80% of US schools to get failing grade according to dept of ed

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to tell that education in America is in the crapper; its been going down hill for at least a decade now. As for the blame its one that everyone can share in from parents and students to moronic mouth-breathing politicians and teachers who just don't care anymore. We made this mess ourselves and now we have to deal with it as the chickens finally come home to roost. If people were to sack up and actually accept their fair share of responsibility in such things there would be a slim chance to turn things around but nobody is too keen on that kind of thing these days.

reply to post by Sphota


If you think it costs college tuition to go to a private school then you obviously don't know what your talking about.

Its probably a good thing people are failing, Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, former Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Education, blew the whistle on government activities.

She wrote a book giving details on the deliberate dumbing down of America.

Here's a link should you wish to read the book.

www.deliberatedumbingdown.com...

We are all aware that the government has no real power, there like a student council in a school with the real power above them. The power above them just wants us to become drones to make money that they print, a real false enterprise and economy but since we've been born into a brainwashed society most people just accept it and get on dragging everyone else into the collective delusion.

Here's a video with many a wise word on how the system works

All I know is that on most state standardized tests I score higher than 95% of kids. Then to see such a statistic as this makes me feel like I cheated or something.

Luckily they won't be getting jobs and I will. Or will it be the other way around. Pay the dumb drop-outs $5 less an hour to get cheaper labor.

I'm not surprised.

All they do and keep doing is test, test, test.

In Texas, all we did was prepare for the TAAS, then TAKS.

They don't teach anymore.

Poor kids are worried because if they pass the class and not the TAKS, then they're staying another year.
It's ridiculous.

reply to post by HoldTheBeans


Um...I know what I paid for a year of instate undergrad and I know what kids pay at the private school down the street from family sources...I'd say I know the ball park and I'm well with in it.


Private School Tuition Examples from my general area.

One example

A second

and another

Local State College Tuition

FSU (look at in-state tuition)

UCF (in-state)

USF (instate, undergrad)

Leave out "other expenses" and "room and board" and just focus on tuition and books...It's cheaper to go for a year to FSU than it is to some of these private schools for one year of KINDERGARTEN!

reply to post by FRANKBLACK


I don't think that IQ is a problem, you really could not get through all of the educational hurdles if your IQ wasn't at least average. I would say that teachers should have a higher IQ, but I don't think that IQ is the only thing that qualifies a person to teach. Depends on the subject and level, I imagine. I don't see a superintelligent, speed-reading autodidact with Aspergers having the communicational skills and empathy to deal with a class full of elementary schoolers in a low-income neighborhood...

As far as the second part of your syllogism, I would say that to accept liberals as the less intelligent group, you would have to already accept that there is a right/left dichotomy in this country as it is imagined within the so-called two-party system. I'd say that that mentality is a sign of a low IQ in and of itself.

Originally posted by John46562
Wow, there are no other factors that attribute to student success? What about the environment that a student spends MOST of his day in, the "home"? Do parents play any part in their child's education? What about the work ethic of the individual student? I suppose it is very easy to blame the teacher when the teacher only sees the student in a 45 minute period of time out of a 24 hour day.

Wow, you are so right. I remember back in the 50s when teachers held class for 16 hours a day. That was the difference.

/sarcasm

No wonder that happens when we are required to aim for a letter grade above gaining real knowledge.

One of the most important things that you can do as a parent is to move to a city that has great schools.

There are plenty of them around. You just have to look for them.

Your children can still get a great education here in the US for free, but you may have to move.

reply to post by Wildbob77


But, the question is why...Why should you have to leave an area and move to another (which is a form of economic hardship for many people) in order to get your kids the quality education that should be equal from place to place? Equal does not mean identical, but at least at the same standard. People in the midwest need to learn about different things than those in the south or the southwest, but that shouldn't mean that the amount of computers or teachers per student should show a disparity.

reply to post by Sphota


In general terms, the quality of the schools is directly proportional to the median income of a city. In poor areas, you have more single family parents, you have more discipline problems in the schools coupled with lack of motivational in the students.

If the parent(s) in a family doesn't place a high value on their child's education, and participate in that education from very early ages, you will have kids that are not really ready to learn. No schools can overcome this lack of motivation.

In more affluent areas, parents invest more time in their children. They read to their kids from the time they are babies. The kids see mom and/or dad going off to works as doctors, dentists, engineers, managers etc. The expectations of the kids are much higher.

Obviously this isn't true for all children/families. But, if you choose to send your kids to schools where their peer group sees no value in education, then your child will most likely not value it either.

reply to post by Wildbob77


I don't disagree. However, I still do not understand that on top of the already difficult social situation found in poor areas, the addition of lower quality materials and higher student-teacher ratios brought on by the property tax-linked funding of public schools.

If you live in the ghetto, I don't think you can expect a well-funded school for your child. Even if you do read to him or her every night, like you said, they will then be stuck in a situation that is fostered by the system.

Also, interesting fact, one of my professors was telling about his experience teaching Spanish and ESL in a public school here in Florida. At that time, state-mandated student teacher ratio for the age group he was teaching was 20 or 22 to 1. That being said, he shared how the principal at the school justified giving him a class of 34 students because another class only held 6, so between the two, it averaged out to 20. What a joke. The individual children do not care about the abstract number of how many teachers there are to students, but how many other students have to compete for the attention and help of the teacher at any given time.

Our education system is a complete failure. It tries to brainwash you into a herd mentality. The teachers are the bottom 30% of college graduates, 99% of work you do is busy work. It's just redundant and stupid.

Originally posted by David9176
reply to post by Janky Red

 

If they just listened to Glen Beck, Hannity, and Limbaugh...they'd have all the education a person could possibly need.

Thanks for educating us!!!

Liberalism, political correctness and coddling hasn't worked since it was instituted in the mid 70's.
So, someone has to educate; passivate is so passe'. Why not the realists instead of the elitist?

Originally posted by XxRagingxPandaxX
Our education system is a complete failure. It tries to brainwash you into a herd mentality. The teachers are the bottom 30% of college graduates, 99% of work you do is busy work. It's just redundant and stupid.

edit on 3-4-2011 by XxRagingxPandaxX because: (no reason given)

Wasn't there a cliche' that said something like "those that can't, teach"?

it's not the teacher's fault. it's the system the teachers must adhere to.

just like blaming the workers for a bad economy - (can the workers determine what decisions the ceos make? or change what the government does? or change interest rates? or control the banks? no!)

... just like the teachers aren't allowed to change their system. the rules are handed down from up high.

we live with it the best that we can and do the best that we can.

and if you think we're overpaid, try living on less than 15k a year after taxes and student loan payments. then we hear them blaming us in the news which only adds insult to injury.

you teach, if you can do better.

Originally posted by HoldTheBeans


The last month or so in science my 11yo's were taught how to build an ecofriendly home.

Too bad for those kids they will NEVER build an Eco-friendly home....because you have to comply with asinine US Building Codes that require non-Eco Friendly practices. You could never get a permit approved to build a home without a 220/110Volt wiring system to connect to the grid. It's mandatory.

Even if you want to build a "Eco-friendly" home to run solely off of solar panels and wind power....you could NEVER get a building permit approved in any of the 50 States to do so.

reply to post by XxRagingxPandaxX


Thank you, but I don't think I'm the bottom 30% of college graduates. Where does one find that statistic which I hear parrotted over and over again?

I don't disagree that the work is busy work, but honestly, whatelse are you supposed to do. You know, as a teacher, you don't have total freedom to develop your own curriculum. You have a mandated text book, by the State in public schools.

You also have state standards and federal standards. At the University level, you are at the behest of the text book publishing companies.

In fact, I would argue that the only redeeming feature of the system is the teacher. The teacher is the only actor in the process that, when enabled and when his or her hands are not tied, can take things out of the box and teach something new or shed new light on how a subject is relevant to your life. I mean, the textbooks and school standards dictate and mandate, but only the teacher teaches. The teacher has to walk a thin tight-rope between the local, state and federal partisan politics and the needs of the students. Through the corporate aspect of private publishers into the mix and things get even trickier.