Dumb As A Rock: You Will Be Absolutely Amazed At The Things That U.S. High School Students Do Not Kn

I came from the Warsaw Pact educational system, I finished grade 3 over there, when we arrived in Canada(88), the only problem I had was language. I was bumped into grade 5... Math was stupidly simple, geography/history was non existent, people were printing letters instead of learning cursive, no respect for the teacher(yeah we were smacked back home and the parents were like "Did you deserve it? Yes? good then what are you complaining about") lol.

I was on the path to become a teacher(History), but getting #ed over in life seems like my thing. I think the North American educational system has declined greatly. I remember my teachers, telling us that English when taught in high school(50-70s) was a lot tougher than it was for us(90s).

Oh well, lost my train of thought.

reply to post by Flavian


The truth is that if we fired every single teacher and made them re- apply for their

jobs about 5% would get re-hired. The rest would have to go do something else.

They are a disgrace. Watch the movie Waiting For Superman. Then you can find

a way to explain it away.

reply to post by Starchild23


Well, for example, in something like maths i would expect them to be able to do long multiplication and division without a calculator. I would expect them to understand grammar and spelling.

I know the point you are making and obviously there has to be a means of testing - the point i was making is that the emphasis has gone away from actually having an understanding of the subject to simply knowing what to put to get maximum marks.

For example, in history, pupils are expected to know the causes of World War 1. Listing them these days gets maximum marks. However, back in the day, listing them wasn't enough for maximum marks - you also had to explain why the reasons were so significant, thus demonstrating understanding of the issue. That is one example but it can be expanded to every area of every subject currently taught in schools.

I do actually feel sorry for kids these days - it isn't there fault, they are products of the system.

Originally posted by Starchild23
Oh, and one more thing.

Is there anything ATS DOESN'T gripe about?

I wonder what it takes to make you happy...and if it makes some of you happy, the rest of you will be severely upset because, "OMG IT'S THE WRONG COLOR"

This is reality, people. We have marines getting limbs blown off in Iraq. You have it pretty dang easy over here...

Yeah. Sit and mull that one over.

I find that offensive, and I don't respect you shoving patriotism in our faces to trigger some response. You should be ashamed, it has NOTHING do to with the OP and education

Originally posted by Eurisko2012
reply to post by Flavian

 

The truth is that if we fired every single teacher and made them re- apply for their

jobs about 5% would get re-hired. The rest would have to go do something else.

They are a disgrace. Watch the movie Waiting For Superman. Then you can find

a way to explain it away.

Total rubbish and a complete fabrication for the purpose of the movie. Pardon me for not taking it seriously.

Originally posted by CaptainNemo

Originally posted by Starchild23
Oh, and one more thing.

Is there anything ATS DOESN'T gripe about?

I wonder what it takes to make you happy...and if it makes some of you happy, the rest of you will be severely upset because, "OMG IT'S THE WRONG COLOR"

This is reality, people. We have marines getting limbs blown off in Iraq. You have it pretty dang easy over here...

Yeah. Sit and mull that one over.

I find that offensive, and I don't respect you shoving patriotism in our faces to trigger some response. You should be ashamed, it has NOTHING do to with the OP and education

Ashamed? Unlikely. Abashed, perhaps, but not in this instance. I'm just tired of people picking on every single thing because...

"Back in my day, milk was 50 cents a gallon!"

Yeah, well...you're in modern times now, and you don't know what's best for everyone, even if you think you do.

Everything is one big conspiracy, isn't it? Might as well go bury myself...or just wake up and reealize that everything isn't out to destroy us.

The only thing that will destroy us is...ourselves.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Starchild23

 

Well, for example, in something like maths i would expect them to be able to do long multiplication and division without a calculator. I would expect them to understand grammar and spelling.

I know the point you are making and obviously there has to be a means of testing - the point i was making is that the emphasis has gone away from actually having an understanding of the subject to simply knowing what to put to get maximum marks.

For example, in history, pupils are expected to know the causes of World War 1. Listing them these days gets maximum marks. However, back in the day, listing them wasn't enough for maximum marks - you also had to explain why the reasons were so significant, thus demonstrating understanding of the issue. That is one example but it can be expanded to every area of every subject currently taught in schools.

I do actually feel sorry for kids these days - it isn't there fault, they are products of the system.

I*

example,*

Their*

For talking about spelling and grammar, you have an interesting way of typing.

I could go on with the corrections, but I won't. And before you say, "This is the internet", remember: what you do on the internet, follows you to real life.

Originally posted by Starchild23
You know...I wouldn't call not knowing the date of the civil war "dumb as a rock".

Tell me: what practical purpose does it serve to know every single date of every single war?

The only thing the civil war ever really taught me is we can't even get along with ourselves, so how can we be expected to get along with the rest of the world?

Namaste

Are you serious.?
Hell they aren't even asking the EXACT start and end dates of the war, which I was taught to memorize. They were only asked a YEAR and they couldn't get that right.! If the same attitude you have for history is continued to be perpetuated through the school system all hope will surely be lost. Scores and overall intelligence are following a negative trend and that is unsatisfactory.

Originally posted by CaptainNemo

Originally posted by Starchild23
You know...I wouldn't call not knowing the date of the civil war "dumb as a rock".

Tell me: what practical purpose does it serve to know every single date of every single war?

The only thing the civil war ever really taught me is we can't even get along with ourselves, so how can we be expected to get along with the rest of the world?

Namaste

Are you serious.?
Hell they aren't even asking the EXACT start and end dates of the war, which I was taught to memorize. They were only asked a YEAR and they couldn't get that right.! If the same attitude you have for history is continued to be perpetuated through the school system all hope will surely be lost. Scores and overall intelligence are following a negative trend and that is unsatisfactory.

It wouldn't bother me nearly so much if I didn't see the government knowing all about the history of ancient civilizations and STILL making those same mistakes.

What's the point of learning if all you can do is recite? Roman empire, anyone?

If it is so unsatisfactory, perhaps you can earn a teaching degree and show them exactly how to do it. I'll be on the sidelines, cheering.

reply to post by Starchild23


Not arguing, plenty of mistakes as i was rattling off a reply.

However, as you still don't have a coherent argument........

If you don't know history your Dumb? I agree History is a weak subject in school and only those interested in it go any farther, but society is always changing as to what it feels is important to know or not know.
You go anywhere and you find very ignorant people, high school students are no different.

Originally posted by Xtrozero
If you don't know history your Dumb? I agree History is a weak subject in school and only those interested in it go any farther, but society is always changing as to what it feels is important to know or not know.
You go anywhere and you find very ignorant people, high school students are no different.

This is part of what I was trying to say. No one agrees on what's important to know...so they decide everything is important to know, then proceed to cram twelve text books down a 14 year old's protesting throat and expect them to regurgitate every answer the teacher wishes to hear onto a piece of paper, after which they will never again use that information.

Unreasonable expectations, indeed.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Starchild23

 

Not arguing, plenty of mistakes as i was rattling off a reply.

However, as you still don't have a coherent argument........

See my response to Zero.

reply to post by Mijamija

Well said - Yes my comments were a rather broad stroke of the brush.
And basic skills we all use are important lessons to learn.
Sometimes we have inate skills or skills learned through experience - I am thinking of an old uneducated Portuguese man who was sat with a pile of rocks - He was making paving blocks - He chopped the stones or rocks with a knowing of where to aim his blow and split the rocks without need of a ruler etc Next to him was a pile of blocks he had cut and wow they were perfect in their own organic way and had a sense of beauty no doubt when layed.
I lived on a remote Island years ago - I was stood chatting to a local man about the forthcoming harvest.
He gently scanned the sky and said "Oh it will be good weather for that for the next three weeks" He was correct.
He was no metorlogist but as part of his daily life must have noticed subtle patterns.
I personally taught myslf to play a musical instrument and came up with novel ways of hitting the strings only to find later that these were established methods - Sure it would have been a short cut to get musical lessons though but conversely experience is the best teacher - By the way I am a self taught artist though I look at great masters works and can work out how they did what they did by my own experience not always though - Education never stops really it is just a base for we we go on to learn out of school.

OP, this is a tad messed up. Youth today are not dumb as rocks. They get bored.

I'm an 18 year old woman, a few months away from getting a Degree in Therapeutic Massage. I'm graduating college before any of my old classmates graduate high-school. I got my GED, and my grades from when I in high-school there were terrible. I haven't completed a year of school since I was in 7th grade. Wanna know why? I was bored.

Nothing they teach in high-school pertains to the real world. I have never had to use Algebra in anything I've done; I've never had to read an entire novel, then write an essay on said novel; I've never had to recite specific dates pertaining to historic events. Yes, historic events are important, however, the dates aren't as much. I would rather hear my younger sister (16 yoa) tell me why the Civil War happened than when.

While the education system is a bit messed up, I agree, you cannot blame the entirety of youth for a few bad-apples.

ETA: If I could change the education system, I most definitely would. I learned more in the past 5 weeks in my college level English class than I ever did out of all the English classes I took in high-school.
IMHO, I believe they should change it to where Algebra and such is taken out and replaced with something more valuable to life outside of school; How to properly balance a check book, how to actually add and subtract money, and other very important things these kids will use once they enter the 'real world'. Same with the English classes. Knowing how to dissect a novel and write a 5-10 page essay on a novel isn't as important as teaching youth how to properly construct a sentence, spelling, proper grammar, how to compose business letters and other things they may do in their field of work.

Brave New World: Aldous Huxley: that's the name of the book I wanted to throw in there, if you haven't read it I suggest you do, I think this is the path we're heading towards, if the educational systems continue to decline.

Yeah I guess I'm kind of biased, I love history

Originally posted by Mijamija
The education problem in the US feels overwhelming at times. But I think no matter how many tax dollars we dump into it, and even if we were to hire top notch teachers across the board, it only goes so far.....true education begins at home.

You hit the nail right on the head! Here in Wisconsin, we spend the most money per student than any other state in the Midwest. $10,791 was spent on each student in 2008 for elementary and secondary schools (we spend much more on high school students). Despite throwing all of this money at the problem, two-thirds of Wisconsin public school 8th graders can’t read proficiently!

cnsnews.com...

Originally posted by Believer101
OP, this is a tad messed up. Youth today are not dumb as rocks. They get bored.

I'm an 18 year old woman, a few months away from getting a Degree in Therapeutic Massage. I never completed high-school. Got my GED, and my grades from when I in high-school there were terrible. I haven't completed a year of school since I was in 7th grade. Wanna know why? I was bored.

Nothing they teach in high-school pertains to the real world. I have never had to use Algebra in anything I've done; I've never had to read an entire novel, then write an essay on said novel; I've never had to recite specific dates pertaining to historic events. Yes, historic events are important, however, the dates aren't as much. I would rather hear my younger sister (16 yoa) tell me why the Civil War happened than when.

While the education system is a bit messed up, I agree, you cannot blame the entirety of youth for a few bad-apples.

And...jenga! Thank you, Believer.

This is the point I'm trying to make. All of you on this thread are going on about how they need to teach kids all of these things...don't you realize kids will only use about HALF of this knowledge when they get a job?

Seriously...talk about eating all of the pig.

I say give them guns and a perception of reality, then allow evolution to do its thing. See, problem solved. win win all round.