I think there are major steps that are ought to be taken for the improvement of US education.
The national results in international comparisons have often been far below the average of developed countries. In OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment 2003, 15 year olds ranked 24th of 38 in mathematics, 19th of 38 in science, 12th of 38 in reading, and 26th of 38 in problem solving.[75] In the 2006 assessment, the U.S. ranked 35th out of 57 in mathematics and 29th out of 57 in science. Reading scores could not be reported due to printing errors in the instructions of the U.S. test booklets. U.S. scores were far behind those of most other developed nations.[76] . Bill Gates believes that the American high school is "obsolete"
Thats some statistics for you. I can feel the ineffectiveness myself, being a student.
I can honestly say that I don't learn shit! Maybe some things in math, but forget next year. Were given kiddy assignments to do just for the sake of having enough total points. Your in 8th grade and they ask you to fill in a map. In 9th grade, you have to make a soundtrack that relates to some dam fiction book no one cares about. The A graders seem to be the ones that obey unquestioningly.
Where do teachers get their ineffective methods anyway?
In some classes, I feel I know more then my teacher. Maybe this is bad luck but my biology teacher hardly knows what his talking about and I can catch him give the wrong answers..
that is a good point, but only in college do they teach for what you want to be specifically, however it is still important to get your general education, without it you could not get into a good college to become the general surgeon you've always wanted to be.
And if you think you do not learn enough, you are not curious enough. And if you forget it, it if your own fault.
Whaa? I consider myself ultimately curious and this has lead me to wandering my head in philosophy. I just don't want schools teaching anything. Or anything Im interested in...
@thelistman,
Thanks for the response. And its nice to have this conversation with a teacher And so...
That's because I because I push them, challenge them, and *gasp* make them do work outside of school! [/quote
I hate homework. Or rather, anything I am forced to do against my will. Even if I am interested in a subject, it does not automatically mean I will do whatever my teacher asks. Say I like history, but if you gave me an essay on Hitlers life, I would find it boring and useless and would choose not to do it, unless you threaten me with the "Its worth 100 hundred points and you'll fail the class!". The point system really gets the teachers to be let off easy. Just assign anything, it doesn't matter because the student cant rebel in any way. You have ultimate power.
[quote]But at the same time I don't teach the typical history or Government course. I have a major theme in my government class. That theme is "ower." I relate everything back to power and money. I am often critical of politicians and always have the students question human intentions.
Good, but this method often because annoying.
I guess it all depends on whether your interested in the class and whether if you find the teachers methods useful. If I am sitting in an English class "learning" prepositions then the class becomes sleep time. If Im really interested in something but my teacher cant teach it, then the class becomes boring and again -- sleep time.
Really I want more freedom in the education system. Just the thought that I have to go sit down for 6 hours and obey to some teacher who give useless assignments just kills me.
It all depends on the teacher teaching you. If he/she talks about nonsense most of the time then yeah, your school experience does suck, but if the teachers challenge you and push you to do your best,and they know what they are talking about then school experience is good.
Really I want more freedom in the education system. Just the thought that I have to go sit down for 6 hours and obey to some teacher who give useless assignments just kills me.
I understand. Many of my previous teachers were like this. Homework that had no meaning other than ten points to my grade.
I try to make assignments worth while. Every Friday we have a Current Events day. The students have to find a news article with an argument in it. They then have to "spin" the article and create two different arguments. It does not even have to be political or historical. It could be about a TV show, music artist, or anything at all. I'll ask for some volunteers to share the article, then we debate it in class. The purpose is to show that every argument has more than one side. Sometimes there are four, five, six or more sides. They also love to express their views, so this gives them an opportunity to be heard.
I've allowed them to draw propaganda posters in my history class. I have a lot of discussion and useful exercises. But there are just those times where I have to assign something out of the book. The state standards dictate that a student must pass the Constitution test to graduate. Thus, I can't always be creative. Also, I am under heavy time constraints. So other times, I just do it so I can get an extra hour of sleep. It sucks. But sometimes, that's what it comes down to.
Hmm. We used to have the current events assignment in my 6th grade. It was the same thing, every Friday. I still found it useless. I really don't like to share political views with others who have no clue on the subject.
I don't know what twisted perspective Id have to take to not view it as boring.
Im looking at reality and I cant ignore it. I am going to school for 8 hours a day. 2nd,3rd,4th,5th periods are complete wastes.
I have teachers who think relating a story to your life is going to teach you something..somehow. Hell I always put a silly answer.
Its about how a character is forced to do something he doesn't want to do, my answer: "I once had to write about how a character is being forced to do something he does not wish to is related to my life"
And asking to have a project where you pick 5 songs and write how they relate to a theme on a site doesnt help either. The advanced class has the same thing but they have to waste their time doing 10 instead.
Ok lets learn prepositions now. *Teacher puts on a video of Jurassic Park*
Teacher: "THE DINASOUR IS ON THE TABLE" -- "The DINASOUR JUMPED OFF THE TABLE"
LOL, no joke.
I want to go to school at any time I want, in the class I want. I want complete responsibility for my education. College is going to be fun.
Good kids still pass school, they just don't learn much doing so. I'm looking at the seniors and hell, there clueless about everything.
Do they actually even learn, they hardly remember it, heck, I use to know so many things about the Egyptians, now I don't even remember much at all. Only thing I remember was my Social studies teacher being perverted and sniffing out little children.
LOL! They really try and teach subjects which one is not interested in. What's the point of learning about the Romans in 5th grade? There is no interest for it and it's never going to be used! This quickly leads to the demise of what has been learned.
And if you noticed, the good writers in English are the ones who always been good. The class has so little affect on learning such a thing. Give a bad writer 1000 essays to write and all 1000 will turn out bad. I can go and explain in a whole essay as to why this is true
@thelistman- I wishI had you as a teacher, you sound like Williams, my favorite. He's one of the few who lets us think. And he's hilarious. However, the problem with debate in the classroom, is the way it is so narrowly confined. AP World History we were debating whether the French Revolution was worth the toll in blood, and when I jokingly made the esoteric arguments "rights are evil," I was more or less shut up, becuase no one liked hearing that, even though it was a joke.
And curse state standards, theey should be waived for AP and Honors classes. They waste so much bloody time... and the essay graders are fools.
