After putting some thought into the status of our public school, and the intellectual presence of America on the world stage. I've come to realized than the majority of our problems could be solved with smarter kids and the best way to get smarter kids is to get a better public school system.
One thing I would like to mention. Everyone looks at our (America's) public education test scores, and compares them to other countries. You realize that we are quite possibly the first country on the list who educates every single one of our children. Instead of "fixing" public schools, why don't we simply make high school optional, and let those who do not wish to attend school any further pursue jobs that require menial talent and skill, and let others choose high school, and of those that choose high school, why not let some who want to go to vocational schools, and the rest go to a traditional high school? That would greatly lesson the burden placed upon the current school system, bring our test scores up, and in fact leave less children behind than the current system because, in the current system, every child is treated nearly identical, and individiaulity and creativity is sacrificed in the name of testing and standards and creating efficient, mindless, workers. Allowing multiple choices for students entering the 9th grade would make, by far, the most sense.
I Didn't Read All The Posts But A Couple I've Read Are Saying We're Lazy, I AGREE. I Tried Being The "Cool" Kid By Not Doing Any Work Or Anything, Well It Sucked. So One Year Of Lazy And The Rest Of School Is WAY Harder For You. And Kids These Days Are Just Not Wanting Anything Besides Video Games And Stuff. And Most Parents Don't Do Anything About It. They Just Don't Care Like They Should. Mine Care And I Hate It But It Will Be The Best For Me In The Future. =)
public school systems changing would not do anything, the kids are too lazy to do homework, for example if public school systems gave out more homework then the kids would skip the homework, fail the class, and have to redo his grade over and over, it would not be fair to him, i blame parents, they need to teach their kids do to work, pay attention, and not be lazy
public school systems changing would not do anything, the kids are too lazy to do homework, for example if public school systems gave out more homework then the kids would skip the homework, fail the class, and have to redo his grade over and over, it would not be fair to him, i blame parents, they need to teach their kids do to work, pay attention, and not be lazy
Amen. I remember seeing a video, or maybe reading it, can't remember, but a parent complained that their child was not doing well in school, and was basically letting the teacher have it. The teacher then asked how long the child spent on homework, what subjects the child concentrated most heavily upon, and whether they listened to music while doing homework. The parent knew none of the answers to the questions.
It amazes me that we expect our schools to shoulder the burden of education entirely. Schools are not there to motivate learning, they are there to provide the resources and subject matter, parents and the home life must provide the initial motivation. I'm tired of the schools getting blamed for a parental problem.
******Conspiracy theory time: Here's why nothing will change. Politicians run the schools, don't be naive. They will not blame the parents of school age children for the lack of motivation because they get elected by those same people. If politicians actually lambasted the parents of children for not setting good examples and doing something called parenting, they would never get (re)elected. It's a shame, but everyone is afraid to speak about the real problem because of politics, while teachers and students continue to suffer.***
samy (first post)- I don't think that getting better public schools will make kids smarter. I think that if they try there hardest that they will become as smart as they want.
Public schools are an example of how capitalism doesn't work without socialist reform.
That's a very bold statement, but don't exactly see where capitalism comes into play, kids failing and learning less could happen with any form of government, it's all about motivation. Capitalism requires individuals to know more than other forms of government to "get rich", so wouldn't capitalism tend to drive and motivate education more? I guess I don't see where exactly you're coming from.
Kids these days are so completly lazy that they might as well not go to school if they aren't going to try.
What is wrong with you? They aren't sleeping for seven hours straight, you never know how smart a poor person can be, you are oversimplifying the entire issue, W.E.B Du bois and other intellectuals would not come to be if it hadn't been for public schooling, there are people who go to Harvard because of it and quite frankly you'll never know what people get out of education. Crime probably would increase if there was no public schooling because kids would have nothing better to do. And by the way, look out how ignorant most American kids are these days...now imagine a world where they didn't even go to school.
Its not about the better school, it's about the better kids, and the only way to get better kids is to solve the problems surrounding the public schools, not just the schools themselves. Problems like poverty, gang violence, etc.
