The real problem with public schools

O

Oleg Volk

Staff Alumnus
Overheard on the radio today...

Minneapolis school district superintendant said: "80% attendance rate means that the students miss a day of school each week. That means they miss a year of school out of every four."

Hmmm...could it be that they are better off learning on their own? After all, one year of every four is 25%, not 20%. Guess some educators can't count.

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Oleg "peacemonger" Volk

http://dd-b.net/RKBA


[This message has been edited by Oleg Volk (edited July 06, 2000).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Correia:
Heck, 80% of High School was compleatly useless crap anyway.[/quote]

That figure seems a bit low to me. Are you saying that one out of every five things you heard in school was useful?

In my high school the ratio was more like one out of every hundred or so.

pax

"The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality." -- Henry Louis Mencken
 
Nice Mencken quote, PAX.

High School was a joke. College not much better. Can't remember anything useful learned.
 
Last year a physics class from the local high school toured my workplace. After talking with them I realize 90% of these kids probably didn't understand basic math let alone physics. What the schools need to teach more of is life skills. How to balance a check book. How to fix a leaky faucet. How to boil water. You know, all the things you really need to know in life.
 
Being an OF I have somewhat antiquated ideas about education. I am not completely against teaching "life skills", but certainly not at the expense of the basics. H.L. Mencken had it right. Our schools reduce all to the lowest common denominator.

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You have to be there when it's all over. Otherwise you can't say "I told you so."

Better days to be,

Ed
 
Oleg,
I fell out of my chair laughing at the quote and observation. I happen to be a physics and mathematics teacher here in Virginia. I have worked with/for a lot of 'administrators' like that. What's wrong with our education system? Where do I begin?! Maybe with the vegetables who run most of the schools out there. School systems are run by politicians... which is like letting a person with severe multiple personality disorder paint your house. You have no idea what you'll finally end up with but you can bet on having a mess to clean up afterwards.
Don't get me started.


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Those who use arms well cultivate the Way and keep the rules.Thus they can govern in such a way as to prevail over the corrupt- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
 
A friend who owns his own business hires kids out of a local high school which has a good reputation. This friend then must require that these kids not make *any* written communication on company letterhead/e-mail/etc. unless it's been reviewed by himself or another supervisor. Reason: the new-hires' shoddy grammar and spelling makes the company look bad. He tells them to take classes (on their own time) to improve their writing skills.

My friend's own 4 children are homeschooled. 'Nuff said. --Denise
 
As things now stand I think we can consider public schools as the enemy. What they do manage to teach is not what I want my kids to know.

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"Minneapolis school district superintendant said: "80% attendance rate means that the students miss a day of school each week. That means they miss a year of school out of every four."

I hope that guy doesn't teach math. Wouldn't that be one year out of every five?

Maybe I lucked out, but I went to a great high school. They worked us like dogs. In fact I started school at 700AM (A period) and left at 400PM (B period). Took AP classes till my head exploded and night classes at a local college. I wasn't the only one by far. Not all public schools are a waste.

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So many pistols, so little money.

[This message has been edited by Tecolote (edited July 08, 2000).]
 
Like everyone, MY experience does not the whole enchilada make, but my high school learning was fantastic.

As for "life skills" like fixing a faucet etc., I'm tired of hearing things like this. I read a poll once that said 80% of people wish schools taught more things like morality, right from wrong and how to behave in society. Is it just me or should all these things be taught at home?

My dad taught me how to fix a faucet as well as how to deal with agression and how lose (and win) gracefully.

As for balancing a checkbook, I learned that in 7th grade - in public school.

-LevelHead-
 
Who can remember HS in the 70's? Not me man!
Pass that over here man...you not holding it in long enough. Cough, cough.
Arrell
 
SK,

"After talking with them I realize 90% of these kids probably didn't understand basic math let alone physics. What the schools need to teach more of is life skills. How to balance a check book. How to fix a leaky faucet. How to boil water. You know, all the things you really need to know in life."

I hope this was tongue in cheek suggestion beacuse your statements are contradictory. "Students didn't understand basic math" and you think they need more home economics skills?

We NEED more qualified engineers, doctors, etc. If the students "need" to learn more about home repairs and simple money management then Mom and Dad NEED to pry themselves away from the TV and teach them.

Students can't do basic math becasue the school "administrators" are more concerned with how the kids "feel" then what they really need to learn.

It's only going to get worse...

CMOS

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NRA? Good. Now join the GOA!

The NRA is our shield, the GOA will be our sword.
 
DISCLAIMER: The following represents MY OPINION ONLY.

Public schools in our society today have one MAJOR GOAL. That is to mentally beat children into submission to "authority" (however that term might be defined). HS is the "finishing school" for teaching this submission, which is why most of the stuff "taught" seems worthless.

Most of what a child will learn in public school is taught by the 6th grade. From that point on, the emphasis is on "meshing with society's rules". ("What are you doing in the hall? Got a 'hall pass'?")

"Class Presidents" are "elected" in HS, initiating the sheeple into the vagaries of a fake political system. The initiation into WHO a person is, and HOW WELL they "get along" becomes paramount. Institutionalized peer pressure is brought to bear. (You aren't wearing the right designer-label clothes; you're just an outcast.)

Yes, if you look at the things emphasized in HS, very little deals with LEARNING, while nearly all deals with "socialization" and conformity.

A sad state we're in.

(/rant)
 
My problem with public schools is that the criteria is set around the stupid kids and the more intelligent kids have to be restrained from learning, so as not to upset little Jose's confidence. They also spend so much time on TASP testing to get funding that you don't learn anything anyway. If it wasn't to find out where the next party was, I would have quit a lot earlier.

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Beware the three D's: The dumb, drunk, and deranged. Chadintex@hotmail.com
 
Dennis, I agree with you.

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Beware the three D's: The dumb, drunk, and deranged. Chadintex@hotmail.com
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dennis Olson:

DISCLAIMER: The following represents MY OPINION ONLY.[/quote]

Not just your opinion, Dennis ... I think you'd find a lot of people agree with you.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Public schools in our society today have one MAJOR GOAL. That is to mentally beat children into submission to "authority" (however that term might be defined). HS is the "finishing school" for teaching this submission, which is why most of the stuff "taught" seems worthless.[/quote]

This is one reason why nearly every public school teacher recoils at the idea of people schooling their own kids or sending them to private school. "How can kids be socialized if they aren't in public school??"

This question translates to, "It is the job of the public school to teach your child how to behave. Education is secondary to this goal."

But social education is the provenance of the family, not of the State. It can be delegated but not simply abrogated.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Most of what a child will learn in public school is taught by the 6th grade. From that point on, the emphasis is on "meshing with society's rules". ("What are you doing in the hall? Got a 'hall pass'?")[/quote]

"Meshing with society's rules." You mean, training in how to grow up to be sheeple?

Does any of us want that for our kids?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"Class Presidents" are "elected" in HS, initiating the sheeple into the vagaries of a fake political system. The initiation into WHO a person is, and HOW WELL they "get along" becomes paramount. Institutionalized peer pressure is brought to bear. (You aren't wearing the right designer-label clothes; you're just an outcast.)

Yes, if you look at the things emphasized in HS, very little deals with LEARNING, while nearly all deals with "socialization" and conformity.

A sad state we're in.

(/rant)[/quote]

School is usually bad for kids.

Education is good for them.

Find some way to reconcile those two sentences when rearing your own children, and they'll be ahead of the game.

pax

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -- Albert Einstein
 
Public schools are what parents make them. I love folks that bash public schools and then don't take the time to speak with teachers, check their kid's homework, speak with administrators, attend school board meetings, and do all the other things that you're supposed to do. Public schools were originally set up as a partnership between parents and schools. If you've got problems with your public school get involved. If you don't teachers and administrators will do as they please. And that usually means they'll do nothing.

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So many pistols, so little money.
 
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