FT: Special Committee on Education
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
Harry S Truman
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« on: March 13, 2017, 11:16:51 PM »


SPECIAL COMMITTEE

of the HOUSE OF COMMONS on Education

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! By the authority vested in me as President of his honorable house by Article V of the Standing Orders, I hereby convene this Special Committee of the House of Commons.

The purpose of this committee is to facilitate an open and collaborative discussion of education reform. The final product of this discussion should be, if not a formal bill, then at least a rough draft of legislation to be brought before the Commons for general debate. Per the Standing Orders, this committee is open to all Members of the House of Commons; I also encourage private citizens - especially those with an interest in this area of public policy - to contribute, either as full members or as guests. Our agenda will include, but is not limited to:

• Broad standards for Elementary, Middle, and High Schools
• Possibility of publicly-funded Pre-K
• Methods of assessment (i.e. testing)
• Health and physical education

Committee members will, of course, be able to add items to the agenda.

As Prime Minister, I will assume presidency of this committee for the time being. Members and interested citizens, please sign in below!

Harry S Truman
Prime Minister of the Commonwealth
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Representative simossad
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« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2017, 02:44:37 AM »

X simossad, Member of the People's House of Representatives
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Dr_Novella
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« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2017, 06:23:30 AM »

x Dr_Novella: Member of Fremont House of Commons

I look forward to hammering out some solutions with you people.
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LLR
LongLiveRock
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« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2017, 08:02:49 AM »

x LongLiveRock, Our Great Region's Senior Senator
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rpryor03
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« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2017, 10:34:40 AM »

x Rpryor03, Speaker of the House of Commons, Vice President of Atlasia Emeritus
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Mike Thick
tedbessell
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« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2017, 09:59:40 AM »

x tedbessell
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
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« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2017, 10:37:54 PM »

Alright, then. Barring any objections by the membership, we will now proceed with the first item on the agenda: that is, establishing general standards for public elementary, middle, and high schools. To start us off, here is my proposed standard curriculum for grades 1 - 12:

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Thoughts?
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Dr_Novella
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« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2017, 05:16:55 AM »

Perhaps children in middle school should have required computer related curriculum? Teach the ins and outs of word, excel, power point, ect. Along with typeing speed. Though computers are common in this day and age, we still need to make sure students are computer literate by the time they get to high school.
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
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« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2017, 01:43:35 PM »

Perhaps children in middle school should have required computer related curriculum? Teach the ins and outs of word, excel, power point, ect. Along with typeing speed. Though computers are common in this day and age, we still need to make sure students are computer literate by the time they get to high school.
I would agree that digital literacy is highly important for students in the upper grades - do we think there needs to be a separate class to teach these skills, or should computer instruction be incorporated into ordinary class time?
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rpryor03
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« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2017, 05:43:53 PM »

I'd like to add five years of music to the elementary curriculum, as well as changing the Foreign Language requirement to not be (spanish/other). Also, maybe require that all students complete Algebra II by high school?
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
Harry S Truman
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« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2017, 05:48:38 PM »

I'd like to add five years of music to the elementary curriculum, as well as changing the Foreign Language requirement to not be (spanish/other). Also, maybe require that all students complete Algebra II by high school?
I would support all of this, particularly the part about music education. Did you have something specific in mind regarding the Foreign Language requirement (i.e. other options to accompany/replace Spanish)?
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« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2017, 07:26:44 PM »

@truman: seperate class would be fine.

@Rpryor: algebra 2 before high school might be asking a bit much. While I can't speak for all schools, I can say that from the schools I have seen. Algebra 1 is where they get to before high school. And even then there were still issues.
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
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« Reply #12 on: March 17, 2017, 07:57:01 PM »

@Rpryor: algebra 2 before high school might be asking a bit much. While I can't speak for all schools, I can say that from the schools I have seen. Algebra 1 is where they get to before high school. And even then there were still issues.
I interpreted that to mean "by the end of high school;" regardless, I agree completing Algebra II before 9th grade would be a bit much to ask.
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Mike Thick
tedbessell
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« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2017, 08:10:53 PM »

I think digital education is something that could function with its own class, but would probably work just as well if students incorporated technology use into other classes -- i.e. making PowerPoint presentations, submitting and completing assignments online, etc.

Also, why are Reading and Language Arts separated? I imagine there's a perfectly good rationale here, but I'm just curious.
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Dr_Novella
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« Reply #14 on: March 17, 2017, 08:37:22 PM »

@Rpryor: algebra 2 before high school might be asking a bit much. While I can't speak for all schools, I can say that from the schools I have seen. Algebra 1 is where they get to before high school. And even then there were still issues.
I interpreted that to mean "by the end of high school;" regardless, I agree completing Algebra II before 9th grade would be a bit much to ask.

Oh bluh. I just realised that myself. My bad.

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rpryor03
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« Reply #15 on: March 17, 2017, 08:54:42 PM »

I'd like to add five years of music to the elementary curriculum, as well as changing the Foreign Language requirement to not be (spanish/other). Also, maybe require that all students complete Algebra II by high school?
I would support all of this, particularly the part about music education. Did you have something specific in mind regarding the Foreign Language requirement (i.e. other options to accompany/replace Spanish)?
Just the fact that Spanish shouldn't be the main foreign language. We should allow for more options, such as Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, German, and French.
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« Reply #16 on: March 17, 2017, 10:24:31 PM »

I'd like to add five years of music to the elementary curriculum, as well as changing the Foreign Language requirement to not be (spanish/other). Also, maybe require that all students complete Algebra II by high school?
I would support all of this, particularly the part about music education. Did you have something specific in mind regarding the Foreign Language requirement (i.e. other options to accompany/replace Spanish)?
Just the fact that Spanish shouldn't be the main foreign language. We should allow for more options, such as Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, German, and French.

I believe he choose spanish because it is a very common language here in the region and thus the one mostly likey one would need to learn. I do however support the offering of other languages.
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
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« Reply #17 on: March 18, 2017, 04:39:24 PM »

Also, why are Reading and Language Arts separated? I imagine there's a perfectly good rationale here, but I'm just curious.
In the early grades especially, reading and writing are actually two separate skills; it's not uncommon for a young child to be a strong reader but an abysmal speller, for instance. In the older grades, the two subjects are frequently combined and students transition from basic reading comprehension to more thorough literary analysis, which lends itself well to the sorts of writing they are doing at that stage. In elementary school, however, learning to read and learning to write are more distinct undertakings, and while there's certainly some overlap, from an instructional standpoint it's worthwhile to differentiate between the two.

Just the fact that Spanish shouldn't be the main foreign language. We should allow for more options, such as Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, German, and French.
I believe he choose spanish because it is a very common language here in the region and thus the one mostly likey one would need to learn. I do however support the offering of other languages.
Novella is correct; I agree with Rpryor that other languages should be available to students who wish to study them (I myself studied French in high school and have taken both French and Latin at university); given the large population of Spanish speakers in Fremont, it seems reasonable to expect all schools to offer Spanish courses, while giving students in upper grades the option to learn a different language if they so choose.

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Unconditional Surrender Truman
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« Reply #18 on: March 19, 2017, 08:07:27 PM »

How should we incorporate digital literacy into the curriculum? Should it count as a science credit, or do y'all see this as a subject in its own right? Similarly, how many semester credits ought be required for all students?
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« Reply #19 on: March 19, 2017, 08:18:54 PM »

How should we incorporate digital literacy into the curriculum? Should it count as a science credit, or do y'all see this as a subject in its own right? Similarly, how many semester credits ought be required for all students?

I'd ether see it as it's own class, or a part of the English catagory. Length would be a semester or two if we went with its own class. Something you take in 6th grade.
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
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« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2017, 04:02:25 PM »

Revised standards, based on the feedback in this thread:

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« Reply #21 on: March 22, 2017, 05:45:33 PM »

Revised standards, based on the feedback in this thread:

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I'm fine with this. Covers all the topics I feel students should be taught.
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RFayette
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« Reply #22 on: March 24, 2017, 12:13:44 AM »

This is a little late, but I think computer programming should be taught in elementary school along with art/music and require at least a year in middle and high school.
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Unconditional Surrender Truman
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« Reply #23 on: March 25, 2017, 12:50:31 PM »

This is a little late, but I think computer programming should be taught in elementary school along with art/music and require at least a year in middle and high school.
I could support increasing the requirement for Middle School students to one year, but I think requiring six-year-olds to take a computer programming course is a little onerous. Elementary schools would be free to introduce such a program on an individual basis, of course, but I don't think it should be mandated by the region.
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Dr_Novella
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« Reply #24 on: March 25, 2017, 03:26:52 PM »

This is a little late, but I think computer programming should be taught in elementary school along with art/music and require at least a year in middle and high school.
I could support increasing the requirement for Middle School students to one year, but I think requiring six-year-olds to take a computer programming course is a little onerous. Elementary schools would be free to introduce such a program on an individual basis, of course, but I don't think it should be mandated by the region.

I could maybe see sessions on how to type properly. But otherwise elementary kids don't really need computer skill. It's not till middle school that it becomes more important.
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