Biased school system?
832375
Once you are labeled, then it is very hard to get rid of it. But if you really wish you can do it. You need a strong determination though.
706894
The American education system is basically censored to ensure that you are taught ONLY what mainstream academia thinks you should be learning. This is a nonsense. There are possibly 100+ alternatives in every discipline which are entitled to a legitimate platform in the halls of learning. Topics of value which are being  suppressed. especially regarding History and Physics. American students will eventually become intellectually irrelevant the way the system is currently grooming them. It`s absurd for the education overlords to believe this can continue. A nation of closed minded robots is not the way foreward.
170352
Some people say that school uniform diminshes pupils' individuality. \n\nI disagree - this is just like saying that you <can> judge a book by its cover (or in this case, a person by the clothes they wear).
118690
Don't let the liberals catch you calling some children superior, we're all supposed to be equal in this country.\n\nWell, if your district has the cash it should set up a seperate elementary "academy."  These kids would still interact with "normal" kids but they would have a special teacher who is trained to challenge them.\n\nMoving along to Junior High you need to have the kids in advanced classes for the core but the extra classes can be mixed (gym, art, music, writing, computer, study hall etc...)\n\nOnce kids get to high school it is impractical to keep them segregated in the core fields, you've given them the tools, now they must choose to use them.\n\nWays to challenge kids: Assign a special project in each subject due at the end of the year (or semester or month) where they have to use a topic off a list or come up with a teacher-approved topic.  They research it and give a presentation to the class.\n\nYou can get higher grade textbooks.  When I was in 5th grade we had math 54, in fourth grade which was accelerated learning about 4th and 5th grade math subjects.  It was an independent book and you also had the regular math program to complete.  Then if you finished all the lessons in math 54 they had math 65.  Some of us got it in 5th grade, some in 4th.  Then there was math 76 and finally a pre-algebra book all by the same publisher.  Three of the kids were actually in the pre-algebra book with a few months left in 6th grade.
744668
I think it's absurd, school is meant to teach you how to learn, to achieve this you must open the mind not close it. To subscribe to a system of beliefs is to close the mind to certain issues, there is no other way around that. To truly learn a new thing efficiently and without bias you must first admit that you don't know certain things. If you have already come to a conclusion about a thing because of religious indoctrination with out doing your own research to confirm, then this trend will continue for the rest of your life, because it is easy, it is human nature to take the easy road, and this is what cripples your ability to learn efficiently.
881642
Reading it would be a good start in stead of looking for another persons view.  To answer your question the answer is NO, I could explain it in more detail but that should be left to your school to do.
656716
First I think that 20% is a low estimation.  Second, teachers work incredibly hard to ensure that lessons are tailored to meet the needs of varying skill and ability levels.  Finally, even though teachers do what they can with the limited resources that they are given to work with, it remains difficult to reach all students (particularly with the levels of apathy at an all-time high).  There is nothing inherently wrong with the public school system.  The flaw however, is that not enough financial resources are put into a potentially great system.  With sufficient resources (financial, physical, and human), the percentage of students that would not understand their lessons would drop significantly.
124876
The school system is a social creation, run by man. \nThe goals of each individual are influenced by the society. Therefore there is a large connection here.\n\nThere would be a large amount of social analysis to answer this question. I recommend "sociology" by Anthony Giddens (in all libraries)\n\nFurthermore, an assessment of how the curriculum is constructed in your area would also do well. I answered a similar question to this last year with reference to the curriculum creation process of my local eduacation body - Board of Studies NSW. You will have a similar body wherever you are from.
121158
Well, there's either something wrong with them, or something wrong with the test.  If there's something wrong with them, it may be their fault or not.\n\nWith math specifically, I think the fault is the school's.  Math has no cultural bias: 2+2=4 no matter where you go or who you are.  But teachers in public schools are largely union members, there on the basis of seniority, and may or may not be good at teaching.  Statistically, blacks rely more heavily on the public school system than whites.  Indeed, the biggest boom in private and parochial schools in this country came just after the most significant of the Supreme Court decisions regarding integration.  (They were largely white, of course.)  There are, however, excellent prep schools that are primarily black, and I'm sure more will be created in the future, as the black middle class recognizes the necessity and black teachers abandon the safety of the teachers union for the challenge involved.\n\nStandardized tests clearly do have a cultural bias, and that has been proved to be a bias against blacks.  Black people have a difficult time for a variety of reasons, some of their own doing and some due to external forces.  For example, many black people use a non-standard English, not because they cannot learn better, but because it is "cool."  That may be fine for their social life, but does not do well on standardized tests.  Many develop attitude problems wherein they experience real discrimination occasionally, and come to expect it all the time.  This is called "a chip on one's shoulder," and does more harm than good to the person holding the chip.  I think that metaphor was created because you cannot move naturally, and must hold yourself very stiffly, in order to keep a chip (of wood, presumably) balanced on your shoulder.\n\nIt is definitly true that in order to do well on standardized tests, a black American must learn about the white world's standards.  The tests are, almost exclusively, written by whites.  You could argue for improved test designs, but the fact is, you will be competing in a white world in most of the schools you attend, jobs you take, etc.  All very well and good to know and be proud of your own heritage, but you must decide for yourself whether isolation is worth the lost opportunities.\n\nOf course, it is quite possible to live very well keeping your distance from mass culture and the white-dominated institutions in this country, if that is your choice.  And if that is your choice, the standardized tests don't mean much to you anyway.
537618
One aspect of my work is to help determine whether students are eligible for Special Ed, or for protections under state and federal laws to protect students with disabilities. When we make that decision, we are required by law to look at information from a variety of sources. Usually we do two or three different formal assessments that give us two or three completely different pictures of a student. These are usually standardized, so that you get a score in terms of how this student compares to other students his or her age. The team will review the school records, and get input from teachers, counselors, and family. Often, an objective outsider will observe the student in their usual classroom setting. Fifteen or twenty minutes of quiet observation can give you valuable information about a student.  \n\nAnother reason we need tests is to demonstrate that the students are actually learning what we allegedly teach them. Unfortunately, the yearly state tests we give them in the US each year are profoundly flawed.\n\nAlfie Kohn writes, "Don’t let anyone tell you that standardized tests are not accurate measures.  The truth of the matter is they offer a remarkably precise method for gauging the size of the houses near the school where the test was administered." By that he means that standardized test scores are profoundly affected by the students' social standing and economic condition (or socio-economic status).\n\nBut when it comes to taking away funds from a school, the same requirement of gathering information from a variety of sources does not seem to apply. It seems this is often done because of the scores on a single type of yearly test, one that covers a small fraction of what students should be learning in school, and one which has no direct consequences for the students who take it.  They don't care, and they like to draw pictures with the dots in the bubbles. On the other hand, there are big-time consequences for school staff.\n\nIn one major metropolitan area in the US, a favorite trick of the politicians is to cut the budgets of struggling schools and watch the test scores go down. Then they fire the principal and all the teachers (except the ones with "outstanding" ratings, which principals rarely give), replace the staff with new teachers, give them a highly-scripted curriculum (Teacher: Take out your pencils and open your workbooks to page 41. We are going to complete these sentences...), pour more money into the school, declare the school "Transformed", and take credit when test scores go up again. \n\nTeacher qualifying exams: They make an awful lot of money for the companies that give them, which sometimes charge more than $100 for a test that only takes an hour or two. Often a state will require six or seven of these for a teaching license. They do help protect the schools and the teachers unions from allegations that the teachers can't read or write. But you cannot test what separates a good teacher from a terrible one with a #2 pencil and a bunch of bubbles to fill in. And that's just common sense.
996642
Often, a number of school regulations are indeed considered as injust. The point of view remains subjective, but some times, regulations are made for the confort of adminstrative people rather than in the ideal of improving school experience and general conditions for all.
440574
shouldn't the whole point of "Diversity Day" be to hear about people from diverse backgrounds?\n\nit seems bizzar to exclude a certain group from such an event to me\n\nI dont think the school should have wanted to exclude anyone in the first place, a school should be a place where you can learn about the world without bias
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....
1123923
Believe it or not, there was one teacher that my son had, that would not give letter or number grades on anything other than report cards, because she didn't want to make anyone feel bad for not doing as well as someone else.  LOL ! \n\nSo no I really don't think the current grading system works.  I think it should be a cut and dried system. you know the answer-you got it right, you don't know the answer-you got it wrong.  Not this pampering of lazy uneducated children.  SO they really think these children's future boss' will give a great rats @ss about how they feel when they don't do so well at work today??? I doubt it too!
794500
Theres no such thing, because each US state (& then there's the US national standards) & each country have their own educational standards. You can't compare worldwide because of economic and cultural differences. Usually there are some very good schools in metro areas, but there's always the downfall of them being huge and overcrowded even though they have an abundance of resources. Suburbs and rural areas are sometimes the place to look. The circumstances vary so much from person to person and school to school, that that's why so many schools exist --- to harbor everyone's needs.
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.
105769
Hmm, I believe you answered your own question. I would also agree that too many parents think school is too hard on their children, when the truth is that's the way it supposed to be. It's all about "stretching young minds."