If it's a meritocracy you want, then it's simply a matter of raising teachers' pay across the board. "Talent" will follow.
But if, like me, you think meritocracy is a dirty word (as did its coiner) then it might be a good idea to examine what we want from our public educational system in the first place. Do we want to turn out cogs in a machine to keep us ahead of all those hard-working and under-paid foreigners? Or do we want an educational system that stresses the importance of education for its own sake, not to mention for the sake of a healthy and functioning democracy.
Placing all the emphasis on outcomes might work well if you consider your children to be little more than unthinking factors of production, but I for one am not quite ready to consign them to that fate.
It's amazing how much difference just one sorry excuse for a teacher can make. Back in the day, I was an eager computer science student who needed a social science elective. So I took an intro to American history course, thinking it would be an easy A. No such luck. The professor was a mean and vindictive prick and, sensitive lad that I was, I wound up dropping the course just a few weeks in. Still in need of a social science elective, I was able to switch over to economics, a subject I didn't have much of a clue about. Long story short, I fell in love with the subject, and even though I was already halfway through the computer science curriculum, I switched majors and have lived (more or less) happily ever after. All because of one creepy martinet of a history professor. Thanks, Asshole!
I can't help but think that Good Ol' Jack doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. Hence the soft approach. And it's safe to assume that the last thing they wanted was for this thing to generate even more publicity for the book. Oops!
Assuming the BMI translates into better health, and assuming hospitals are in the business of promoting better health, then this sounds like a perfect excuse for hospital corporations to save money on their employee health care costs by hiring those with presumably lower health risks. Nothing cynical at all about that, huh?
But if, like me, you think meritocracy is a dirty word (as did its coiner) then it might be a good idea to examine what we want from our public educational system in the first place. Do we want to turn out cogs in a machine to keep us ahead of all those hard-working and under-paid foreigners? Or do we want an educational system that stresses the importance of education for its own sake, not to mention for the sake of a healthy and functioning democracy.
Placing all the emphasis on outcomes might work well if you consider your children to be little more than unthinking factors of production, but I for one am not quite ready to consign them to that fate.