American Students: PATHETIC

The existing educational system, it seems to me, is breaking at the seams. It's too expensive, too mediocre, and it just cannot compete with alternative methods that are much cheaper.

High schools are pretty good, the better ones at least, but still somewhat constraining.

Elementary schools have become sentences to behavior modification rather than inspiring kids to grow their minds.

Universities are vastly too expensive, landing people in a lifetime of debt even if they succeed to the extent of graduating.

Everything you need to know is in Wikipedia. Close, anyway.

I'd like to piggy back on this with the fact that many (not all) elementary schools are glorified "day care" and "babysitting" centers, too. Are there good schools? Absolutely yes! But they are far and few between.

Again, though let's not call our kids "pathetic" as the OP has done. They may excel in other areas!

~ Juju

I think that there are a few reasons why math and science are the most closely watched comparisons.

1. They are completely comparable. Math is math and science is science, regardless of what language you speak. It's possible to compare composition in Chinese and in English, but the comparison will take work and there will always be some caveats, some style factors that are typical to one language or another.

2. They are the most important in a population's economic performance. The technical skill, among all those taught in school, is what companies most reliably look to hire.

Agree 110%.

My talented son's elementary school has actively tried to throw him off track and put him in "the system", when his problem was that he was bored completely out of his skull. Getting him involved in challenging activities, and getting him in the habit of doing some work, has been very important, but the school didn't help at all in that. If they could have stopped it from happening outside school, they probably would have.

I wholeheartedly agree! However this does not make our children "pathetic"; At least for the most part! There are some children who could care less and many of these live in homes where the parents could 'care less.' Please note I am not an advocate of: "The child is the way they are because of their parents!" That's a cop-out and one that deliquent adults are still using today! now THAT is pathetic! I just don't like lumping them all together.

For those parents who are lucky enough to be able to pass on your expertise to your kids, DO IT. Don't wait for the school to teach that subject.

If your kid can go 5 years "ahead" of what they have mapped out as the curriculum, there is nothing wrong with that. There's not much magic to the school curriculum, and if it's stretching things to get the kid to understand something ... damn it, the kid should learn to stretch. (I know sometimes it's just not possible until a year or two later, but he/she should work like hell trying before concluding that.)

You give your kid a HUGE advantage by imparting your expertise and putting him ahead of the curve in some part of the school's curriculum. Does wonders for the kid's self esteem, after doing a bit of work to get there, too!

I agree that the school system is a huge problem, as well as certain teachers, along with parents assumption that their child can do no wrong.

However, I think the problem lies in some more serious things that all inter-connect to the bigger picture of the failing education of America.

First, the lack of personal responsibility. Personal responsibility requires one to shut off from the social media, turn the television off, stay home on a Friday night, etc., and immerse ones self in the world of knowledge. Focus, attention, and being able to retain information are key to the success of intellect.

Distractions, distractions, distractions.

This leads to the next thing: attention span. I know, for me, I really had to work my hardest to regain my attention span. Years of playing games, watching tv, and not reading my assigned readings truly dumbed me down. My key word during my last couple years of school has been focus.

Lose attachment to the distractions and face liberation.

Like I said earlier, personal responsibility is key! Learning does not end when one leaves the classroom! Learning is an active, every day experience--it never ends!

This also leads to the biggest problem: our culture. America's norms, values, and ways of expression have seriously been in decline. If one decides to expose him or herself to the demeaning lifestyle of pop culture, materialism, etc.--then I am afraid the loss of intellectual skills will follow....

Have to go to class now be back soon.

I'm not surprised. I witnessed my HS electronics program shutdown while the school was pumping thousands into the football program. Who is even motivated to learn mathematics when "it doesn't matter" in an environment where intelligence is marginalized over sports achievement. Pep rallys are focused on what retard ran the farthest last friday, not the kid who built his own UAV or won the chemistry contest.

The US space program is a joke compared to the 60s -> 80s, and high tech is moving overseas. Again, I'm not surprised. Who's motivated?



ETA: I'm a computer engineer.

Last Edited by Project_Deimos on 04/10/2012 03:10 PM

We homeschooled our daughter since Pre-K (I have a degree in education). She was always 2 to 3 years ahead of the public schools here. Again, I am not saying that all public schools are this way! I know of a few that are AMAZING!!! But that is not the norm!

I totally agree with your advice!!! Like you also stated above, it gives a child self esteem. Very good input!!

Most kids in Asia aren't good at math and science either, at least not good enough to work in those fields. But for our kids who want to enter those fields, that's little comfort, because from the 2.5 billion population in India and China, there are a lot of very competent kids.

It doesn't do much good to call anyone pathetic. We have to build an economy to satisfy and sustain our population, and we need to bring out the talent of as many people as possible to do it. This means high standards, and I mean the very traditional standards, not the bullshit "standards" that the sneaky educators have made up in "standards-based curricula", where the standards have more to do with your social attitudes than whether you understand basic chemistry, can work competently in a lab and pass exams.

We've tried to have high standards and, as I said, it was perverted and we were tricked. Now we're left with a very entitled, unionized education establishment that cannot do what is needed and will resist every change.

How to break the unions and their grip on curriculum and standards? I don't know. It will be a titanic stuggle.

canadians wipe with thier foreskin. no wonder canuck females seek out american men.

Nicely said!!!

And we have teachers who make every complaint when they might be evaluated on their results.

"I can't control what students I get or how they do!"

Well I can't control what boss I get either. Everyone else in this economy is used to having uncontrollable factors deciding their fate. It's time for teachers to get down in the soup with the rest of us and swim for their very lives.

Not this American student! Working on my Radiography degree and have a 3.8 GPA right now.

But you're right. I went to pick up a Pizza last Friday and the total was 15.77. I gave the girl a $20 and she rang it up. Then I was like, "wait I have 2 cents I think." I handed her the $.02 and she looked at me with the most confused look. She was like "but I already rang it up." I shook my head and said look, it's real simple. Instead of giving me $4, 2 dimes and 3 pennies, you can now give me $4 and a quarter." She was still confused and I said just give my what your little computer screen says to give me. Pathetic.

Not so sure that's altogether true.

I went to First Grade in Texas, in a good old fashioned Catholic school. The kind with nuns and a few "civilians".

This was during the 50's, and lots of people were moving around the States. My Dad was transferred from Texas to California, but when we got there it was already too late to register at the Catholic school, so off to Public School I went for Second Grade. It turned out to be THE BEST year of my life! Why? Well, because everything they were teaching in SECOND grade Public School I'd already learned in FIRST grade Catholic School! So every day, after "Homeroom", I'd either be escorted to one of the "upper" classes (seventh and eighth graders were VERY large and somewhat terrifying!) or was allowed to hang out in the Library. I developed a life-long love for reading and learning new words. And Recess was just the icing on the cake! I LOVED going to school, I woke up every morning rarin' to go! At the end of the year, I received my first Perfect Attendance Certificate.

Of course, reality set in like a cold wet fish to the face when Third Grade came around and I was back in the Catholic School again. I had to work half again as hard in order to catch up and keep up (thank heaven that I loved reading!), and was introduced into the horrors of Homework. And if, for some miraculous reason, I had no homework, my PARENTS would devise homework FOR me!

The point is, one doesn't need to go to some fancy, expensive school in order to find dedicated teachers and a vibrant curriculum! You'll also reap the added benefits of having a respectful, polite child who realizes that awards are given for INDIVIDUAL effort and not because everyone wants to have one, who has learned HOW to learn, and not just parrot the accepted Politically Correct baloney which is currently found in most Public Schools.

I have a friend whose nephew was in advanced placement classes all through high school, made straight A's, was selected as valedictorian.

HE COULDN'T SCORE A 20 on the ACT.

Sums it up!

The scary thing is that other countries are working so hard to surpass us, and face it, most Americans don't want to work that hard anymore. I know someone who teachers in a S. Korean school and those kids have no life other than school. They don't even get enough sleep.

Stop being selfish materialistic greedy ****

and home school your children

The problem is when they initiated no child left behind, they made all of the classrooms equal. We are told to focus our energies on the middle to low section in order to bring them up to standards so that we prevent federal interference.

We have a lot of special education students in our school. One of our schools this year didn't make "adequate yearly progress" because THREE special education students didn't do as well on the national standardized tests as the state wanted them. How crazy is that? We look at numbers, not at the people involved. When you look at those three who "failed", they actually did really well for their ability, but it doesn't matter to the government. All they see are the numbers.

In the mean time, our top level students are stuck in classrooms with students who demand all of the teacher's time, thus limiting their ability to take off.

And with more and more cuts, teachers are being laid off, schools are closing down (leading to overcrowded classrooms and schools) and there is not a point in the future where this looks like it is going to get any better.