18 Signs That Life In U.S. Public Schools Is Now Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons

Originally posted by filosophia
Home schooling is a solution, it also reinforces the parent model of one working parent and one stay at home parent, and the working parent need not be the man.

People will argue, "but your child isn't socialized" science museums have play areas where kids run around and have the equivalent of recess, which is the only time students are actually supposed to be socializing with each other at school, so that accounts for the socialization.

When kids are older, it will encourage them to take the GED when they are 16 as opposed to when they are 18. They could have a job and take college classes while their peers are still in high school.

Of course, that would be unfair for the students stuck in public education, right? And we should all gouge out our eyes because sight is unfair to the blind, right?

edit on 1-6-2011 by filosophia because: (no reason given)

I agree with your thoughts on this. Why would you want your kids "socialized" in public schools anyway? It's not like they're learning good behaviors, values and morals. On the contrary, it can be a very negative experience for kids to have to be surrounded by foul language, bad behavior, bullying, teasing and the list goes on.

I know my sixteen year old son could pass the GED test with flying colors. He belongs in college at this point and in fact starts some college courses next year through the PSEO program. The school lunch program is a joke, my kids won't eat it and take their own lunches. Unfortunately, my husband doesn't want me to homeschool them because he too feels that "socialization" is important. The best we can do is to teach them values at home and hope they carry them through when they are outside the home and into their future. I wish I could afford private school. Sometimes I think that public schools are nothing more than free babysitting so both parents can work outside the home.

This is Amerika and we deserve it!
We could make it stop at ANY time!

Originally posted by RUSSO
reply to post by delionqueen1

 

This is like a "game over" to me. More and more people depend of technology to think, speak, act and even have an opinion. I wonder what would be in if one day we had no access to it. I get chills just thinking about all this kind of dependence we have.

I think this is being exaggerated by her somewhat. I also know that I had all those classes in school, geography included and US history, among others. I can tell you without pausing that I forgot almost everything I learned in school only a year after I had learned it. How I got good grades was by cramming. I would cram for tests. Memorize everything then not too much longer after forget all of it. Our schools teach us how to memorize and then forget. Now they're trying to make tests for this so that people can't forget. Personally, I think it's a bit extreme. If I had to remember everything I learned over the years I'd never have time for anything else. There's just too much in this world to know and understand. It's (information overload ^ x).

I had math up to pre-calculus. I recall being in a programming class in the community college and the professor being surprised that I didn't know how to do a math problem. It's not that I didn't know how. I had learned how to do it in school. But I had crammed and forgotten most of it. So I didn't remember the details. I even forgot how to do long hand dvision. Thankfully, it only took about an hour of doing it (on my own) to figure it out again. I know this makes me sound dumb, but my gpa through HS and college was 3.8 (a few years I got 4.0). My SAT though was only 1000 so my IQ is probably average. This might explain why I don't remember anything, lol!

Originally posted by delionqueen1
Funny~We were just talking about this in my house. I personally know 2 High School Seniors, one in the National Honor Society and the other is on the Principals Honor Roll.

I spend a fair amount of time with both of these kids and I had NO idea of the things they did NOT know, that I had just assumed was taught in elementary school.

After finding out that neither of them could tell me how many days were in each month. I was somewhat shocked, so we all sat down and I started asking them questions. (Talk about deer in the headlight looks)

I discovered, not only did they not know the amount of days in each month. Neither had ever heard of a "leap year".
Neither could name all the states in the U.S., nor the capitals. (God forbid had I asked them to point out countries on a map).
I said, "what in the world did you learn in Geography?" THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT GEOGRAPHY WAS!!!!!
At that point, I did my own research and discovered, They don't teach Geography anymore.....

We then moved on to telling time on a standard clock..They could, but not just by looking, they had to actually count 5,10,15.....

I was/am speechless!!!! These 2 kids are considered some of "the best" achievers.
What is going on in the world??? I thought I had slipped into the Twilight Zone.

These kids do not have to do any "thinking" for themselves anymore. Its all at the fingertips with the internet. I started telling them about how (in my day) we had to actually look things up in an encyclopedia and you were considered "lucky" if your family owned "all" the volumes.

(Some were missing at our house)
THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ENCYCLOPEDIA'S WERE!!!!!

At that point I just had to stop the conversation..I couldn't hear anymore of the craziness. I did tell them that if I would've had all the technology that was available to them, theres no telling where I would've ended up... Probably rule the world...haha

That is crazy. Colorado must have good public education. My second grader knows everything you just asked these two. We had a childrens World and Animal encyclopedia for them (two boys) by the time they were 3. The World Almanac and the Oceanic Almanac were given to them on their first birthdays. Give kids some credit and they will learn! Sorry you had to have that experience...

CJ

reply to post by delionqueen1


That is absolutely ridiculous.
I have met no one in my age group that could not answer such simple questions. One does not need to be an outstanding independent thinker to be labeled the best in our public school system. One simply needs to work hard, talk to the right people, and become active in a community or volunteer effort. Of course, they also have to be able to "follow orders"
I guess it goes without saying that I do not condone such an approach to teaching, and can only assume that the reason I have not encountered people like you have described is due mainly to the fact that I attend a private school.
Schools MUST emphasize the progression of ideas, and the development of independent thought and logical problem solving. Community outreach and leadership abilities are just as important, but the two people you described earlier sound like they, being in the Honor Society, have achieved such heights by "going through the motions."
Most of my friends in public schools are stuck in a memorize/recall/discard cycle.
It hurts people that have the capacity to be so much more, such as the two you have described. I cannot say for certain, but I believe that since they are regarded so highly, they must be very driven. Such motivation, given the proper environment, could have allowed them more of an edge.

The sad part is, most of these people are very bright, they just had the ability to think beat out of them by constant bad practice in the classroom.

I too am in the National Honor Society, and all kinds of people from all walks of life can make their way in. Some are smart, some are not. Some are big, some are small. They all have one thing in common; Drive.

Originally posted by ColoradoJens

Originally posted by delionqueen1
Funny~We were just talking about this in my house. I personally know 2 High School Seniors, one in the National Honor Society and the other is on the Principals Honor Roll.

I spend a fair amount of time with both of these kids and I had NO idea of the things they did NOT know, that I had just assumed was taught in elementary school.

After finding out that neither of them could tell me how many days were in each month. I was somewhat shocked, so we all sat down and I started asking them questions. (Talk about deer in the headlight looks)

I discovered, not only did they not know the amount of days in each month. Neither had ever heard of a "leap year".
Neither could name all the states in the U.S., nor the capitals. (God forbid had I asked them to point out countries on a map).
I said, "what in the world did you learn in Geography?" THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT GEOGRAPHY WAS!!!!!
At that point, I did my own research and discovered, They don't teach Geography anymore.....

We then moved on to telling time on a standard clock..They could, but not just by looking, they had to actually count 5,10,15.....

I was/am speechless!!!! These 2 kids are considered some of "the best" achievers.
What is going on in the world??? I thought I had slipped into the Twilight Zone.

These kids do not have to do any "thinking" for themselves anymore. Its all at the fingertips with the internet. I started telling them about how (in my day) we had to actually look things up in an encyclopedia and you were considered "lucky" if your family owned "all" the volumes.

(Some were missing at our house)
THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ENCYCLOPEDIA'S WERE!!!!!

At that point I just had to stop the conversation..I couldn't hear anymore of the craziness. I did tell them that if I would've had all the technology that was available to them, theres no telling where I would've ended up... Probably rule the world...haha

That is crazy. Colorado must have good public education. My second grader knows everything you just asked these two. We had a childrens World and Animal encyclopedia for them (two boys) by the time they were 3. The World Almanac and the Oceanic Almanac were given to them on their first birthdays. Give kids some credit and they will learn! Sorry you had to have that experience...

CJ

I grew up alongside my brother. He was the encyclopedia for everything. He knew US history like I did when I crammed. He knew world geography and cultural information. To be honest, if school had required me to know all of that without ever forgetting it, I think it would have killed me or I would have killed myself. Is that a threat? No, not really. But I think that the more demands you place on students the higher the stress levels will be so predictably you'll get more suicides and our society will change too in respones to the increased demands we place on our kids.

I think it's a bit, umm, anal. I honestly hope we never emulate the asians, not at least until we're ready for it. I see school systems aiming to duplicate here what's done in asian countries: rote learning, big expectations, etc. Personally, I think it'll fail because we're not asians. Our country is different, our culture is different. Trying to mix them is like putting a cd in a blue-ray player.

What I DO encourage is for kids to take up hobbies and deeply embed themselves in them. That's the american way. We're individuals. We build upon ourselves and the leftovers are for the common good. We have to focus on the person and let that person flower. Running them through a rote learning factory is a recipe for disaster. It puts too much emphasis on the state.

I don't think someone is wasting time if they're learning a skill and they're enjoying it. If seeing them miserable and stressed out maximally and being dragged from one torture chamber to another is what you feel emboldens kids and makes our world better then I think you must have a deep seeded hatred of kids. I don't. I want them to enjoy what they're doing and it's possible to if you can find out what you like to do and do it profitably like in a career. There's no reason learning and improving yourself has to be like living in a nazi concentration camp.

A good teacher knows how to make a student flower and enjoy improving themselves. There's a difference between hitting a road block in problem resolution and being thrown onto the concrete and having your face smashed to pieces by kicks from either side. There's a difference, and it's a crucial factor in whether a person flowers or not. What's freedom to you?

reply to post by jonnywhite


Johnnywhite...I understand. The last thing I am going to do is force my children into being what they are not. That said, I grew up in a house of books. I can remeber spending many "boring" afternoons lying on the floor looking through old "Battles of the World" books, maps, etc even when I couldn't read. World flags became an interest...I just want to give them the opportunity. That said, the chemistry set I had when I was 7 is now illegal and I never should have bought my second grader that book called "60 Totally Irresponsible Science Projects!"...the mentos bomb is the least of my worries...

I want them to know there is an amazing world that is not constrained by tv, video games, $, etc. It is my belief that if you give them the tools, they will figure out who they are. Help, don't coerce.

CJ

This morning I watched a docu about a prison in Miami Fl. This prison is used to keep the suspects on hold until their court day and sentencing, I have never been in prison but what I saw was shocking. Not how the guards were treating the prisoners but how these "innocent until proven guilty'" prisoners live with eachother. It is a fierce jungle and if you are weak in no matter what way you are in deep trouble....survival of the fittest.

Ofcourse is life for tjhe kids not Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons.....

I should say that I am not from the USA, so I can be wrong. Maybe the behaviour and moral of the kids in certain highschools is like as in prison. If so, these measures taken on your list are probably a futile attempt for control of the situation.

I knew the teachers at my high school were fascist when they took the vending machines out of the cafeteria :p

The career center/vocational school that a lot of kids in my district opted for is even worse. I've heard stories of the teachers confiscating cell phones and reading through their texts. Some kid recently got charged with marijuana possession based on a text some teacher [illegally] found. One teacher even told my friend's class something like "You have no rights when you're in this building". Of course, you don't have to go to that school, but its only one of two options here. People like that piss me off.

Unfortunately we're stuck with public school. Homeschooling is not really an option for us since we both need to work in order to keep the roof over our head and food on the table. Private and Charter schools, while better, have proven to be way too expensive. Not to mention we haven't found a single decent one in our area that isn't backed by a religious institution. And as an atheist I'm a strong believer that religion belongs in Sunday school and at home, NOT in the education system. So we refuse to send our kids anywhere that has indoctrination as part of the curriculum.

I pulled my children out of the school system in the fifth grade. It was a leap of faith, which I have not regretted.

I have one child with severe dyslexia and another with Asperger's Syndrome. They vegetated in class and brought the entire day's work home for me to teach. They were completely demoralized and I finally decided that if I had to teach them everything anyway, I might as well do it on my own terms.

Direct quotes:

"If this wasn't my last day before retirement I couldn't give you this insight but honestly, kids like yours just get pushed through the system." - a Vice Principal

"Not everyone needs to set a goal of achieving a post secondary education." - a Special Education Teacher

Just yesterday, a medical doctor indicated to me that he believes the system is terribly flawed and that I made a wise choice.

My children are now thriving. Whenever a school bus passes by they refer to it as a "prison bus".

I believe an old saying of my grandfather's is apt here, "Treat em like criminals, and they're gonna act like criminals." God help us when these kids grow up.

Wow it looks like USSA( United Socialist States Of Amerika) has decided to pull Gestapo Tricks on our kids

reply to post by Unit541


I dont think you understood the "essence" of the text here. It is about a CRITIC with the purpose of informing the readers under a perspective not only descriptive but about the aspect of the quality in the public schools these days.

I've been in high school for three years now and I can tell you for a fact that it's terrible. I tried multiple times to get my teacher switched, but the counselors and school support are just terrible beyond belief. Public high schools are such a waste of time. I haven't learned anything new in high school that I haven't known before. All I try to do all day is figure out a way to waste as much time as possible to be able to kill these four years of high school. If there was a way that I could've frozen myself at the beginning of high school until the end of high school without my body being affected by it at all I would do it. High school has taken so far three years away from my life, and I still have another year left of high school. I wish there was a way to get on with my life but high school just took that away from me. I'm not going to my graduation either, they can mail me my diploma. I don't even consider myself part of that high school. They give you no rights at all as a human being and it's ridiculous. Every single day I have to do the exact same routine in high school and it's pathetic. Not only that but the school has way to much power. The high school can even get you into trouble if you're not on school campus and if it's not school hours .All that high school should be doing is teaching you about how to buy a house, how to pay bills, how to take care of insurance, not pointless stuff nobody is ever going to use that we already know. I can write a whole book about how horrible public high schools are.

Originally posted by intestlol
I've been in high school for three years now and I can tell you for a fact that it's terrible. I tried multiple times to get my teacher switched, but the counselors and school support are just terrible beyond belief. Public high schools are such a waste of time. I haven't learned anything new in high school that I haven't known before. All I try to do all day is figure out a way to waste as much time as possible to be able to kill these four years of high school. If there was a way that I could've frozen myself at the beginning of high school until the end of high school without my body being affected by it at all I would do it. High school has taken so far three years away from my life, and I still have another year left of high school. I wish there was a way to get on with my life but high school just took that away from me. I'm not going to my graduation either, they can mail me my diploma. I don't even consider myself part of that high school. They give you no rights at all as a human being and it's ridiculous. Every single day I have to do the exact same routine in high school and it's pathetic. Not only that but the school has way to much power. The high school can even get you into trouble if you're not on school campus and if it's not school hours .All that high school should be doing is teaching you about how to buy a house, how to pay bills, how to take care of insurance, not pointless stuff nobody is ever going to use that we already know. I can write a whole book about how horrible public high schools are.

edit on 1-6-2011 by intestlol because: (no reason given)

Well if you were smart and had any brain at all you would of just taken the ged at 16 and moved on with your life and started working as an adult. But no you stay and say you do nothing but try to waste time. That school is wasting time and money on a waste that will never do anything with the life they have been giving. It is peopel like you and your crap parents that are the problem with this world. School is easy, your life is going to suck majorly if you think that school is soooo bad. You have no clue how hard the world is going to bend you over and have fun at your expense. If you really are what you think you are then stfu finish school and be yourself stop blaming everyone else. And if you think life is all about paying insursnce buying a house and paying bills your are screwed in life and have had some very bad rolemodles in your life, there is soo much more. You come off like a protected little baby that mommy drives to school and takes to baseball practice. So either wake up and be a man, or just hide behind your mommas skirt saying how the bad men are mean to you.

To all of you, if you dont like the american school system then get off of here and get a job in the school system and do something about it. But no you all just want to trash what people are doing to make yourselves seem better. So im sure I will get some comments on this but not one of you will log off and go do a dang thing about anything, just sit here trashtalking stuff you are not involved in at all. This site is just turning to trash the last 3 yrs.

I am 44 so you know when I was in school. Back then the only thing my mother had to buy was my note book paper and pencils. I seen a list at Wal-Mart last year at the front door. It list the school supplies to buy for what class and what school. I could not believe what was on the list. The school does not even buy there own chalk any more. On the list was chalk, crayons, paper towles, marks, window cleaner, trash bags, staples, and well you will just have to wait until next school year and find one of this list your self to believe it. I am like when the **** did this mess start? What is up with that?

And by the way replying to the OP. And they wonder why there is such a high drop out rate now days.

If home schooling is an option in your area, enjoy it while you can:

Homeschooling Outlawed in California

According to an LA Times article, homeschooling has been ruled illegal in California.

“Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey in a Feb. 28 2008 opinion signed by the two other members of the district court. “Parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program.”

The article goes on to say:

Meanwhile, state Department of Education’s attorneys are reviewing the ruling.

Teachers union officials will also be closely monitoring the appeal. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he agrees with the ruling.

“What’s best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed teacher,” he said.

Imagine that. The teachers union thinks a child should only be taught by a “credentialed teacher.”

Hitler was the first to take private education out of the hands of the citizenry and hand it over to the state...

my highschool was design by the same architects that built a prison, and it is unreal how much this school resembles one..theres maybe one window per room, with black bars that cut out about half of the sunlight, so its very dark, and the doors automatically lock at 7:34, so there's no escape unless its through the front door haha