The American education system

[UltimaLimit]

Comments? Rants? Either is fine (within reason), since I intend to do a bit of ranting at a later date once I have more time.

For now, suffice it to say that I think it could use a reform or three.

[Rye]

I think that American Schools need to get teachers who care, better food, and better books. Or at least my school. I supposedly live in a very rich town, but my school is poor.

[The Captain]

From elsewhere:

One of the great tragedies of our time, in my mind, is what has happened to the youth of the world, in that, they feel they must grow up so quickly now and must succeed at all costs or be a complete and utter failure in the world. Pressures from parents, from schools, from society itself to boost every single child to be the best they can be from square one is indeed a noble cause, but in many cases, is rooted in overall unrealistic beliefs. I'm amazed, to be frank, that in my community schools system, standardized tests are now being given to children in 1st grade, a time period when many children are still learning about their own identity and growing.

I've never, EVER been a believer that in order to educate, there must be MORE pressure placed on students. Rather, the education each student gets should be what is important: the ability to convey multiple perspectives, various ways to solve problems, patience, the ability to listen, communicate and the like. Sure, we all need to learn the ABC's and times tables, but shouldn't we also be learning how to be tolerant and compassionate of others and not simply write people off based upon differences, or how quickly they can multiply? Instead of learning how to color in the lines, why not learn how to share those crayons? I firmly believe that if education was really about teaching people about themselves, about humanity, and not just about "things" or concepts that need to be tested to garner federal funding, many, many more children would succeed and come to enjoy school, not loathe it or begin to feel alientated by it."

Part of the problem is that schools are just as much a business as anything else now, and it's become the quantity of the product, in this case, students, that is more important than the quality.

Steps must be made to change this in my opinion.

Take care all.

[nik0tine]

I was just about to make a thread about this.

The American education system is a joke, and it is, in my opinion, the main factor in the degeneration of our society. Our schools DO NOT provide students with an opportunity to grow (Aside from the social aspect, which is not even directly related to the school itself) as people. Depth is just not present in the school system. Not only that, the curriculum deliberately caters to the lowest of people, and the slightly below average and above students are left to waste away for twelve years.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

We're taught to regurgitate answers and keep our heads down like good little sheep.

Ironically the Political Affairs Club at my college (of which I am a part of) just had a Round Table discussion on "what is wrong with America?" and this very issue came up.

Simply put, the general consensus was that we aren't being taught properly. In a good educational system we would be taught the basic skills at a young age, and at the older ages we would be taught theory and how to apply what we know and how to think for ourselves. As it is, we're taught crap early on and taught a few of the very basics in high school. It's pitiful.

[nik0tine]

I was lucky enough to have had great parents who took it upon themselves to educate me from the day I was born. Also, they made sure I did not go to public school. High school was my first experiance with public school and it's pathetic. It's not okay that we are doing this to our countries youth. We are destroying the future and no one cares.

[ShunNakamura]

This makes me immensly glad that I go to the school that I currently attend.

Our teachers like to make you think(or at least the good ones do... we have been losing more and more of them to retirement, and replacing them with sub-par brainwashed fools). Our English, History/Government, Math, and Spanish teacher in particular.

And what is funny those 4 teachers are also the most informal of the lot... The math teacher has bruised many a student with her crochet needles before, and she is famous in our school for saying, "Show, dont' tell me" and for not liking calculators, "use the one between your ears." All the other teachers quote her. The History/Government teacher does all sort of crap... which makes him glad he is in the teachers union :P. such as hitting my sunburn . The History/government and English teachers love to have classroom debates as well as assigning long drawn out essays on issues, etc... The spanish teacher won't take "I don't know" as an answer. He will sit there and wait till you look up and find the answer.. all period if neccesary. I have never seen someone win a standoff agianst him, he is also strict on discipline on the younger kids.. works very well, adn they WILL behave for him.

Enough about my school... I have seen enough about others to know that not all schools are good. But I really do love my school.. it seems a shame that it is believed that teachers should be overly-formal with students, not to mention I still feel our school system focuses more on memorization skills then critical thinking skills... although we aren't awful at the critical thinking.

[edczxcvbnm]

The biggest problem with the schools systems isn't the schools themselves. The would gradually get better and get harder...but it is the mentality of society that has started to make it week. That and the legal system. Your kid gets a bad grade. Go and complain about it until it is changed. That doesn't work? Then sue. The school loses money from all the law suits so everyone gets good grades now. In order to make it so people can get good grades everything must be dumbed down greatly across the board. Eliminate the law suits and let people tell the parents how it is and that they need to take a more active role in their children's education and things will get better on their own again. Maybe not the best but after they get better then you can focus on what needs to be changed and tweaked. There are lots of problems with the current system even so maybe just completely destory the current system and replace it with a completely new system. I think school year round with more 2 week breaks at christmas is nicer. Forces them to always be learning and not let that brain get soft.

Too many problems that need to be solved and nothing gets done besides throwing money at it.

For the record I went to a public school but it was actually a decent school. I would have gone to a private catholic school had the public school district where I live not been as good as it was. High school was a blue ribbon school.

[DMKA]

I think I agree with ed on this one.

I went to public school all my life, and yeah, most of them are pretty pitiful...I went to 8 schools over my K-12 grade period, and I think half were decent...I don't remember too well.

But either the schools suck far worse in this area, or schools have gotten more pathetic since I was in Jr High (I think it's a bit of both). The last public school I went to was so pathetic and no body really cared, and they just passed all the local rednecks and baseball players through reguardless that they were failing completely. I think of all the people who graduated with me (a whole 25 people), only myself, and maybe 3 others actually did anything to earn it. But it's rather funny, and sad, because of all the people who gradutated with me, they all flunked out of college their first semester.

I definitely agree that our school system is screwed at the moment, but I think it's more society itself at fault than the schools...in many cases anyway.

[UltimaLimit]

I think the problem is a blend of the school system being smurfed up and society being smurfed up, and they kind of feed off of each other.

The biggest problem with the schools systems isn't the schools themselves. The would gradually get better and get harder...but it is the mentality of society that has started to make it week. That and the legal system. Your kid gets a bad grade. Go and complain about it until it is changed. That doesn't work? Then sue. The school loses money from all the law suits so everyone gets good grades now. In order to make it so people can get good grades everything must be dumbed down greatly across the board. Eliminate the law suits and let people tell the parents how it is and that they need to take a more active role in their children's education and things will get better on their own again.

Very true. I think it's part of why there's no discipline in schools anymore. Their hands are tied, and they couldn't do much. What pisses me off is that they don't even try anymore. You can get away with damn near anything if you've got your wits about you, and they waddle after you and beg you to stop breaking the rules--if that. The system is definately no saint, however.

The focus is more on getting work done than on actually learning. (Obviously, you have to learn some to do the work properly, but in the long run, I've noticed myself retaining less and less. I keep it mostly in "short-term memory", also known as soaking it all up then spitting it back out on a test. Very little gets put in long-term memory--just some of the bare basics.) Anyway, my point is that, as has already been said, it seems more about quantity than quality. There's sort of a "get through the grind" mentality, rather than a "take advantage of learning opportunity (sp?)" mentality. It's not a chance to succeed and grow, it's an assault that must be endured.

Schools themselves seem to admit that they're slaves to bruerocracy (know I spelled that wrong). For instance: every year, they tell us to try and do well on our standardized tests. Why?

Because we want to make our school look good by having a lot of students do well.

In other words, so that the schools can flaunt numbers and squabble over pieces of the budgeting pie. As an afterthought, they mention that by doing well we increase our chances of getting into college or what have you. I may be overreacting--I realize schools need budgeting for good test scores/learning environments, and vice-versa--but it's as though the school were giving us the finger, unintentional though it may be.

I realize that it's not just the school's fault. It's also society's fault, and that includes me. I know I've just finished ranting, but don't think I'm trying to pin it all on the system, because I'm not blameless. Some of my improper actions were gut reaction to conditions in the system, but part of it was me giving the school the finger right back. I think the system needs reform, but society should meet it halfway.

In other words, I'm not some anarchist saying "DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM!" I'm just a kid who's sick of all the bull from both sides. I've been straightening up lately--I've started doing all my homework instead of skating by, and I don't act up (not that I was a problem child before). Part of the reason is because I want to look the school board in the eye and say "I've straightened up and put my effort in--now it's your turn." Naive, I know, but it keeps me going.

[AkiraMakie]

hmm i dont think its accually all the schools systems fault. Ive discussed this a few times, and what ive always come up with is that, its the american mind set. See, in alot of other countries, they equate good grades and being really smart, with being succesful. You have to be the most inteligent you can be to make it in other countries. But, in america that isnt so. Its not stressed. In fact, the american mind set is, You DONT need to be highly educated to be rich and succesful. This is where the entire system breaks down because, now you got a bunch of kids that grow up knowing that you dont have to get the best education you can to make it big. It helps, but its not the driving factor. So why strive for it. Now the kids dont care and they show it. And since the kids dont care, the teachers dont care and they show it. Hell they dont get paid enough anyway. And thus, you start to have a breakdown of the entire system.

[nik0tine]

I definitely agree that our school system is screwed at the moment, but I think it's more society itself at fault than the schools...in many cases anyway.

I think that the education system actually plays a huge role in why society is like this. It's a vicious downward cycle that must be fixed. Now.

Also, a good school system doesn't necessarily need to be difficult either. There is no need for a large workload, or anything like that. What needs to happen is kids need to understand what it is that they are doing. Knowing that A2+B2=C2 is unimportant. It's knowing WHY that is important. Because if you can figure out WHY, than you are figuring out the same thing that a genius figured out. You must understand why, not what. The answer is unimportant. What is important is what makes the answer what it is. With the ability to think like this, one can understand much much more about this world of ours. When that happens, society will only continue to get better.

[DMKA]

I think that the education system actually plays a huge role in why society is like this. It's a vicious downward cycle that must be fixed. Now.

Indeed.