I taught college and had students who weren't a whole lot better than that. I was the program chairman for the emergency medical services department of a state college. When I gave tests, I would look at the ones that a large percentage of the class did poorly in so that I could figure out what the problem might have been. There was one question that most of the class got wrong. The question was about things that might adversely affect radio signals. The right answer was "dense foliage" and it was an important question because it was likely to show up on the state or national certification exams. What I found out was that most of the class didn't know the definition of "foliage" and nearly half the class didn't know what the meaning of "dense" was - or, as I would put it, they were too dense to know what dense meant. In their defense, however, I was teaching in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where English was not necessarily their first language, although most people learned both languages simultaneously.
I taught in three local colleges every other semester...I was a "fill in at my convenience" and yes, I had similar experiences with most of the students. BTW, if you ask me what could interfere with the radio signals...one of my answers would be "the solar spots".
Well, critical thinking, proof and literacy across the curriculum is not bad at all. That was the way I learned since grade school ...and the same one I used to teach my students. Oh, yes, "I did it my way".
fwiw,,, I read and heard from others that QUOTAs had to be met to receive federal , state, or other $$$ .... i.e. statistics of pupils passed each semester determined too often, too much, what funding the school was eligible for, or how much the school would receive .... This was apparently in all the schools - pre-k thru 8, 9 thru 12, tech/specialty , and college...
Yes, throughout society this has taken place in overwhelming like tsunami fashion.... might even be called a social (false) gospel that has replaced Jesus even in many private groups (religious and other).
I know I have written about it at least a half dozen times on this forum but one of the reasons for our homeless problem doesn’t stem from drugs and alcohol abuse but from illiteracy. Of the hundreds of adults ranging from 18 to around 70 years of age that I tested at the Seattle Rescue Mission, I’d speculate that at least 1/3 were functionally illiterate. When those findings became public we were able to purchase the hardware and the International Learning System software to help bring the men and women up to a reasonable speed in order to get jobs and start careers. The one barricade that stood in the way was the idea that like old dogs, adults cannot learn new tricks which is blatantly false. When adults find that they can indeed learn and see that light at the end of the tunnel, they learn Crazy fast. I mentioned it before but a middle aged black male who could not even write his own name at the beginning of the course, 2 years later passed the California SAT’s with a higher mark than anyone in the state.
Just for perspective (on illiteracy) : There was a man working perhaps over 20 years , sweeping floors, cleaning up, for a multi-national conglomerate (a century ago, give or take some).... A new boss or manager, maybe even just a visiting higher up in the organization , found out the man could neither read nor write, and the man was fired without recourse. (apparently) without learning to read or write, he opened a tobacco shop. within a few years it was thriving .... Someone was trying to encourage him to expand into more areas, and found out he could not read nor write... WOW! they exclaimed, just think where you would be if you could read and write ! Oh, he said, I know where I would be. I'd be sweeping floors and cleaning up....
I will never forget the TEARS OF JOY in a father's eye when he wrote -for the first time- his name and showed the notebook to his kid. We were teaching reading / writing skills tp adults at the local library.
Ask them the capital of Cuba and they will say Miami...Worse, ask for the capital of New York and they will answer NYC.
On CBS this morning national televised (antenna) news, they aired a school administrator over (or about) the education system(s) in the usa failing. (again? , still? , more ? ) ..... The last three decades millions of more dollars were dumped into the top echelon administrators and failed.. Oh, likely a few successes someplaces.... but the money , tons of money, and the methods, getting worse worse worse .... Where will the parents and the children eventually turn to ? Will it be like around wwi in Erupe(sic), strength together in numbers (in socialism!?) ? Masses of people all fired up together, all wrong, going wrong direction.... but together too strong to stop for a while....
Ask any high school senior "what is 10% of a dollar?" and watch them struggle. It's pathetic, really. As products of the public schools system, they aren't even equipped to dicker on the price of a new vehicle. We spent many hours sitting down with our children to help them with the basics that they absolutely did not learn in school. I remember teaching them simple percentages using a dollar and the various coins as a "visual aid."
I taught HS Spanish for almost 30 years; I have seem / heard it all. Please, don't dare to ask them to multiply by the difference...the may need an ambulance.
This is a teacher from Oregon screaming and using the very foulest language at people who are asking for businesses and jobs to open back up. She literally screams at people that she is a teacher, she teaches their kids, and that the lockdown protesters should go and kill themselves. How can we have someone like this teaching our school children and expect them to grow up properly ? https://www.theblaze.com/news/teacher-flips-out-peaceful-anti-lockdown-protesters?