Desperate state of our education system?
346793
In your first sentence, "posts" should not have an apostrophe because it is not a contraction and is not showing possession.  \n\nYou have proven your own point.
29032
Well, very few kids are being left behind, in theory it appears to be working. That said, the quality of education that everyone is getting has been greatly reduced.  So, no one is left behind, but now they are all dumber than before.  Teachers have to only teach the TEST now, otherwise the school fails the tests and they say its because the teachers are bad.  So, learing has been reduced to what is on a standardized test to make test scores look good.  Teachers hate it, it hampers their ability to teach.
890656
Everything will be complete sh*t. Look at our colleges - they're filled with illegal immigrants who get first pick over real American citizens. Hell, there's even a green card lottery. It's INSANE! Some students can't qualify for Financial Aid to go to school because all the sources are being handed out to people who don't freakin' belong here in the first place. If things get any worse, we're going to start a civil war. And it's not going to be pretty - we're going to decide on their fates here. It's not going to be good.
708535
I think you're right.  The education paradigm is about making the slowest learners "feel good" about themselves while ignoring and belittling those who excel.  A modern BA/BS degree is what a high school diploma once was.  Universities are complaining about having to dedicate more resources to remedial programs to get (American) students caught up to the point they can pass minimum math and science requirements at those institutions.  Our students continue to decline in scores across the board while teacher's unions demand more money.  Am I the only one seeing the disconnect there?
1057839
You might think I am crazy but our society is to blame for our education disaster. Today people are not allowed to say "your child is smarter than this child" so we have to lower standards so know kid can be singled out as smarter. The other day I heard a story about a school where teens who achieved honors could not wear there cords in graduation because it might offend the kids who did not achieve high grades. So we lower our standards and only test kids on memorization so they can cram stuff in and get good scores. If we taught kids how to think and analyse they would all be better off but we don't. Instead we indoctrinate them with useless stuff and leave out vital things like financial education, realistic sex education, and other vital skills. America needs to disregard the easily offended for the best of everyone else. Let's drop political correctness so we don't get dumber. On that note, I don't believe in ADD or ADHD I think it is just bored kids stuck in a school that is not challenging them. \nwww.todaysperspective.com
207076
Well, you are right, but money never solved anything.  Actions solve problems. We have to change the educational system from top to bottom.  And to start we need passionate teachers who know how to teach, enough of glorified babysitters.
1014540
The total ignorance of our lawmakers about the importance of education and the educators that make it happen. As a teacher I am disgusted with the lack of monies given to our educational systems and the amount of @#%$&* we as teachers are expected to perform to meet their requirements, yet we are paid chicken feed. I am a single mom and only JUST have my head above water financially and work my toucas off to educate my students. It's a travesty!
637502
Sign me up for your team - I agree with you completely.  I'm a former teacher.\n\nThe sad thing is that it wasn't always like this.  Our educational system used to be the best in the world.  Somewhere along the way, we lost our focus.  I don't think it's a lost cause, but we need to act NOW to save what's left.\n\nTeachers can't discipline children who misbehave without the risk of retribution from the parents.  When I was a child, if I was disciplined in school it was a small matter compared to what I faced when I got home.\n\nMany teachers have gotten to the point that they just want to coast to retirement.  They're vested in their retirement plans, and don't want to change careers even though they've lost the passion that put them in that job in the first place so many years ago.  Many new teachers are there because the college degree is relatively easy to get, they get summers off, and they get to coach a sport.  Now, I'm not saying ALL teachers are like this, but everybody must admit there are some out there, and they're bringing the system down.\n\nMany parents use school as a daycare center.  They expect teachers to teach their children how to behave.  They won't help their kids with homework because it's the teachers' responsibility to make sure the kids understand it.  \n\nFew parents attend parent-teacher conferences.  The ones that do are generally the parents of children that aren't having problems.  The kids see all of this and adopt the philosophy that, "If Mom and Dad and the teachers don't care, why should I?"\n\nSchools have become more focused on teaching vocational and technical classes, and less on the basics.  As an instructor of some college-level medical courses, I was once asked by a panel of high school administrators what courses they should offer to their students to better prepare them for a college program in healthcare.  "Should we offer Medical Terminology? Anatomy & Physiology?"\n\nMy answer was, "Make them take 4 years of math, 4 years of English, and 4 years of science.  If they haven't done that, they aren't ready for college."\n\nIf you have a plan to fix the system, count me in!  Let's start a movement in the right direction!\n\nP.S. - Did you notice that the only people who disagreed with you on this wrote in very poor form, with no capitalization or punctuation, or misspellings and generally poor grammar?  I found that interesting.
711197
well the school is 'forced' to a great degree\nthe learning is still up to the student\nIn the US there are very few lucrative opportunities for people who cannot read very well, or do math, or follow directions\nin a crude way 'stupid people are a burden to society'\neducation, one of the goals of school, is not the key to wealth but stupidity is certainly a straight shot to poverty
548968
looking at no child left behind... I almost start to wonder if this isn't trying to destroy an already underfunded education system... \n\nWith no public education...the wealthy would be the only ones that could afford to become educated and then keep control of their wealth through that control of education... \n\nah... capitalism at it's best...\n\nDon't you just love how freetyme813 insults basically every American with his rants on public school... almost everyone attends public school and if we're all that "stupid" then why did the majority vote for conservatives?\nTest scores are at all time highs... so if he's calling today's kids dumb... and you graduated a long time ago like I did... then he's calling all of us really dumb....\nI think we all know who the "dumb" one is here...\nSorry we didn't go to private school because our daddy was rich like you apparently did... some of us have to actually work for what we have...
1017915
The problem I have encountered in my kids high school is a lack of content in classes that are not Honors or AP level.  The coursework provides little homework and the projects are lame.  Nothing is learned.  Add content or drop the class from the school!   More kids need to be academically stretched and challenged!
894218
Yep the system is pretty pathetic.  The UK generally doesn't recognise anything.  Two of my friends have degrees from their mother countries.  One had to do a conversion exam; the other had to start from scratch as her degree was not recognised in the UK at all.  Bit arrogant.  All those years of study not recognised!  I wouldnt be pleased.
463509
Bad: People want their students to get premium educations - but no one wants to pay for it.\n\nGood: Some students thrive and excel in the current system... and others... are scary.\n\nGood:  We strive towards the ideal that all people are created equally and are equally capable of succeeding in accomplishing their dreams.\n\nBad:  We deem failure when we don't meet the IDEAL... which is completely impractical anyway.\n\nBad: State testing... always wants to raise the bottom 50 percent to the top 50 percent.  Whoah... who taught the politicians their math? There will ALWAYS be a bottom 50 percent.
730071
our government has put the act test in place because our high school students at an all time dysfunctional state,they cheat.Now they have to stay prepared in each highschool grade.They can not slide through as the teachers use to pass them the next level& they didnot even know how to read.Now they just drop out if they can't make the grade.Alot of help for them if they inquire & ask.Can not get into collage if not pass. They may take more than once in their senior year if they fail.It asks questions in all english,math, science,Gov.The test cost money to take. Which I think is not fair.First test may be free but all other you pay for.I do not go to school but my granddaughter is a junior & wants to go to collage ,she tells me some about it.I am sure there are more ans. coming to help you piece it all together. Take care, kell65
733559
I just read some research about a week ago from a study that showed teachers who choose or felt they had a gift for teaching had students who performed 50 percent better than those who did not.  That is not just a drop in the bucket.\n\nBut....here is the reality in America.  The schools are underfunded, the president's program has left education in a shambles, classrooms are too full, no one wants to pay anymore taxes for new schools or even expansions.  Teachers are having to be parents, guardians, police and counselors.  Their pay stinks. Under those conditions, teachers, even those who are truly gifted become disillusioned pretty fast.\n\nThink about it...it seems a lot of you are still in high school...what goes on in your classroom, is the teacher given any respect, do they have any time to teach or do they have to spend all their time disciplining students and trying to control the class.  Your teachers are not dumb, they just do not know what to try anymore.\n\nI expect they are as frustrated as you are as students.  Maybe you guys (teachers and students) need to pull together and start telling the people who can make a difference what needs to be done for our schools.
1059094
If you don't trust the education system, just don't send your kids there... you don't need to cripple/alter the bad system. Let it extinct itself....
305406
I actually have experienced that in CA. I lived there for three years and the school system was totally not competative with this one in Washington state, Bellevue.\n\nTotally, they don't have any tests system to test the quality of their education, they don't even have a good order in their schools and all their curriculum does not help students understand what the student has to learn.