What High School Has Become - From a High School Teacher

originally posted by: sunqueen30
Parents are afraid of their children because the letters CPS are shoved down our kid's throats from the moment they start kindergarten. American kids have turned into entitled brats who know they can have their parents punished if they felt pushed too far. I don't believe in abusing children, but how many rotten kids do we see that would benefit from a firm hand rather than a limp wrist?

The entitlement mentality nails it. Combine the entitlement mentality, people who have been told all about how special they are, all about fair and just, they can do no wrong, and finally the one thing they are never taught ..how to deal with failure.

We put these kids in the special bubble, they have these views of what's right and fair , they are entitled, and so on. Then real life starts sometime after college. They can't understand that everything they thought is not reality. Add the failure that happens in real life, they can't cope. They were always told you did your best, we are all the same but special. This explains about every piece of stupidity you see in adulthood.

I take a different view especially of failing. When growing up and my kids came across failure, I didn't say it's about having fun, it's ok, you did perfect and so forth. I used every chance to teach them to overcome failure when it happens, it will. It's no different from people who were never taught basic finances and are terrible with money. If these kids aren't allowed to failed and taught to overcome it, we get our current society.

I feel for you op, there is a brewing storm with the kids and previous generations. And quite honestly explains about everything we see in the social seen, in the political seen, and life. Good luck going forward, if it gets too ugly maybe look at private school.

a reply to: ThirdEyeofHorus

The link was not an endorsement of any kind...

I cited Stalin and Hitler as well BTW.

Most would agree that both of them are a little 'off the mark' as well.

well, I look at the brightside of every situation, the Brightside of this situation is that with so many under achievers being graduated me and my family of achievers and over achievers have less competition for jobs.
of course with so many under achievers out there lurking the streets we have a greater risk of being robbed but that`s what the police are for to chokehold and shoot the under achieving thugs.

a reply to: stdscf12

we are currently in a Transition Period, we are re-evaluating the "content" (accuracy) and structure of lesson plans so they be "relevant" today, especially with On-Line educational programs for home schooling or alternative schooling starting in Elementary school, add the social issues and high expectations parents have today for the younger kids that want to live their dreams

I think it’s a shame what an increasingly dumbed-down society America is spawning. And it’s not the fault of our teachers. It goes much deeper than that. Teachers are just the scapegoat used by our so-called leaders when questioned about why we’re failing. Pointing fingers is easy to do when implementing real solutions is off the table.

We once had a model educational system here in America. We were on top of the academic world in many areas, and produced more than our fair share of leaders in the world of academia. Our system of education was envied around the world. But, it seems, things began to change around 30-40 years ago, and we’ve been spiralling downward ever since. And now here we are, scratching our heads and wondering where we went wrong and how we can fix it.

Think about it. It’s more than an uncanny coincedence that over the same period of time that our educational system has been slipping, Corporate America has risen to power and become the Grand Master and true leader of our country. The politicians we’ve elected to lead us take their marching orders not from us, but from their elite Corporate Masters. Our political leaders don’t lead us anymore. That’s just an illusion. Corporations lead us. And guess what - Corporate America doesn’t want an educated population questioning their authority. They want a dumbed-down population of zombies who do what they’re told without question and are willing to work for slave wages. They don’t want to waste money on an educated, well-informed public with high self-esteem and a desire to do better. And unfortunately, what corporations want, corporations get.

There’s no rational reason why we can’t restore our educational institutions to the greatness they once enjoyed. But to do that would require funding to make the necessary changes, and a willingness at the top levels of our “leadership” to do it. And I’m afraid our “leadership” has another agenda.

HERE’s a little riff by George Carlin on our educational system that puts it in perspective much better than I ever could. Besides being right on the money, it’s funnier then hell.

Wish I could offer a more positive view, but I find it hard to do in this case. Great thread, though, stdscf12. And best of luck...

What an awesome post!

Thanks!

a reply to: netbound

I can understand the funding requests but the last studies I saw were that we spend the 6th most per student in the world and get 28th ranked results in the world. Is funding the real problem here? Not according to the op, seems like we have issues that are not related to funding. Seems funding is always raised, but the op pointed out many non funding issues that money won't solve. So providing more money doesn't seem like it will solve the root issues.

teachers unions

2nd

when i was in high school most of the teachers hated their job and blamed the kids, high school for me and most of the peoplei hung out with was only to get illeagle things

originally posted by: Tardacus
well, I look at the brightside of every situation, the Brightside of this situation is that with so many under achievers being graduated me and my family of achievers and over achievers have less competition for jobs.
of course with so many under achievers out there lurking the streets we have a greater risk of being robbed but that`s what the police are for to chokehold and shoot the under achieving thugs.

Yea, and your family of achievers is gonna pay astronomical taxes to pay for free stuff for the under achievers. Good luck with that!

a reply to: Reallyfolks
Sorry to give the impression that funding is the root cause of the problems. I don't believe that. I was just saying that it would require funding to implement changes to the current system. Changes to the infrastructure, curriculum, etc. And that, perhaps, there is little interest in a complete overhaul of the existing system.

I think the problems aren't with the teachers, but rather the tools they're given and the rules/protocol they must follow. When I was a kid, the teacher could discipline me if I was out of line. Today teachers have their hands tied and the students have the power. Consequently the students lack respect for authority and do as they please.

I don't have the answers, but I do think the system has lost control and direction.

a reply to: Reallyfolks
Sorry. Double post...

Get sports the F out of schools.

There is a mandate to educate the public, but not to provide play time gymnasiums and sports teams. The only function of school sports is to elevate a few into college and pro draft at the expense of the taxpayers.

Stupid kids know more about sports and celebrities than about their own country or natural world.

No, wait teaching fundamental subjects like math, history and science are racist....

That's a great post. I know a LOT of teachers, family, friends, etc, and I have heard these same complaints for years. There is one other thing that they all have some harsh words for that is important. The influx of immigrant students, the majority of which do not speak English. Teachers have to teach everything twice. Once in English and once in Spanish. The problem is the school year isn't twice as long, teachers cant teach twice as fast, and students don't learn twice as fast. So, the English speaking kids get half an education but pay for a whole one. The Spanish speaking kids get half an education for free. The test scores drop because none of the students are getting the full education needed to do well on the tests, which causes more red tape, less funding, and more stress on a system that is already working around a huge headache every single day. And we wonder why kids feel so out of touch and hopeless. The only constant thing in their lives are kardashians and rappers telling them its not their fault and if they sex it up they will get along just fine anyway. And when they don't, do you think its the kardashians and the rappers who will be there to bail them out and get them on the right path? It wont be. And it wont be the parents either. It will be the teachers or it wont happen at all.

Accountability and responsibility is what people need. Not some bizarre sense of entitlement.

a reply to: FlyingFox

No, wait teaching fundamental subjects like math, history and science are racist....

not racist
just infringes on people religious liberties
especially those last two
science and history are like. .....super....religion...infringing
(oh man i cant)

I know a girl who just got kicked out of her school for... wait for it... skipping class to have sex in the hallway with a male student. Yes, it really happened.

There is little different here in the UK. We once had an education system the envy of the world and people from many different countries came here to learn. Over the past 10-15yrs I have noticed with my own children as they've gone through various stages of the education system, a distinct dumbing down of curriculum and exams, no discipline because the teachers aren't allowed to discipline, no respect for the teachers because parents don't bother bringing up their children anymore, and huge rise in unemployed graduates or graduates in ridiculously menial jobs. Every part and piece of the education system that worked perfectly for years and for those in power now has been torn apart. If it was good enough for the PM why isn'tit good enough for today's kids? O'levels were dropped as being divisive cse's were dropped because those exams were labelled for the thick kids and we ended up with gcse's which are neither use nor ornament and assessed coursework exams which can be submitted multiple times until they get it right and get the required grade.

Now once again they are talking about bringing back the O'Levels from the 70's. One step forward 10 steps back

What high school has become? State "education" has never been anything but compulsory social indoctrination at the behest of political and, more importantly, economic interests--to create good (obedient and utterly dependent) workers and consumers.

The very idea of state schooling is fundamentally flawed. That's why "they" have to lament "what our schools have become", because to admit that the whole premise is motivated by social manipulation and control means that we should probably just throw the whole thing out and come up with something else.

People mistakenly think "public" education is something we can "fix". When the people responsible for your education are the same people who can and do start wars in your name...

...what did you think was going to happen? Did you think they ever cared about molding your child into anything but an obedient, unquestioning servant of the corporate state? It's been a bad idea from day one, and I've always had a hard time figuring out how so many people became convinced that compulsory state education was a good idea.

They must have had some pretty good crack in the late 19th century, no?

I am a mature student in the UK returning back to college/University for the first time in 20 years to study for an honours degree in Computing. The same college I went to for my electronics engineering apprenticeship in the 80's and later for a Higher national Diploma in the 90's.

I have noticed a massive difference in the attitude of the staff and the students. The younger Students put no effort in, the staff spoon feed these people by giving them all the answers to the exams and allowing them to copy, paste/ slightly changing the words of written assignments.

The kids mess around in class constantly talking at the back of the class making it difficult to concentrate on what the tutor is saying. They are constantly on social media on their smartphones and even watching youtube videos on the computers on their desks.

I have spoken to the head tutor about this and his reply is that the priority is RETENTION. Basically the college gets £6000 a year for each student, so they drag them through year 1 and year 2. they dont care if they fail in year 3. They have got their £18000. Of which the student must pay back to the government over the course of his/her working life.

The tutors in the 80's and early 90's had a air about them, knowledgeable, fair and authority figures. Many of the tutors lack experience and knowledge in what they are teaching. Maybe this is because they are spread to thin. for instance a tutor may be teaching Games programming, Cisco Engineering and Microsoft Windows Server all in the same day Each of which are massive subjects. Their confidence in what they are teaching is low, therefore they lack authority, often being contradicted by students. Their authority is therefore non existent and the fact they collude in what is essentially cheating by giving out answers sends out the wrong message to the immature students. Fairness suffers because those people that put in the effort are left to get on with it whilst those causing the most problems are given all the answers.

What the hell happened to our education system in the last 20 years ? But is ATS the right place to be airing these views. I have tried speaking to head tutors and even had a quite word with an Schools area manager. But it all falls on deaf ears.

Something evil has taken over both the US and the UK's education systems and there seems no way of combating it.

They really, really need to dumb down the society to make it in the image they want. Working slaves need to be dumb, devoid of any national concept, moral bounders ect.

Check out this new stone wall movie coming out. Think Lots door eventually.