Should there be a national standard for schools?

Question

For everything, size dependent for extracurricular activities (There is a reason for this).
Academics, start times and days, teacher qualifications and pay, class size, busing rules, uniforms or at least a dress code, etc?

Answer 1

No. It would be too unwieldy. The "No child left behind act of 2001 is an attempt to impose national standards, but the jury is still out on how effective it is. I would prefer to have some assistance from the federal government, but allow individual states determine class size, teacher pay, busing rules and academics. Each state and each district within that state has different problems that require different solutions. It would not make sense to pay all teachers the same since the cost of living varies widely. Teachers in the larger cities (San Francisco has the highest cost of living in the nation) would need to have higher salaries to offset the cost of housing. I like the idea of individual communities setting up their own schedules to suit their individual needs. In Far Eastern Oregon, there are school districts that have school ten hours a day for four days a week. This allows students to help out more on the farms and ranches. I think the issue of school uniforms is best left to each district. I am leery of the federal government interfering any more into our daily lives than it already does.

Answer 2

I believe for most of the items you mentioned above, there are national standards.

However, we must be careful when we put "cookie cutter" standards and requirements for ALL schools and students as there are so many different needs in different areas of our highly diverse country (I'm assuming you're referring to the United States). What works in an inner city school might not work in a rural school or a suburb school. The needs of the students are so different, even from school to school in the same district. There needs to be local control of many areas to meet the unique needs of each school.

Answer 3

For your info, the U.S. Dept od HEW do have standards for schools in the way of things which you have mentioned above. Whether they are strictly enforced is another issue entirely.

Answer 4

YES since my state(MT.) is damn near the worst in the nation