Today I lost hope in the public schools around here

So let me begin by clarifying that it's not ALL public schools I've lost hope in, just certain ones around my current location. The school my daughters attend/attended is fantastic. It's in a "rich" city, the students still have textbooks, they use pen and paper, no donated iPads and Macs from Apple to the school, they offer Advanced Placement programs and last year my oldest daughter's class of 380 students had a 100% graduation rate. My other daughter is currently a Junior at this school and, like her older sister, will graduate next year with an Associates Degree from Ohio University alongside her high school diploma. Both of my daughters have taken advantage of the AP courses and post-secondary education option, as well as being National Honor Society members. My stepdaughter's school district, however, is what has me in disbelief right now.

All year we've been rewarding my stepdaughter (hereby known as R for the remainder of the post) for having A's and B's all school year for the first time ever. R is an 8th grader this year. This year was also the first full year that R's class has things called Study Islands. Rather than be given homework every night, they are given access to these Study Islands on the first day of the term with the stipulation being that all the assignments be completed by the end of the term. They have no textbooks because everything is online for them to access with their donated iPads and Macs. Hubby and I (oh so wrongly) assumed that this new way of learning was really working for her. How wrong we were!

Because we usually only see R on the weekends, I have not had first hand experience with how the Study Islands work. This week, however, she was here and I got to witness the atrocity that is being referred to as an education in her school. With the end of term this week, R had to finish 5 more sections of Math. This is what I saw her do:

1. Go to online webpage and open the math section (here is where I got to see nothing but 70% on EVERY SINGLE assignment)
2. Go to the next assignment
3. Read the question and hit every multiple choice answer until the right one is chosen
4. Repeat step 3 for 30 questions
5. Receive a 10% for the assignment
6. Leave the assignment then reenter it
7. Read the question and select the correct answer that was memorized from previous run-through
8. Stop when you've reached a 70% because that's all that's needed for a passing grade

Not only are they given multiple choice answers, but the questions are repeated EXACTLY with the EXACT same answer options. It's nothing but pure memorization with no need to actually have to KNOW how to do anything. When I asked her how she has an A (because she was completely clueless how to do any of the math) she said that when she fails a test she's given the right answers and just memorizes that and can retake it. WHAT??? How is this considered teaching??? Added to that the fact that kids can have their cell phones on and text in class and it seems like TPTB are succeeding in their dumbing down of upcoming generations.

Just today? I lost hope in the entire education industry ages ago. Glad your daughters have found an isolated island of sanity. Their's is the exception, not the rule.

a reply to: incoserv

I've been seeing things declining, but after today I gave up. One of my nephews (also 8th grade) decided to be lazy this year and asked to do the ECOT online schooling. Do you know that when he has to take a test, he calls a "teacher" and they ask him a couple questions over the phone. The entire conversation takes 2-3 mins and involves him skimming through a book for the right answer. He's going back to public school next year and has asked his mom to hold him back a year because he feels nowhere near ready education-wise to rejoin his classmates. Unlike his sister (who also was too lazy to get up for school in the mornings and switched to ECOT), he's not satisfied with floating by and not learning anything.

And, sadly, I'm serious about laziness to get up in the morning being the reason they begged to switch to online schooling. Their mom agreed because she was about to be called into court on truancy charges for how often they overslept and she let them stay home.

I hate to be that chubby dude with a black flag... but I dropped out of high school....

Why? Because everything became a stepping stone towards "going to college."

Everything became about going to a college.... no matter how many times they rephrased it. They wanted to place me in a Fn college!

It reminded me of all those commercials I used to despise showing toys that I wanted, but could never have.

But my sister has a bachelors degree in history teaching... But she works for TSA. I worked for them as well but I quit....

Funny thing though.... at every job I worked at.... every co worker at the entry level had college degrees... but the managers all had GEDs......

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Never conform. My greatest decision was to drop out.... after witnessing so many professionals doing the same jobs as I for the same hourly rate... while the higher ups were less "decorated."

a reply to: GiulXainx

I'd prefer a dropout with the ability to think and learn for themselves over a mindless robot with a degree!

I've always believed that college is not for everyone, no matter how smart you are. I really hate that in today's world the need for a degree is so strong. I headed back to school last year to get a Master's degree, and I met so many people in college who shouldn't even be out of high school. I tutor English and Math, and I am stunned at the college courses that are on the same level of what I learned in middle school.

Having a piece of paper that says you're qualified for a job does not mean you're really qualified! That's an entirely other rant, though.

We home schooled until 5th grade. Then switched to a small Catholic school.
The city schools were never an option. They simply aren't safe around here - IMHO.
And honestly, the way the kids were dressed going to school ... yikes.
(halters, no underware, short short shorts, flip flops ... and boys with pants around their knees )

a reply to: GiulXainx
Me too! I dropped out and ended up making more money than a lot of college grads. lol. American academia has been dumbed down and perverted for decades, and it appears to be getting worse(if that's at all possible). My wife's a teacher and we have to do a lot of damage control by what our kids are taught. We show them the propaganda and tell them the truth/facts. Good teachers will explain the propaganda and to believe nothing without facts.

There are a lot of things wrong with our teaching system. And I have met so many different professionals with master degrees. One of my old room mates had a masters in math and sciencr teaching from k to 12. He told me that the day he got that degree was the first month he was out of a job. He became unaffordable. For 12 years straight he could only work as a substitute teacher. It sucked for him. Making less than a bachelor degree teacher with less hours.

That isn't the only teacher I met. Another one still holds his international degree in teaching geology and history. He has taught in China, and Korea. But now.... the past 5 years he has been a cab driver in 6 different states. Now he is in Alaska working for a fish company.

I actually stopped one of my friends from going to college and she ended up getting a promotion yo tge escalated subscriber customer service rep for Sprint. dhe now makes 21 an hour.

Anyone with, what I like to call the toxic certificate, becomes a new issue. Entitlement is the worst part about degrees. My uncle used to be an indy car engineer. He started working on cars at a young age. He never went to college. Instead he just kept working on different cars and got very good at it. Just by reading the service manuals he learned more about cars. Its funny though because when I go to a shop... I meet up with service technicians a lot... or should I say store clerk from a parts store working at a satrlite garage trying to do nothing more than replacing parts.... I understand that sometimes a replacement is needed.... but a real mechanic would have taken apart the car a bit to see if it really needed replacement.

I learned so much driving a cab that I can tell what kind of work you do with a hand shake. Your entire hand will tell me the type of tools you use.

Yeah, it is sad, I am in a community college and have to go through something similar. When doing homework, I get the choice of Multiple answers as well, but if I get it wrong, it explains me the answer and how to get there, then I get to do a new problem. Yes, sometimes I get frustrated and keep cycling through the generated questions and finally pick the right answer from all the guessing, however, as an adult I write down the problem and get a tutor to help me solve it.