Meye RANT on American edyoucayshun

[maxterpiece]

Another problem with the NCLB, is that it focuses on the "core" subjects - English, math, science, and probably something else that I'm forgetting. It doesn't provide much support for fine arts, where some students find great comfort which can keep them in school, and learning of the arts (visual, performance) can also help students learn better outside of those subjects.
Of course, there's also the part about it being horribly underfunded...




*I guarantee that any spelling and/or grammatical errors in this post are due to me posting at 5am.

Yes this is a very good point. To make student care about school, the school first has to prove that it cares about that student. These types of extracurricular programs can make the difference in terms of helping a student see what it feels like to do hard work and have it pay off.

 

[freeny]

People use to say the same crap about my generation (35yo) and I'm sure they said the same about the previous generation. It all works out in the end for most people. And the others were meant to fail anyway. People generally get it by the time they leave college and thats when it matters.

If my grammer and spellink is not up to par I will just blame it on the fact that I went to art skool.

 

[jefhatfield]

People use to say the same crap about my generation (35yo) and I'm sure they said the same about the previous generation. It all works out in the end for most people. And the others were meant to fail anyway. People generally get it by the time they leave college and thats when it matters.

If my grammer and spellink is not up to par I will just blame it on the fact that I went to art skool.

i am from your generation and i think people should "get it" by the time they leave high school since only a quarter of people have 4 or more years of college under their belts...and the percentage is less than ten percent for those from the early boomer years

if our society is short on money for education and they have to make a committment to make things the best they can be for the largest amount of kids, they should focus the spending on K-12...governor arnold in california has done some things for our college system (some say not enough) but has largely ignored our most crucial k-12 system...it's a shame

 

[thedude110]

Almost a year later, we (Americans) are still stupid...

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

It seems to me that this article is an editorial disguising itself as news. Claiming that a lack of competition is the reason that schools are "failing" is frighteningly reductive.

One reason nobody talks about: you get "bad teachers" in public schools and "good teachers" in private schools because of the way those teachers are treated. In public schools, faculty often have little to no control over curricula -- they're told what to teach, they teach it -- even if it's way over their student's heads or way below their ability level. In private schools, faculty often get to design their own courses and teach material that they're confident will resonate with their students.

Empower teachers to make their own decisions and they're more engaged in their teaching. Make them teach Macbeth to 16 year olds who can barely read and they get burnt out.

My juniors came in the door in August reading and writing on a middle school level. Some of my colleagues get their lesson plans from the internet and won't go above "6th grade level," even with our seniors, because it's "too hard." I guarantee you that if they could teach materials they wanted to teach -- and didn't have to find lesson plans for Macbeth -- they wouldn't be underselling the kids so significantly.

And then they wouldn't come into my classroom functionally illiterate.