Another failing grade for US education
StrikeFO sends us a link to a Wall Street Journal article that excoriates the US education system is regards to the teaching of history and current events;
Only 20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were “proficient” or “advanced,” unchanged since the test was last administered in 2006. Proficient means students have a solid understanding of the material.
The news was even more dire in high school, where 12% of 12th-graders were proficient, unchanged since 2006. More than half of all seniors posted scores at the lowest achievement level, “below basic.” While the nation’s fourth- and eighth-graders have seen a slight uptick in scores since the exam was first administered in 1994, 12th-graders haven’t.
So we lose generation after generation of students to ignorance in what used to be the world class education system. StrikeFO makes the valid point that maybe if teachers spent less time introducing their students to people like Matthis and more time actually teaching relevant material, our students would be a bit brighter. It’s not just Matthis, it’s putting condoms on bananas in class and all of the socialization that occurs in the classroom as opposed to actual teaching.
We have a cash-hungry university system that accommodates students who can’t read nor write by providing “remedial” instruction which is a green light for public school teachers to steal from the taxpayers by providing a less-than-adequate basic education.
As taxpayers pour cash into a broken education system, illiterate and moronic students are churned out the other end…most completely unemployable in the modern world. I attended college 20 years after I graduated from high school and I learned nothing in college that i hadn’t already learned in high school. But because of education inflation, I needed that diploma for employers. A sad statement on the state of our system at this point in our history.
ADDED: Old Trooper adds a link about Minnesota schools who are failing their students in droves;
Minnesota Department of Education figures, released Wednesday to the Star Tribune, show that 4,872 seniors have yet to pass either or both of tests; that amounts to about 8 percent of all seniors tested.
This is the second year that passing both tests has been a state graduation requirement, and the figures are similar to those from last year. A final count for the Class of 2010, issued in January, found that 7 percent of seniors — 4,794 — had not passed either or both tests, even after additional chances to take them were offered beyond the school year.
ADDED AGAIN: Yet another link from Old Trooper to prove my point that schools need to do more teaching and less socialization BS:
A middle school in Massachusetts is under fire for requiring children to complete a graphic sex survey — without parental knowledge or consent — that included questions about sexual partners and oral sex.
Category: Schools
You make some good points about education in America. College has become the new “expensive” secondary school. It’s mostly paid for by the US Gov’t.
Schools are performing the exact task “they” feel is the most important. Socializing. Indoctorinating. The rest is gravy. If you speak to the average teacher, (not all. but a surprising number. I say 30 percent is too high) you’ll find that they don’t know anything about history, physical sciences, whatnot.. and THEY DON’T CARE.
I would argue that America’s educational system was never really world class. I think they experienced the same success that you will see with any new social experiment, such as communism, before the whole system goes to hell and take the by standers down with it.
It is our education system that has made “non-readers” out of a large percentage of the population. How do you think learning went from being a man’s domain to “real men don’t do that shit”? From having to be emasculated by a female teacher in a classroom for 13 years.
Part of the problem, too, stems from when the system WAS “world class” and parents (white middle class) completely checked themselves out of the equation. Teachers said parents can’t teach and parents jumped on this excuse.
So, back to the 3Rs? And parents who actually care about your kids- turn off the TV. talk about something- history, science, they’ll act like you’re boring- but they’ll still learn.
Thankfully my son will come home and ask me about the history that he’s learned so that I can correct all of the wrong crap he hears…..I find that it’s more a case of the teachers over simplifying things in an effort to cram “more” in…
You know, the mantra from the left on healthcare is that “the system is broken” and the government needs to take it over. Well, here is a government run system that is broken and in dire need of reform. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Education, just to name a few, are all government run and all broken, yet we are supposed to entrust healthcare to them as well. The standing argument for education, here in Minnesota, is that we need to throw more money at it. Right now, in this State, 47 cents of every tax dollar is spent on education (some would argue that it’s closer to 50 cents); so how much more is needed? Are we going to get a return on investment? I have always been a believer that competition lifts the standards of everyone, yet the monopoly that public schools have is staggering. I am a proponent of the voucher system, so that public schools will have to become efficient and competitive in their results in order to stay afloat. People won’t send their kids to a school that underperforms no matter what economic class they are in, if there is another choice that doesn’t cost them extra money. They proved that in DC, but the union thugs in the NEA didn’t like that too much and worked to get the vouchers taken away. Then, the parents were back to not having a choice in their child’s education and they didn’t like that.
Someone smarter than me says this about education:
“If it gets tested, it gets taught.”
Willing to bet former Weatherman and Educator of educators William Ayers is grinning from ear to ear over this report on his success.
Like many, I used to believe that basically, the teachers were the problem. Then I married a 3rd grade teacher three years ago. Here’s what I’ve learned: 1. Some teachers definitely need to go and yes, it does appear that the union protects there jobs. I’ve listened a few times to Home6 wondering how this or that teacher has remained employed. For example, there’s this one who has been brought up on charges, for the exact same thing, several times in the last few years. He/She always winds up in front of this committee that is supposed to ensure that the members right to “Due process” is trampled upon. And there it dies. All the facts are legitimate and not contested, all the t’s are crossed, all the i’s are dotted, yet there it dies. This has numerous negative consequences, not the least of which is a loss of credibility both to their own membership who are trying to do the right thing, and to those of us outside looking in. 2.Corruption in the school district at the Administrative level. This can be both real and also can just be perceived. For example, last year all the teachers got a 20% pay cut, many positions were eliminated, etc. Sounds appropriate, right? At the District level, they received 97% of their previous funding. A perfect example is about a top dollar administrator who got the axe (six figure salary), but when a block grant of $54 million arrives, he gets rehired on the spot. This, when there isn’t enough basic things like pencils and paper for the kids in the classroom. Now about the perceived part. Home6 teaches at a Magnet School, something called an International Baccalaureate school, which has a long waiting list of parents trying to get their kids enrolled. Last academic year, starting September 2009, she had this severely disruptive student in her class. After listening many times to her talking about this same girl, I asked why she doesn’t get her kicked out. She said it was very difficult to do but was initiating the paperwork trail… Read more »
Gotta agree, Old Soldier. In the district I retired from, the Superintendent was complaining that the new state funding formula wasn’t “fair”. The upshot was that the district would have to cut classes such as Theater Arts and they might have to close the coffee shop that was opened in the library, or the candy shop. And, the ultimate horror, they may have to cut some of the 32 athletic teams the district supports.
And, let’s not even discuss the teachers who make their rooms into mini-DNC Headquarters, complete with banners, posters and hand-outs. If half the time was spent on teaching as is spent on indoctrinating, the kids might learn something.
You want a better education system? Then we need to do the following:
1. Annihilate the teachers union. This way tenure cannot be earned by sliding by for a few years. It will also make it easier to eliminate poor performing teachers.
2. Create a yearly certification for teachers. Have it be based off of problem solving questions that have no right or wrong answer. This will test and demonstrate the teacher’s ability to problem solve. If they demonstrate poor problem solving skills, then can them.
3. I know some people might go apeshit at this suggestion, but we should be paying our teachers more. Our country would have better quality education if our educators weren’t getting paid crap. Now I’m not talking about the administrators, I’m talking about the actual teachers. The more money people make the more invested they are in what they are doing. Ever wonder why children in downtown LA are dumb as fuck? It’s because the professors are getting paid crap and are doing just enough to survive and fly under the radar.
If you guys haven’t seen “Waiting for Superman” yet, you should check it out. It’s a great documentary about the state of education and how magnet schools do better without teachers who are union members than public schools with union member teachers.
I’m very worried about the state of education in our country. I go to California State University, Northridge and I personally see how scumbags who don’t do shit all semester pass their classes with B’s and A’s. Professors think that if they don’t grade students above what they deserve then the students will go and complain to their dean.
This isn’t a new problem, for sure. I remember when I went to Kent State…for 1 semester. It was difficult to decide to stay when the Honors Spanish I was required to take (had to have it as part of the Dean’s Honors Scholarship I was awarded) used the same curriculum as my high school regular joe Spanish III class used. Same texts, cassettes, etc. I graduated in Okinawa from a DoDDs school. Best education out there.
In my family we have polar opposites with my kids. My oldest has to work her tail off to get a B, while the youngest has slid through school for her 7 yrs making straight As. And it wasn’t until 8th grade that there’s any program or class in the system to challenge her. And there’s only one…math. That’s it for the kids that are needing a bigger challenge.
I’ve recently gone back to college, 17 yrs after I graduated. I’m going to a local 2 yr college for the gen ed stuff before transferring to SIUE. Its amazing to me the “quality” of student that is attending the same classes as me. I couldn’t believe that most of my classes are filled with 2nd yr students who are just now taking courses that count toward their degree because they’ve spent the first yr taking remedial classes. Straight out of high school. WTH?
#5-8
Y’all describe 4 problems, all of which are fixable.
1. Too many regulations. There are simply too many rules. Administrators are supposed to make top dollar for their knowledge of all the rules, and how to navigate them. The teachers do all the hard administrivia anyway.
2. Failure to discern what is important in a curriculum. At some point, pure utilitarianism should hold sway:
– reading and writing (in English) – we use those to write cheques and sign contracts
– math – to balance a chequebook
– English as a spoken language – because it is the international language of business/commerce/money
– our history: unvarnished, and untarnished.
We expect LEGAL immigrants to our great Nation to pass tests the confirm their knowledge of America, but we have native born High School graduates who believe Bush-43 stole the election from Che.
3. Education is a 3-way endeavor by parent, child, and educator. Not the state, not the unions, not the administration, not TV and Hollywood. Too many parents willingly cede their power and responsibility because of selfishness, stupidity, or scared of the committment to parenting.
I add in tort reform. The #1 reason teachers join unions is for liability insurance. When Little Johnny scrapes his knee on the playground, or Little Suzie get maced after pulling a knife on the other little girl in the sandbox – that is NOT payday for the reprobates passing as their parents.
4. College is not a right. Most of the kids in college would be better served going to trade school, or back to the ranches and farms – they have no clue why they’re in school, and beer, while a food group, is not a major.
This isn’t a new problem, for sure. I remember when I went to Kent State… for 1 semester. It was difficult to decide to stay when the Honors Spanish I was required to take (had to have it as part of the Dean’s Honors Scholarship I was awarded) used the same curriculum as my high school regular joe Spanish III class used. Same texts, cassettes, etc.
==========
I had a similar situation at Purdue back when I attended (1994-1999). I was an ME major, but I had to take general electives. Well, during my summer day where we register for classes and all that, I was able to take a Spanish equivalency exam to potentially ‘test out of’ certain levels of Spanish classes. If I then took the next class, I would earn credits for all those classes. For example, I tested out of Span101, Span102 and Span201. So when I took Span202 and completed it, I received credit for Span101-Span202 and that took care of my GenEd electives in one shot.
Well, I was nervous going into the class, because I didn’t bother to schedule myself for the class until my sophomore year. I took Spanish I-IV in HS and did well, but I was rusty. But, the Span202 class was about equivalent to my HS Spanish III or Spanish IV classes.
In other words, 200 level college Spanish was equivalent to Junior year HS Spanish at my HS (Brother Rice HS, Chicago).
“Higher education”? I think not.
#9 DaveO:
You got my vote – and I know a few teachers who are sick to death of the insanity that passes for an education policy in this country.
Changing will not be easy but, IMO it is doable. All we need is the national will.
DaveO in #9, your point #3, some people just get the vapors when addressing “warehousing” of convicted felons, because they don’t get any “help” or “training” or “education” while inside, but have no problem whatsoever with their children being warehoused in a public school.
As long as the kid gets their smart phone, Ipad and laptop, and leaves mom and dad alone, that’s all that counts. And the right clothes, of course.
The parents concern over their children’s education ceases when the little darling walks in the front door of school, in a lot of cases.
“The parents concern over their children’s education ceases when the little darling walks in the front door of school, in a lot of cases.”
Yep. In many instances, that seems to be the case. Mores the pity …