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

Originally posted by Believer101
For arguments sake, let's say you, a normal person, were thrown basically against your will into a class about Physics. You know a little about it, but it never excited you and you were never passionate about the subject. You do not want to be there, and you do not care, per say, about learning more on Physics.
While in that class, what would you do? Would you fully pay attention to every word said, or would you slack off and not pay attention because it does not pertain or appeal to your way of life?

That's basically what's going on in high-school to today's youth. We honestly don't care enough to learn about certain things that don't appeal or pertain to us and our lives outside of school.

What Believer said. Flavian, if someone decided to educate you on the finer points of the composition of feces, I think you'd be less than enthusiastic to throw your weight on the rope.

At the very least, you'd find your mind wandering more often instead of absorbing the lectures like the sponges you expect our children to be.

reply to post by artistpoet


That is awesome, the examples you give! That is exactly what I mean, people need to organically fit into their niche, they need to be cultivated in a way that is harmonious to them and their local environment. If everything in the world worked like this, I can only imagine how much more fulfilled people would be with their work.

The post modern, post industralized, high tech world is void of anything like this. What comes naturally to many kids....a love of art or a intuitive urge to build things, is lost. When you see a 3 year old gaga over Stacking rocks and building little dams in a creek, encourage it and maybe they will be an architect or engineer or CAD tech. Kids have natural inclinations, but our current education system and society does not acknowledge those instincts.

Instead they are put in often crowed classrooms with a bunch of other kids and they are given assignments and expected to pass a test. That's it. Pass enough tests and you graduate and what did you really learn? How to study just enough and retain just enough to pass.

Where is the love of learning? Those are things we have to encourage in kids and when a kid takes an interest in a subject, we need to expand on it. Some kids might have no desire for math but they tear up English, or they excel in music....if they are not making As in math, but they are bringing home 100s in science....well, that should be a hint.

I tell my kids every morning before they head out to have fun and try their very best and as long as they do their best, I am ok. My one daughter shows strength in art and design and science so we talk a lot about those subjects. My other daughter is more into math, money and citizenship. I encourage both of them to pursue their interests, but still expect them to make passing grades in all subjects.

I also show them how even something that may seem irrevalent like the water cycle actually is important, or how studying Edgar Allen Poe can teach us about how people's minds work. These seemingly abstract subjects are not so abstract once you learn how to apply them to real life.......and that is where teachers and schools fail........they do not take the abstract and show kids how it applies in their life.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Believer101

 

Without understanding of the subject matter, how do you build those machines in the future? Brains are more advanced than computers - fact. They are capable of rational thought. Computers, on the other hand, simply process info put into them by people.

Academic success isn't for everyone, people have different strengths. This should be recognised at school level and treated as such, rather than simply trying to get as many students as possible to pass so the figures for the school look good. Believe me, that is what is about these days and the orders come from government / dept of education.

We need academic schools and we need vocational schools. In all honesty, most decent teachers could identify at an early age which pupils are likely to be uni candidates and which are not. And making the choice isn't dooming someone that takes the vocational route to a life of servitude - hell, i know plenty of people who were never academic who make far more than me or some of my other friends that went to uni. A skilled engineer is worth his / her salt the world over......

That's where college education comes into play, not high-school education. College is about pursuing something you are passionate and want to learn more about.
ETA: With college classes, you chose to be there. Every day you sit in your seat, you're paying hundreds of dollars to be there and learn what they are giving you. That is much different than high-school.

I have to completely agree with that point. There should be different classes for different strengths students have. If one student is below-average in math, put them in a lower level class. If someone else is above-average in math, put them in the AP math class. Everyone in between gets a class in between.

reply to post by Starchild23


That is being pedantic as i suspect you know. There are loads of careers available, you do not have to go to uni to get a career. My oldest sister has a mate from her school days who, frankly, was as thick as pig ####! And i actually mean that too, i have never met anyone that dumb before. However, he went to a stone yard when he left school at 16 and learned to do a medieval carving style that only a couple of people in the world can do. 30 years later he is millionaire many times over and is happy as can be.

Education is no guarantee of anything at all. I work in the building trade these days (since leaving teaching). Currently on site, we have 4 degrees, 2 masters and a doctorate (who is only a labourer by the way and before that he worked on a trawler in the North Sea).

Honestly who cares. Seriously, I don't #ing use any of my history today. I don't even use cursive for #s sake. I rarely use my math skills besides addition, subtraction, multiply, and division. Unless you are going to be a history teacher then really who gives a # about the Civil War. They should know about Middle East, 911, Sadam, Osama. Not # that happened before their grand parent were born. Live in the now not the was.

Originally posted by HawkeyeNation
Honestly who cares. Seriously, I don't #ing use any of my history today. I don't even use cursive for #s sake. I rarely use my math skills besides addition, subtraction, multiply, and division. Unless you are going to be a history teacher then really who gives a # about the Civil War. They should know about Middle East, 911, Sadam, Osama. Not # that happened before their grand parent were born. Live in the now not the was.

I'm not going to be a history teacher, in any way, yet I care about the Civil War. I care about what happened to shape our country into what it is today. I don't care about the dates of when these things happened, but I do care about the fact that they happened and why.

Thanks a lot no child left behind

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Starchild23

 

Education is no guarantee of anything at all.

You know, that's not completely true. Education has a guarantee that you'll learn something you never did before. Education has a guarantee of whether you'd like to learn it or not. Education has a guarantee about how some think and act. Education has a guarantee of something, whether small like happiness, or big as in a multi-million dollar job.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Starchild23

 

That is being pedantic as i suspect you know. There are loads of careers available, you do not have to go to uni to get a career. My oldest sister has a mate from her school days who, frankly, was as thick as pig ####! And i actually mean that too, i have never met anyone that dumb before. However, he went to a stone yard when he left school at 16 and learned to do a medieval carving style that only a couple of people in the world can do. 30 years later he is millionaire many times over and is happy as can be.

Education is no guarantee of anything at all. I work in the building trade these days (since leaving teaching). Currently on site, we have 4 degrees, 2 masters and a doctorate (who is only a labourer by the way and before that he worked on a trawler in the North Sea).

Education is no guarantee of anything at all.

Thank you. You just proved my whole point.

You are all complaining about something that guarantees nothing in today's world...it just makes you feel better about yourself and the society you have to live in.

I rest my case.

Originally posted by Believer101

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Starchild23

 

Education is no guarantee of anything at all.

You know, that's not completely true. Education has a guarantee that you'll learn something you never did before. Education has a guarantee of whether you'd like to learn it or not. Education has a guarantee about how some think and act. Education has a guarantee of something, whether small like happiness, or big as in a multi-million dollar job.

True, but to an extent.

The only real reason we are forcibly educated these days is for jobs..hence, the lack of guarantee. There is no guarantee that high school education will do ANYTHING for you except help you survive...it won't help you succeed.

Nowadays, you need a college education too, which means the high school courses don't mean #.

Originally posted by Starchild23

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Starchild23

 

That is being pedantic as i suspect you know. There are loads of careers available, you do not have to go to uni to get a career. My oldest sister has a mate from her school days who, frankly, was as thick as pig ####! And i actually mean that too, i have never met anyone that dumb before. However, he went to a stone yard when he left school at 16 and learned to do a medieval carving style that only a couple of people in the world can do. 30 years later he is millionaire many times over and is happy as can be.

Education is no guarantee of anything at all. I work in the building trade these days (since leaving teaching). Currently on site, we have 4 degrees, 2 masters and a doctorate (who is only a labourer by the way and before that he worked on a trawler in the North Sea).

Education is no guarantee of anything at all.

Thank you. You just proved my whole point.

You are all complaining about something that guarantees nothing in today's world...it just makes you feel better about yourself and the society you have to live in.

I rest my case.

Your case has just collapsed then. Please report to the judges chambers to discuss why you brought your case at a waste of taxpayers cash ;-)

The OP was about a dropping of standards and the levels of ignorance about certain things that are prevalent in youth today. Which can be verified.

The OP was not about the the guarantees a decent education gets you.

Hi

I think that the core of the problem is here. USA don't count very well in international PISA tests, but situation is totally different, when you look in differencies between income groups. If you are poor, statistic are against you.

Programme for International Student Assessment
en.wikipedia.org...

Educated parents take more care of their children education. My kids learnt to read at age of four. I just had advantage of finnish language and knew how to teach them by playing.

Why does Finnish give better PISA results?
finnish-and-pisa.blogspot.com...

Sorry my language, not a native english writer...

Originally posted by Starchild23

Originally posted by Believer101
For arguments sake, let's say you, a normal person, were thrown basically against your will into a class about Physics. You know a little about it, but it never excited you and you were never passionate about the subject. You do not want to be there, and you do not care, per say, about learning more on Physics.
While in that class, what would you do? Would you fully pay attention to every word said, or would you slack off and not pay attention because it does not pertain or appeal to your way of life?

That's basically what's going on in high-school to today's youth. We honestly don't care enough to learn about certain things that don't appeal or pertain to us and our lives outside of school.

What Believer said. Flavian, if someone decided to educate you on the finer points of the composition of feces, I think you'd be less than enthusiastic to throw your weight on the rope.

At the very least, you'd find your mind wandering more often instead of absorbing the lectures like the sponges you expect our children to be.

Sorry, but I couldn't help but laugh! I do not know any kid who would find feces fascinating! I am sure there is one out there somewhere though!

But really you got a valid point....I remember sitting in algebra going "omg.....when is this class over? " and not much else.

I never liked certain subjects in school, but it wasn't about what I liked, it was about what I could learn for the sake of being knowledgeable. I did not want to enter the world ignorant, but at the time I thought being ignorant of algebra was "not a big deal". I did not learn much in algebra class and it did hurt me because as I got older I took an interest in physics and I was not remotely prepared to study physics because I could not do basic algebra. I wish now I had paid as much attention in algebra class as I had paid in English.

In my opinion a lot of this is contributed to teachers. I have a friend who is brilliant but because of his lack of effort in his studies they placed him in a special education class, no effort to see this man's potential just throw him in a class he could pass with his eyes closed. FAIL

reply to post by Mijamija


You explain something very important in a way any can understand
What you say has real value - Do we raise a genaration of parrots to obtain paper laurel crown diplomas - Or guide children to become self fulfilled free thinking individuals who's potential could be mind blowing.

reply to post by joyride0187


If you think that is bad...I had classes for home ec...that we all had to take, they tought everyday things, sewing, cooking ect.
In math we had to ballance checkbooks and algebra ect.

Well let me tell you. Where I am at now.....the graduates of high school don't have a clue about checking accounts, how to carry over $$ from one pay to the next...they are honestly some of the dumbest, kids I have ever seen. They might have book knowledge, but common sence is a thing of the past...it is amazing how many of those kids are wanting something for nothing.

reply to post by joyride0187


This is very alarming.

If the students don't know when World War I was.
And that so many doesn't know that The Atlantic Ocean is east of USA..

What do they know?
Teachers out there, what do you teach them nowadays?

Originally posted by saltdog
reply to post by joyride0187

 

If you think that is bad...I had classes for home ec...that we all had to take, they tought everyday things, sewing, cooking ect.
In math we had to ballance checkbooks and algebra ect.

Well let me tell you. Where I am at now.....the graduates of high school don't have a clue about checking accounts, how to carry over $$ from one pay to the next...they are honestly some of the dumbest, kids I have ever seen. They might have book knowledge, but common sence is a thing of the past...it is amazing how many of those kids are wanting something for nothing.

Just because they are not taught how to balance a check book or carry money from one pay to the next does not make them dumb. It makes them un-knowledgeable about that subject, but not dumb. They may know things you do not. Does that make you dumb? No, it makes you un-knowledgeable on that subject.

reply to post by tomten


They may not know when it was, but they know what happened and why it happened. Is the date really that important? I mean honestly, would you rather have a kid tell you only the date of when Columbus sailed here rather than why?

Originally posted by Mijamija

Sorry, but I couldn't help but laugh! I do not know any kid who would find feces fascinating! I am sure there is one out there somewhere though!

Sometimes it is actually very interested as it tells you what a specific animal eats. I remember dissecting owl droppings in school and I found it utterly incredible! Seeing the bones and fur of small mammals they had eaten was an awesome experience.