To ask teachers to be more productive within that model is akin to asking zoo keepers to be more productive in ensuring the panda’s mate more often. In both cases you are imprisoning beings in unnatural environments and demanding the “wardens” be responsible for overcoming the psychological damage they are also in charge of inflicting.

There are more “productive” models of education out there if the goal is to allow the development of fully independent self learning respectful adults, but that was not the goal of the education system when it was implemented. The goal was to homogenize our nation by forcing the influx of immigrants into a program that tried to guarantee a national culture that didn’t disturb the status quo.

Any concrete solutions will require an examination of our current system, but there is far too much money involved, let alone risk to the current status quo, for government to have any inclination in revamping or abolishing the “faulty” system. As far as their concerned it works just fine. Their children are going to private school’s anyway.

I don’t suspect public schools would empty, but I suspect that productivity – students effectively learning their subjects – would decrease further in the short run. Tenure and union contracts would hobble improvement in some districts — less talented teachers with seniority would be retained differentially. Laid-off good teachers would find themselves in demand, and MIGHT be able to command more $ in an efficient, disciplined, parent-involved private school. (And, they’d stop worrying about guns in school.) They’d have more students/class, but, with parents voting with the voucher AND making up the difference out of their own pockets, if one student is unduly unruly, he’d be back in old PS 123 in a blink or two.

In 1956, there were 62 first graders in my class. We all learned to read, probably 60 of us well, thanks to phonics AND discipline.

If 20 students made 1 year of progress, 5 difficult students made 4 years progress and 40 students made one half year of progress, their respective teachers were similarly productive.

This is quite true. Seen in this light, can one assume that calls for smaller class sizes are, in fact, calls for lower productivity?