Illinois drops writing from standardized exam

Seeing how the teaching profession constantly demands more and more money resources and benefits - and yet the educational standards throughout the entire western world seem to plummet in equal measure to the amount of money spent on them - how can they not hang their heads in utter shame!

Originally posted by JohhnyBGood
Seeing how the teaching profession constantly demands more and more money resources and benefits - and yet the educational standards throughout the entire western world seem to plummet in equal measure to the amount of money spent on them - how can they not hang their heads in utter shame!

Because they are Democrats and Union members. It is always different for people in that realm.

reply to post by dbates


The challenge is that most college courses require heavy writing, even in the hard sciences. Freshmen typically have to take a basic competency test in composition and if they do not pass will need to take a remedial composition class.

Kids who can't write well will get blown out of the water when all of their classes require written papers, exams, etc.

Last week we have the deal where they have ruled at the federal appeals court level that affirmative action can now be applied toward admission criteria in college admissions. We continue to drop the standards associated with high school graduation, making it very predictable that many kids giving normed scores to gain admission into college will not do well and potentially leave school.

It is very much like the banking blow-up. We have a social desire to get folks into homes who can't afford them so we doctor up a entire class of loans to make us good about our achievement of the "American Dream" of home ownership. They can't afford the loans and the loans go south.

We have over time, under the dream of every kids going to college made it easier for kids to get into college, particularily many state colleges. We're proud of the freshman diversity statistics, we're "making progress". All we have done is devalue the value of a college education which is why today, while it is a requirement for many jobs, in reality demonstrates education. Colleges are businesses and they will do what they can to fill up the class regardless of how low they need to drop the standards.

It is interesting that there tons of statistics regarding freshman class composition but few available about 4 year graduating class composition, particularily as it relates to kids who come out of these terrible public schools.

Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical

Originally posted by beezzer
As a person that may hire someone some day, I'll give them a piece of paper and a pen and have them write me an essay on why they need to be hired.
No spell check.
No grammar check.
Just a pen and a piece of paper.

(yes, I know, I'm an evil @$#!%#$ )

You will likely end up with employees that write nice but have zero common sense in the real world. Be careful what you wish for.

How so?

I agree with one persons viewpoint so far, it's the responsibility of the parents to teach thier children. I would say that taking that much money out of the hands of schools is the best news I've heard all week. Some of you people don't realize that this school wouldn't have taught anyone to write anyway.


I taught myself 99% of everything I know. I learned my subjects in school before they were taught. I had most textbooks read before the second semester in most cases. It's called a thirst for knowlege, and a mental capacity to learn. A love of learning. If you don't have it, you can spend a trillion dollars and still come up with nothing to show for it.

It's time to start leaving children behind because the best lesson we can teach them is that they are not too big to fail.

edit on 2011/7/8 by sbctinfantry because: (no reason given)

Originally posted by [davinci]
It has been a while since I was in school, lets see if I can remember the short list...

Reading, Writting & Arithmatic.

Yup, it's on there.

We also had spelling when I was in school. (Arithmetic)
Ok, I would be lost without the spell checker.


WRONG:
WRITTING

RIGHT:
WRITING


One of the comments English teachers dread to see on their evaluations is “The professor really helped me improve my writting.” When “-ing” is added to a word which ends in a short vowel followed only by a single consonant, that consonant is normally doubled, but “write” has a silent E on the end to ensure the long I sound in the word. Doubling the T in this case would make the word rhyme with “flitting.”

The dumbing down of America in the name of political correctness continues.

This in combination with stories like the cheating scandal on standardized tests by the teachers and administration of the Atlanta Public School System:

"America's Biggest Teacher Principle Cheating Scandal Unfolds" (Yahoo! News)

do not paint our education system in a good light.

Home schooling almost seems to be a must anymore ...Schools don't seem to be about education these days, but rather indoctrination.

reply to post by Jubilation T Cornpone


You forgot to add endless money pit, sources for Union based teachers to obtain higher tenure and sex ed.

reply to post by RRokkyy


Lol.

I won't deny that spell checker is one of my friends, 90% of the edits I do to my posts are from re-reading and finding spelling errors.

I believe though you missed the ironic humour I was tryin to use.

Yeah...ironic humour...that's what it was.