel from 2011

[porterwake]

I'm a teacher. In schools you have so much administration and bureaucracy it is unreal. Director of this, director of that, blah blah. Should be Principal, teachers, period.

[SkidVicious]

"teachers can be fired at the drop of a hat" Hey, welcome to the real world where your job performance is judged by results.

[jimzee]

Wow, teachers actually concerned about their student's learning. Funny, how things that were commonplace 50 years ago are now revolutionary today.

[hs]

When we first moved to AZ I signed my kids up for public school, three weeks in I sent my son to his JR. High math teacher to explain how to do some problems and her response was, “don’t worry, I don’t know how to solve them either…” I pulled him out and sent him to a Charter school with high expectations and scores.

[amadensor]

Remember, it's the teacher's union, not the student's union. When the parents cannot choose, there is no incentive for the school to ensure that the student success.

[CaseyBurnsInvesting]

Throwing money at the problem doesn’t work, school choice and competition does.

[flfunno]

My kids are in the Common Core curriculum and the math assignments are reprehensible. I can only conclude that the government is intentionally giving our children bad educations.

[friendsoftheamazonjungle]

"My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition" - Indira Gandhi

[ravador]

Maybe when you stop teaching kids about gender dysphoria all the time, they might actually learn something productive. What a novel idea. I can't believe someone came up with that!

[michaelbarron]

"Embarassment keeps people in line, whether we want to admit it or not." If there's no shame, there can't be pride.

[roastedlion]

This is the secret why Vietnamese students are crazy good. We got disciplined. I appreciate my teachers everyday. They did a great job educating children.

[sterling]

As a public high school educator, I approve of this video.

[usapanda]

John is a treasure. Those parents waiting in line FOR THE CHANCE TO GET THEIR KIDS INTO A SCHOOL ARE HEROES. THOSE ARE THE BEST DAMN PARENTS! WE NEED MORE LIKE THEM!

[vinceknowseverything]

It's really simple.
They are teaching students practical and applicable education.
These teachers are actually teaching so their students are actually learning

[big_dro]

My high school teachers were absurdly pathetic. Some felt there was nothing wrong showing up late to class on a daily basis. Others felt it was ok to give busy work on a near daily basis. Others felt it was ok to show movies on a near daily basis. If I could, I would have fired about half the teachers I had. Of course there was a teachers union.

[dreamsofturtles]

I LOVE to hear that children love to learn. Its natural for them to learn. It takes boring, anxiety -ridden schools to grind that out of them.

[kwckhm]

This is the type of thing REAL teachers love and Union Liberal Political Partisan educators fear. A child having a REAL quality education and not just narratives on a piece of paper is the future. Charter Schools are the best of both world. Much cheaper and much more effective

[rubenmejia]

Seeing the kids that are really enthusiastic about school really warms my heart. Kids truly thrive when you set high expectations and hold them accountable. They feel loved when they are in an environment like that.
Also, it really angers me that Teachers Unions and Liberal politicians do what they can to obstruct charter schools and school choice. They are the ones that are depriving our next generation.

[carlahubbard]

I grew up in south America and went to private school my whole life. We had waaaay! less resources that public schools here and we learned way more.

[jisharagu]

Can you imagine a little kid crying because he was not accepted into an amazing school like that? Wow. Heartbreaking.