A little something to get your blood pressure going today. The video says in a short 12 minutes what I, my wife and others have been screaming about for years.
Although subjects might be taught differently now in some schools, Ive never seen spelling mistakes being let go on any of the papers my 5 grandsons wrote. There are still spelling tests, etc. So, I don't agree totally with this video.
I can see the spelling thing happening with some specific teachers but not overall. On the other hand, I do see an overall drive to reward Johnny or Sally for simply doing the work no matter the outcome. A perfect example would be the agenda of rewarding kids who play in a sporting competition with a trophy for simply competing. Getting a pat on the back and an atta boy if the person honestly tries should be sufficient for those who's performance wasn't up to par. Giving someone something to shoot for, whether a trophy or a gold star, is just one motivational method to call for excellence. If the work isn't completed and completed correctly, the gold goes to someone else who did.
It is harder to rule over well educated people. The less someone knows and the more their sense of reasoning is dulled, the more they are willing to accept whatever they are told.
That's true enough As for the rest of the video - a study of violent video games was featured here on the radio, stating that under 18s are playing these games. When the question was asked why not ban them altogether, the answer was they make too much money from them and the same goes for most detrimental items, even food products, make-up etc, - where the ingredients are less than healthy
I think it depends on the school, but the further we get to standardization, everyone will eventually have to be at the lowest common denominator.
One thing I noticed a number of years ago with the advent of scholastic integration was the overall implementation of the bell curve. Whether whatever schools could not afford good teachers or the standards of black schools in particular were less than the others I do not know. Note: The schools I went to were already integrated years before there was a law, hence my lack of knowledge as to what the differences were. By using the curve, all a student needed to get decent grades was to be in the same ballpark as the other students. A student no longer had to get a 100% of the answers on a test correct to receive an A.
It irritates me when people, even TV commercials, happily use the term "It's a no-brainer!" This sounds like it's becoming fashionable not to use our brains anymore! Hal
Our education system needs to be completely overhauled. I would like to see it go back to the 1960s in structure. We were integrated and everyone was treated the same, but the options were different. Not everyone was expected to go to college. We were divided into college-bound, business bound, and general (mechanics, tradesmen, and construction-types). It was pretty much up to the students what division they were in (although parents had some say, too, that led to some people in the college-bound group that didn't want to be there) and they could change from one group to any other whenever they wished. Changing would lead to catch-up work, however, and the later in high school you changed, the more catch-up would be required. Each division was then divided by academic achievement (grades, teacher input, and standardized test scores) so that everyone was "competing" against people on a similar level; the "smart" kids were not held back to the slowest kid in the class, and the "slower" kids were not frustrated by being unable to keep up. This system led to an almost universal graduation rate--a drop out was a rare exception--since the system allowed for varied interests. This system was outlawed by the Civil Rights laws of the 1970s since it could be used to segregate. I could see how it could be used for that, but I never saw it done. The biggest problem in the schools today is that everyone is expected to go to college. That leaves the entrepreneurs and tradespeople out of the equation of society. Most mechanics and carpenters don't need foreign languages and calculus, and many lawyers and doctors don't need metal shop and auto mechanics.
@Don Alaska The education institution has indeed changed, as you said. Ask any retired teacher whether the changes were for the better. Can today's young adults "make change" while selling? Can their cell phones help them do so? IMO, we can thank, either directly or indirectly, "P.C." for much of the change. Frank
Some schools are eliminating the "F", or Failing Grade, because it may harm the recipient's "self-esteem"! Ridiculous! A Failing student should receive a failing grade! Hal
We have managed to lay a huge amount of blame on the shoulders of teachers and the educational system in general but there is an element that we really have not explored as much as we ought. PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment, tests 15 year old students every three years in some 65 countries and at present the U.S. is around the 36th marker. (the U.K. includes 4 countries and holds the 26th ranking). The accuracy of the testing isn't what is in question at this time although most of the countries, particularly the U.S. is definitely studying whether or not our participation in the upcoming tests is necessary due to some predictable flaws in the testing structure. What is interesting comes from a study from the University of Munich by Ludger Woessmann and Ashley Inman of Harvard University concerning single and two parent students who took the tests. The U.S. is what is in question (OP) so apparently, according to the study, over 26% of our students (ages 15) are from single parent families. That's well over nearly every nation in the testing grid! In another study by the U.S. Department of Labor, the statistics for two parent families with both parents working is at 60.6%. If we take into account that 25% of those taking the PISA exam (low estimation) come from single parent families and 60.6% percent of the kids coming from 2 parent families have both parents working we can find a definitive gap in parent / student relationships. It is apparent that in a majority of cases, the home and lack of needed attention regarding a student's learning program is in dire need and may well be an overwhelming culprit in the dumbing down in America.
I absolutely agree that our young people are not being taught, either by the parents or the teachers, and education is becoming almost worthless in many ways. Some of the helpful classes , like shop (for the boys) and home-ec (for the girls) have pretty much been phased out, and the classes they do have do not to much to prepare kids for real life . They learn in school that no matter how well or how poorly they do, every one “gets a prize” for just participating. There is nowhere nearly as much motivation to excel at something as there used to be, back when we went to school, and only the ones who worked hard and actually deserved a prize got one. The “no child left behind” pretty much stopped kids having to take the grade over, which helped to ensure that they got a good basic foundation of what they were being taught. I have seen high school kids that do not even understand basic math principles, and most young adults can’t even make change or tell time with a regular clock. However, I also believe that more is going on that contributes to this problem, and part of it is a physical thing. Adults and children often do not eat healthy foods anymore, and the vitamins and minerals that come from good foods are important to both physical and mental development. Iodine is one great example. Back in the early 1900’s, it was discovered that school children were getting goiters from severe iodine deficiency, and that is why iodine was added to salt, and also to bread. However, it is only barely enough to prevent goiter, and not enough for maximum amounts that people should have. The forumula for commercial bread was changed, and now bromide is added, which destroys iodine absorption. When a mother does not get enough iodine during pregnancy, it affects the brain development of the baby, and this is one of the reasons for Down syndrome babies. http://www.laurapower.com/page26.html Another thing is that it has been proven that exercise develops new brain cells, and most children (and adults) do not get anywhere near as much exercise as the children of earlier generations got. That is why they advise seniors that it is important for us to exercise to keep our memory working good. There is a lot of good evidence that vaccinations contribute to autism, and so does diet. Kids raised on white sugar and flour foods are much more likely to have autistic behavior that ones fed a healthy diet of whole fresh foods. A good example would be the Amish (and similar religious groups) that do not get their children vaccinated, and grow most of their own foods, and these people (as a whole ) do not have a lot of the physical and mental health problems that other people can get.