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

Leonardo Da Vinci recieved no formal education as it was not permitted then for bastards ie those born out of wedlock.
He siad he was grateful for this as he had to "Think for himself".

Education it seems is a form of mass brainwashing in that it teaches all the class the same things deemed right by the authoritys. It does not allow for the prospect that we aech have our own purpose for being on Earth.
Quantum Mechanics may well serve a scientific mind yet is of little use to a gardener.
The potential and purpose within each is an individual thing

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.

I was lucky I was raised by my older brother and he was as devout about education as he was about his religion. He worshipped at the alter of knowledge and beat into my head at a very young age that knowledge was power and the love of knowledge was the passion that would drive me toward success. He respected and valued his teachers and was grateful to be able to sit in a classroom and learn. He had high academic standards for himself and he worked his butt off to get his grades. He was determined to make it into not only college, but a good college and he expected me to follow in his footsteps. When other kids were involved with baseball, he was quizzing me on the 50 states. Growing up in a family that nurtured and respected education made all the difference for me growing up.

School was not a popularity contest for me, it was not a place to show off my expensive clothes or worry about my social status, it was not a place where I had to win the big game to be cool and accepted or get a cool guy to ask me to prom....school served one purpose to me, it was the place I was expected to excel academically and gain as much knowledge, skills and resources that would prepare me to face college and adulthood as equipped as possible.

Of course I cared about things like boys and friends and clothes, but at the end of the day.....it was clear, keep my eye on the prize, the only competition that really mattered was wining as many scholarships as possible to pay for college. Clubs and friends and boys occupied a place, but it was a small one. That made me a nerd and although I dreamed of the cool guy asking me to prom, in the end I am happy I got my scholarship instead of being prom queen.

Kids nowadays are distracted, they have so much they are dealing with.....divorce of their parents, abuse, drugs, poor financial circumstances, plus all the other social pressures from their peer groups and a lack of family support for education all combine to make students not interested in learning. It is hard to make a kid care about something like the 3 branches of govt when they are concentrating on if they will come home to a house with no food and their mom drunk off her ass. It is hard to see the relavence of quadratic equations when josh just posted on FB a bunch of lies and you will have to go to school humiliated tomorrow, or the fact that your dad just lost his job and now you may have to move across the state and switch schools....who really cares about mitosis when there are so many other things that hold so much more significance?

Even with the best high tech gadgets and PHD teachers, if a kid is not focused on learning, chances are they will retain enough info to squeak by and that is about it.

I read somewhere a few years back that at the time a majority of the billionaires in the US were highschool dropouts. Anyone remember hearing something like that?


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by Tw0Sides

I remember seeing an article several years ago. where 42% of High School Graduates , thought

Alaska was a Island.

In the late 70's I started working at a place in Bakersfield, Calif where I was supposed to 'shadow' this young guy as he showed me the 'ropes'... we started talking and I told him a company in Alaska wanted me to come up for an interview and I told him I would probably take some time to drive up there as I could make it a vacation and he laughed and said "drive huh?" and I said yes, the highway is pretty good now.... to which he said "so they have a bridge to Alaska now? When I asked what the heck he was talking about he questioned my intelligence saying "for your information, you have to take a ship or airplane, you can't drive!" and laughed at me and shook his head for my 'lack of knowledge'. No amount of discussion with him could make him believe he was wrong! I was so frustrated I felt like grabbing his lapels, slapping him and dragging him to the office to show him a globe!
So apparently this lack of knowledge isn't new, I think it has been ongoing since the early 70's!
I have always been a history buff and talked to my 2 kids as they were growing up about history and science so parents could do a lot to make sure their children is getting the proper education and if their not, do a little teaching on their own!

The entire thing is a really messed up situation.
There is no one reason why some kids are "dumber" than other kids.
Sometimes it's the fact that there are too many kids to a classroom, sometimes it's the fact that we have kids who simply do not fit in the box and are never going to make it in a public school setting. Sometimes we have teachers who are lousy, sometimes we have parents who aren't supporting their children or who are too darned tired to help them after they get home from working 2 jobs to put food on the table because their spouse is in the military or dead or deadbeat.

The problem is complex and because of that there is no one way to fix it.

Going back to 1950 and comparing to today isn't going to make it better and doesn't help us figure out what to do.
In fact, imho, the problems we see in the school are more a symptom of a bigger problem and until that is addressed, we will continue to see the problems in the school escalate.

Fact is: If you have kids, you are responsible for their education. Period. Yes, it's hard work. Welcome to parent-hood.

Originally posted by joyride0187

 

 

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Are we raising the stupidest generation in American history? The statistics that you are about to read below are incredibly shocking. They indicate that U.S. high school students are basically as dumb as a rock. As you read the rest of this article, you will be absolutely amazed at the things that U.S. high school students do not know. At this point, it is really hard to argue that the U.S. education system is a success. Our children are spoiled and lazy, our schools do not challenge them and students in Europe and in Asia routinely outperform our students very badly on standardized tests.

*Only 43 percent of all U.S. high school students knew that the Civil War was fought some time between 1850 and 1900.

*Only 60 percent of all U.S. students knew that World War I was fought some time between 1900 and 1950.

*More than a quarter of all U.S. high school students thought that Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean after the year 1750.

endoftheamericandream.com...

edit on 7-2-2012 by joyride0187 because: (no reason given)

edit on 7-2-2012 by joyride0187 because: (no reason given)

edit on February 7th 2012 by greeneyedleo because: added EX tags and cut down execessive c&p that violate rules of ATS

Seek the Truth: Watch the movie: Waiting For Superman

Our school system is a disgrace.

But that's okay. The teachers union comes first. The students??? Who cares???

I believe that part of the problem lies with parents thinking that the schools should be responsible for the complete education of the children. I understand that parents have to work and don't have much time and energy when they get home and that there is still the household chores to do once they get home. However, my husband and I (and our parents before us) made it our business to make sure that our children got just as much - if not more- education at home as they did in public school. We cannot rely on strangers to determine the education our children do or do not receive.

When I was growing up schoolwork was easy because the things we were learning in school were expanded on at the dinner table, during the ride back and forth to softball practice, during times when watching television would have been preferable to my sister and I. It was the same for our own children. A trip to the grocery store became a lesson in economics and algebra. The nightly newscast became a lesson in history, law, government and science.

I don't believe the educational system is ENTIRELY to blame in the lack of education in a lot of today's youth. I think it has been a group (lack of) effort!

reply to post by Eurisko2012


Why blame the teachers?

Do the teachers choose the syllabus? No, it is imposed by government.

Do teachers choose to teach exam knowledge rather than subject knowledge? No, it is imposed by government.

Teachers have to follow the guidelines given or they lose their jobs. If the system is to be fixed it is really as simple as getting back to teaching the subject and accepting that some will pass and some will fail. College / uni isn't for everyone.

Originally posted by artistpoet
Education it seems is a form of mass brainwashing in that it teaches all the class the same things deemed right by the authoritys. It does not allow for the prospect that we aech have our own purpose for being on Earth.
Quantum Mechanics may well serve a scientific mind yet is of little use to a gardener.
The potential and purpose within each is an individual thing

I think it is important to keep our educational standards high. I do think that a gardener needs to know maybe not quantum mechanics...but certainly he should have enough knowledge of math and science to prepare him, so that if one day he decides gardening is no longer his passion, he can go college and not be totally lost in physics 101.

That same gardener may need to have an understanding of science and math to do complicated landscaping involved on an million dollar estate he just won a contract for. Knowledge never hurts anyone, it is better to have it than not.

That being said, I do agree with you, if a man has a calling to be a gardener and he wants nothing more than to tend people's yards and he does not care to earn a huge income....if he is happy that way, then he has his purpose and if it fulfills him then there is no problem what so ever with that. We need more people like that who are really fulfilled with whatever work they choose, that happy Gardner is contributing so much more good to society by just being happy than a angry, unhappy hedge fund manager.

Some kids are not academically orientated and they should thrive as well in the areas where they do show interest and promise. They should be valued for their skill on the same level that a doctor is. Everyone has a place and a purpose on this earth or they would not be here, it is up to us as a society to nurture kids and support their passions, academics has a place and standards need to reflect the society we live in, but the individual is the most important piece of the puzzle and the current "one education fits all" does need to be modified.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Eurisko2012

 

Why blame the teachers?

Do the teachers choose the syllabus? No, it is imposed by government.

Do teachers choose to teach exam knowledge rather than subject knowledge? No, it is imposed by government.

Teachers have to follow the guidelines given or they lose their jobs. If the system is to be fixed it is really as simple as getting back to teaching the subject and accepting that some will pass and some will fail. College / uni isn't for everyone.

Watch the DVD Waiting for Superman.

Our children our stuck in a spiral of despair.

We have rotten teachers who cannot be fired. The worst are hiding in

- rubber rooms - and cashing their paychecks.

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

reply to post by Flavian


Yeah it's not the teachers fault.
Going through school, I can recall many instances of me being totally amazed by the stupidity of some of my peers. And I agree, the teachers are not to blame it's the students

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.

reply to post by joyride0187


The educational system has become a friggin' joke! I remember in grade school we were discouraged to count on our fongers. Now my daughter comes home with a math problem I teach her the way I learned

45
+7

7+5 = 12 put the 2 underneath the 7
carry the 1. 1+4=5
=52

Right

Well, she sais the teacher is teaching 45 + (seven little lines)
then start at 45 and count the lines which will bring her to 52

What a load. So I confronted the teacher and her answer was that is what's in the curriculum and that I should stop teaching her my way because she will advance to quickly and get borred. I told her if this were to happen to skip her ahead. Apparently they don't do that anymore. She would have to change school to go to a more advanced one were you need to keep a grade point average to keep your admition. She was 7. What kind of school pressures a kid like that? More importantly why keep a kid from growing intellectually? I looked at other schools in my area and they're all the same.

Maybe I'm crazy here but I think they're being kept dumb...that's how it feels anyway. If I could homeschool them I would but I can't afford that being a single father. And private school... 12 grand ...forget about it.

reply to post by Eurisko2012


That is a tiny minority of teachers, highlighted for the purposes of that video - it is highly slanted and therefore not very accurate or representative.

And it doesn't change what i said - lessons are taught the way they are with the emphasis on passing exams rather than gaining subject knowledge because of diktats from above.

If educational standards are to improve, teachers have to be allowed to teach the actual subject rather than how to get a good grade in the exam in that subject.

Lawyers are actually to blame for a large amount of all of this - the rise of litigation has led to a huge plethora of diktats that often make things almost impossible within a class room. I taught, i know how it works. If you choose not to believe that, fine. All i can suggest is get yourself a teaching qualification, work in a school and see for yourself. I absolutely guarantee it will open your eyes.

Originally posted by XLR8R
reply to post by joyride0187

 

The educational system has become a friggin' joke! I remember in grade school we were discouraged to count on our fongers. Now my daughter comes home with a math problem I teach her the way I learned

45
+7

7+5 = 12 put the 2 underneath the 7
carry the 1. 1+4=5
=52

Right

Well, she sais the teacher is teaching 45 + (seven little lines)
then start at 45 and count the lines which will bring her to 52

What a load. So I confronted the teacher and her answer was that is what's in the curriculum and that I should stop teaching her my way because she will advance to quickly and get borred. I told her if this were to happen to skip her ahead. Apparently they don't do that anymore. She would have to change school to go to a more advanced one were you need to keep a grade point average to keep your admition. She was 7. What kind of school pressures a kid like that? More importantly why keep a kid from growing intellectually? I looked at other schools in my area and they're all the same.

Maybe I'm crazy here but I think they're being kept dumb...that's how it feels anyway. If I could homeschool them I would but I can't afford that being a single father. And private school... 12 grand ...forget about it.

Did you think to ask your daughter what she wanted?

Nope, all you talk about is, "Omg, that isn't the way you're supposed to do it because that isn't the way I do it!"

If she wants to grow intellectually, let her come to the realization herself.

It's good to make kids think for themselves...they grow their own wings that way.

reply to post by XLR8R


Taught to pass exams rather than taught subject..........i keep saying it...........only way to change this is to change the emphasis on exam pass rates and to reintroduce the emphasis onto subject knowledge......

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Eurisko2012

 

That is a tiny minority of teachers, highlighted for the purposes of that video - it is highly slanted and therefore not very accurate or representative.

And it doesn't change what i said - lessons are taught the way they are with the emphasis on passing exams rather than gaining subject knowledge because of diktats from above.

If educational standards are to improve, teachers have to be allowed to teach the actual subject rather than how to get a good grade in the exam in that subject.

Lawyers are actually to blame for a large amount of all of this - the rise of litigation has led to a huge plethora of diktats that often make things almost impossible within a class room. I taught, i know how it works. If you choose not to believe that, fine. All i can suggest is get yourself a teaching qualification, work in a school and see for yourself. I absolutely guarantee it will open your eyes.

That is because they are teaching the minimal amount of subject material required to sustain a respectable job. If they were going to teach you all of it, there would be no purpose to college.

Besides, kids only have so much attention span to dish out. Give the little tykes a break.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by XLR8R

 

Taught to pass exams rather than taught subject..........i keep saying it...........only way to change this is to change the emphasis on exam pass rates and to reintroduce the emphasis onto subject knowledge......

Ok, and what is your definition of "Ok, we've taught them enough"?

Where do you stop? Where do you put the book down and give them an exam? Where do you decide you've taught them enough for one year?

Such concepts can swiftly grow out of control, as one teacher believes she can teach the entire book AND the next one before the end of the semester, whereas the second teacher believes in teaching one half the first semester, the second half the next, and so on and so forth.

As I said...flawed concept.