American's Slipping In Education

[Justice 0]

Eh, if we just gave teachers the power to beat the shit out of kids, I'm sure we'd be much better off. "A billy club in every classroom and a taser for every teacher!"

[NoCalMike 0]

Eh, if we just gave teachers the power to beat the shit out of kids, I'm sure we'd be much better off. "A billy club in every classroom and a taser for every teacher!"

I dunno, these days a female teacher might have her students use the club on her, and not for a spanking.......

[Jobber of the Week 0]

USA Today, Jan. 31: "1 in 3 United States high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more thought the government should approve newspaper stories before people read them."

 

Nice to see that our "post-September 11th world" of fear and irrational trust in the government as a safety net has cultivated such intelligent thought. I look with bemusement to the day when we're "spreading freedom" while not exercising any ourselves.

 

 

Now I'm curious to see what the most educated countries are.

[SuperJerk 0]

I'd actually imagine the difference would be minimal.

 

I know my state always tries to state that our SAT scores are so low because everybody takes the SAT here, even people with no possibility of getting to college.

 

Studies have been done showing that even if we only tested our "elite" students, we're still in the bottom 5.

*Insert South Carolina joke here.*

 

 

Seriously, though, your evidence that radically altering the sample won't effect testing outcomes is shaky at best. "Bottom 5" of what exactly? All states (both those who do and do not make SATs a requirement) or just states who only test those students who are going to college? A what about states where almost no one takes the SAT (except kids trying to get into schools on the coasts)? In the midwest, people generally take the ACT, which is scored differently.

[Boon 0]

Now I'm curious to see what the most educated countries are.

Well, that depends on how you measure it.

 

For example, the youth of France is far better educated then the youth of America, but the top tiers of intellectual elites are basically the same.

[Guest MikeSC]

I'd actually imagine the difference would be minimal.

 

I know my state always tries to state that our SAT scores are so low because everybody takes the SAT here, even people with no possibility of getting to college.

 

Studies have been done showing that even if we only tested our "elite" students, we're still in the bottom 5.

*Insert South Carolina joke here.*

 

 

Seriously, though, your evidence that radically altering the sample won't effect testing outcomes is shaky at best. "Bottom 5" of what exactly? All states (both those who do and do not make SATs a requirement) or just states who only test those students who are going to college? A what about states where almost no one takes the SAT (except kids trying to get into schools on the coasts)? In the midwest, people generally take the ACT, which is scored differently.

The bottom 5 of states in the country who take the SAT --- no matter their criteria. Our numbers are SO bad that even if the "idiots" don't take the SAT (and they don't in wide enough numbers to actually skew the results --- trust me, I once thought this explained why our numbers were so low), it won't make us even a mediocre state in terms of SAT scores.

-=Mike

[The Czech Republic 0]

There's no market incentive in getting kids interested in science, math or education. The money lies in crap like music, sex, movies, sports or whatever is marketed heavily by the corporate goosesteppers.

You're not saying that it's stupid to get kids interested in music, are you? I think I'm just misinterpreting though. It's a shame how many schools are losing music programs.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I noticed the people who step on the arts probably could have used some art education when they were younger.

 

Anyone see the commercial with the little kid who tells the street violinist to get a job? That was pretty good.

[Guest Loss]

All of you are right and all of you are wrong, basically. There are so many factors contributing to this, if it's even legit, that it's virtually impossible to pinpoint exactly what they are. My best friend is a scientist, and he's also the biggest pop culture nut I know. I think, if anything, maybe the issue is that everything is being approached from a "versus" point of view. There should be no implications that science, humanities or art are more or less important than each other. All kids are going to have their interests, no doubt, but the point of public school should be to provide children with the most rounded view possible. There's plenty of room for everything.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

There's no market incentive in getting kids interested in science, math or education.  The money lies in crap like music, sex, movies, sports or whatever is marketed heavily by the corporate goosesteppers.

You're not saying that it's stupid to get kids interested in music, are you? I think I'm just misinterpreting though. It's a shame how many schools are losing music programs.

Does it really matter? He's shooting at the wrong targets. He's going off against the children/teen media and it's marketing machine.

 

This is really not the root of the problem. I mean, for the first page we were drawing comparisons and contrasts between the US and Japan. Now, exactly where is all this uneducational trash TV the kids are watching coming from?

 

Last I checked, Hollywood had little to do with Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Power Rangers, and so many other fads that have come down the pipe in recent years. Now, I could point out on a map where it's all coming from, but that would be a little insulting to everyone's intelligence. And the kids in that source country manage to watch these shows, collect the toys, and while they're a bit more antisocial on the whole compared to ours, they don't test as bad as we do. So scratch that idea.

 

Cerebus basically had it right in an earlier post. It's parents and it's the culture parents are raising their children in. Either you give them the leeway to slack or you breed an emotional complex where getting a C+ is an insult to your family and you should probably just put the bullet in your brain right now.

[Boon 0]

I would've put a bullet in my brain a long time ago.

[Jingus 0]

The older I get, the more I find that 90% of what I learned in school is either forgotten or useless. I don't understand why most high schools require kids to take physical education but then make classes on things like balancing your checkbook or paying your taxes into mere electives. In my opinion, kids need less schooling and more training.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Cerebus basically had it right in an earlier post. It's parents and it's the culture parents are raising their children in. Either you give them the leeway to slack or you breed an emotional complex where getting a C+ is an insult to your family and you should probably just put the bullet in your brain right now.

I think that those are two extremes, since there's nothing wrong with having drive to be the best, and if kids were taught what the real world was actually like from a younger age, they probably would bust their ass anyway, as opposed to just assuming that everything will be alright.

 

While a lot of success happens to do with what connections you have, the fact that many people are successful based alone on the fact that they've worked their asses off should be enough motivation for kids to do the same.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

For example, when a kid fails in Japan, its the kid's fault for not trying hard enough. Here its the teacher's fault.

 

We are sliding down the path to poor education up here as well, and this is the primary problem. When a child is doing poorly at school, generally they get pushed along anyways, sometimes against the wishes of the parent. There is a tendency in North American to treat school as day care, and it gives absolutely no motivation to the students to do well, unless of course the child was raised to know better. They don't hold failing students back anymore until they can pass their current grade. They just advance to the next grade anyways. It is the system that is broken.