lordoftheworld

Why is our education system failing? I think that there should be a national test to get your high school diploma, like all the rest of the countries in the world that have a much better educational system. Do others agree that our educational system is failing?

superbug

I think one of the problems is that the government is in charge of it. I'd like to see them taken out of the education business. Another problem is that they keep throwing money at it thinking it will get better. Some of the better systems actually run on a smaller budget than the ones that are failing.

Izzibeth

yes. our education system is lacking. i believe one reason why is because in America, being smart is almost.... looked down upon. the smart kids in school always have to deal with the most and "special education" and "gifted" are considered almost on the same level when they are SO not.

kids don't feel like they need to be smart in order to get ahead in life. in fact, recently, it seems as if people believe that if they can just come up with the next big rap hit, they will get all the money, women (and men..though.. it's not the same at all), and luxuries that all their favorite stars have. being an actor, rap star, rock star, model, pop singer... those are the professions that people are taught to aspire to. i mean.... yeah, Bill Gates is looked up to, but not because he is particularly smart in computer programming... it's because he has a lot of money.

i know i was picked on a lot in my early years of school because i was smart. i was in my own "class" when i was in first grade and didn't have any friends... in fact, the other students really disliked me. and i was a very,very,very shy person until age 17 or so.. it's not like i shoved my brain power into other students faces. eventually i started to give up and try to "dumb myself down" so that i would fit in with the other students. then around high school i stopped caring about what they thought..(went to college at age 15) but i know that if you were in the Chess Club you were looked down upon even though chess is an incredibly enriching and stimulating game.

anyway, i could go on and on, but i believe that being educated is not emphasized enough in this country because we have been told for generations that ANYONE can be rich and famous (regardless of brains) and at this point... being rich and famous is the goal for almost everybody .. especially with the rise of reality television. putting more emphasis on becoming an educated individual would be a good start while children are in school.

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Ygorl

Yes, the smart kids are the geeks or the space cadets. The real cool people are the jocks and tough guys and cheerleaders.

You'll see who ends up succesful at your 10 or 20 year class re-unions (if you even bother going).

The jocks turn into big fat assholes who're incapable of much. The cutesy cheerleaders usually end up WITH these big shitbirds and end up as plastic and airheaded as they always were in highschool.

Well, lets not alert EVERYBODY that education and smarts count for anything. See, we want to stay ahead :-) If everyone wised up we wouldn't have it so easy :-)

Let the dumb jockos sit around watching football and the airheads blab at other airheads on cell phones all day about nothing :-)

I was picked on a lot. My name Still pissed at my parents. Guess it had it's advantages though :-)

Thats cool you like playing chess. I wonder if there's an online way to play. I have no one to play it with any more.

I say lets keep it a secret that education pays. We don't want MORE competition there's quite enough as it IS

emptypepsi

Beth, you're right in the regard of intelligence being looked down upon, at least in a couple of regions of this country. You're also right about getting picked on or singled out. Think about how cool I was living in a town that revolved around football and myself being one of only five members of an Astronomy club.

I do think, however, that intelligence and education is something that does not come from academia alone. Take one example: I consider myself sufficiently educated compared to most in terms of Health/Nutrition and some aspects of Biology. A lot of what I know about health and nutrition I learned of my own volition, not in some class. Most people I know from nursing school took Nutrition like I did, but many of them drink sugary sodas as a staple in their diet and don't exercise or eat healthful. My point? You can sit people in an expensive class with a Professor with a Ph.D/30+ years experience and still have a class of kids not getting anything out of the material. Simply telling people things in a classroom is not all that is necessary.

In fact, throwing money at it won't do much better. You can pay teachers more, test the kids less, update the books, update the chalkboards, whatever...if the kids are raised to not give a shit about learning or studying, then what difference does it make? Like most of the problems America gripes at the office holders about, it's a societal problem with societal remedies -- NOT the problem of Republicans nor Democrats. Instilling a sense of value in learning and education to better oneself begins in the home and with each other. No government is going to do that right, unless of course we ask the government to start thinking for us.

Thane, right on with the "secret" of education.

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CHUQ

Any thoughts about hi-tech educational toys.

Hi-tech toys offer no educational gain, say researchers | Schools special reports | EducationGuardian.co.uk

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emptypepsi

I agree whole heartedly. You can gives kids toys to learn with, but ultimately a toy is just a toy to a kid. Studying and learning comes in the form of discipline. A line must be drawn between fun and discipline.

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FRYandBENDER

I could kick myself in the nuts becuase when I was in the 7th - 10th grade I really applied myself and made awesome grades and had somehow managed to be very athletic. (Once, a baseball game of mine was ended when the umpire stormed out becuase I showed up late due to an academic awards ceremony, long story)
Anyways, in about the 10th or 11th grade I fell for the "bullshit" as I like to call it. I had "sold my soul" for popularity and the hottest girl in school and began to neglect my studies. Then I went to college with the same mindset and it took me 2 years before I came back to my senses. I study more now than I did first two years of college.

Anywho, as to Izzi's idea of being smart being looked down upon, I totally agree. I once used the word "lethargic" in a sentence and was made fun of for using big words......this was in college. I'm not saying that I'm super smart, but goddamnit I'm a hell of a lot smarter than most of the people I have to deal with. I just find relief in making them feel bad about themselves. I don't do this unprovoked...... don't think I'm an asshole or anything, but if someone decides to be confrontational then I just talk circles around them and point out their intellectual flaws. Sometimes an extremely sarcastic comment will end it quickly.

WRT our school system, yeah, we need an overhaul like the French need deoderant (no offense to any French folks out there). But we also need a societal overhaul as well. The people our kids look up to with few exceptions are half retarded mouth breathers. Kids now a days only care about what other people think about them as far as popularity, money, clothes, etc. These are the values being taught to our kids and it never once crosses their minds that knowing what Britney and K-Fed ate on their honeymoon, or what fucking basketball shoe or rapper with his own basketball shoe is "hot" right now might not be useful information in the job market.... unless you are a vapid TV personality. They see intellectuals, especially teachers as boring old losers, who just aren't with it. Therefore, when I meet a mouth breather who thinks that "they are the shit" I try to place enough doubt in their self worth and priorities that they will either A) search their soul and decide that maybe there is a better path to happiness than bling or a prada bag, or B) gain enough sense not to come to me with their nonsensical drivel again. It's fun and depressing!

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lordoftheworld

no party has any idea how to improve our education system, because once either party takes an actual stance, then automatically they exclude other ideas. Of course both parties want better education, but they just throw money at education thinking that will solve the problem. Neither have any ideas on how to do it. The No Child Left Behind Act is a fucking joke as it sovels no problem. I'm very against big government and government controlling our every day lives, but since they already to that in schools, they should make a national test that every person has to pass in order to graduate high school. It's insane that some states have great education, and a state like mine, KY, has one of the poorest educational systems, yet we can still both graduate from high school with our diplomas. Kids here can not do any work, cuss out teachers, just play a sport really good and nothing else, and just pass through.

I went to a tradtional school, it's public though, and it's supposedly supposed to better (we had to wear uniforms, did anyone else?), and then there are the regular public schools that have really low scores on the state level tests. That's stupid. My school and every other school in the same school district should have the same general curriculum, same graduating standards, same set of rules regarding behavior, and the right to slap the shit out of a kid that acts up (i'll let this last idea die if the others are taken up). Kids in school know that the teacher cant do anything but send him to the principal's office (big whoopie doo), and he'll call their parents who say to the kid good job. Kids in America have no disipline or respect. Like others have siad here, look at who they look up to. Maybe that's the biggest problem, kids just dont have any disipline or respect, and that starts in the home. If any politician comes out and says this though then they probably just pissed off a whole lot of people and aren't getting (re)elected.

emptypepsi

No party wants to speak the truth about our education problems (at least as a societal problem) because they are afraid of people not voting for them, or hurting the feelings of the lousy-ass parents that let this all fester. Lordworld is right, discipline and respect begins in the home. This not a failure of teachers nor the government. It is a failure of parents and society as a whole. Yeah - updated books? Sure, so the kids can not read them and continue to float by (via atheltic talent, or some other means) or flunk out (via laziness and apathy)?

I don't have any ideas to fix this. I've yet to hear a decent one. You can't force society to change or do something contra it's current being. This is the same as the health problem we have here in the country. I just follow something I read once -- "Be the change you want to see in others".

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