Posted by
Tim Blessing on Sunday, February 17, 2008 7:54:29 PM
The Education goes from Kindergarten to Doctor's of Philosophy.
Basic Education is at a low ebb.
People do not have basic job skills.
We push homework on students that from a cost and benefit standpoint is not worth the cost.
Most kids need more balance in their education: math, english, science, history, and physical education.
Parents are too tired to care what their kids are doing at school, staff and faculty do not have authority in the classroom, and students have subconsciously done their own cost/benefit analysis and they do not see benefit.
Foreign Lanquages should introduce in grade school because it is easier to learn for some reason.
Kids in Grammar School need more fun. Male Students need a different regimen than female students. This is both gender specific and cultural specific.
In Middle School, vocational training need's to be introduce for males since that is where they will end up if they don't get a college education.
In the areas of manufacturing, skilled, and trade jobs.
I am not ruling out female students, but their numbers in these areas is minimal.
Female students will go to college more often than not
This may sound crude, but public education is mostly geared to females.
The problem is we are educating students to be well rounded individuals, but we aren't accomplishing that point.
To teach three years of physics, biology, and chemistry for college when you won't remember it two months after leaving the class is a lousy use of taxpayers money
I would suggest let them take each course in a 12 week format in 9th Grade and when they determine the course they like concentrate on that area over the next 3 years.
Algebra I from the people I have talked to say it is a useful course.
The more advanced courses like geometry, algebra II, trigonometry, and calculus are for engineers and scientists.
English Literature is useful for most people if its relevant like say using Star Trek rather than say the book the Scarlet Letter.
English Grammar from what I remember was taught year in and year out in Public School, but its the same thing each year.
If you don't understand english grammar by the 3rd or 4th year its not going to matter. And, I saw more than one English Teacher give it way too high a priority. You need to take a foreign lanquage for some reason to understand english grammar. At least that's what a College Spanish Instructor told me that his students told him.
Research Papers are worthwhile teaching, but I found that if you can't say in 5 pages what your going to say its not worth the education. Particularly, when English Teacher spend's more time on grammar than substance.
History Courses or other Liberal Arts Courses have gone by the wayside. Who is Vice President of the United States?
Basic Civic Courses should be reintroduced, but most public school students find them useless to the real world.
High School should start at 10:00 am because teenagers by nature go to bed late and get up late not out of any sense of laziness, but because that's how their wired.
Behavior Problems in students should not be settled with medication. What male students need is some physical constructive regimen to get all that excess energy out of them.
Intergender relations is a topic of debate among academics, parents, and students. Abstinence or a Condom. We as a culture do not train our kids to be objective about the benefits and traps of teenage sex.
I never dated in Junior High School or High School or even into College. I was shy early on, but once I got to college I concentrated on academics.
Why date? Why have sex? Why not learn? I did not get my out of Middle School and High School due to the hostility of other students, regimentation of the course schedule, an environment that played to my learning weaknesses, and the long range view I took of my major goals.
The public education system is geared to the highly advanced students who will go to elite universities and those at the bottom who will end up in minimum wage jobs.
The Middle 80% of the student population do not get an education because of this dichotomy.
I spent 3 years on Hard Sciences and Advanced Math, but I got one hour in economics on how to maintain a checking acct. at a bank.
I was interested in Political Science, while the coursework offered me nothing tangible in that direction.
My education for the most part started at 2:00PM watching soap operas, reading the newspaper/magazines, watching the news, and watching entertainment shows each night of the week. My family and I talked politics, business, sports, and on a whole range of subjects not covered at school.
In reality, I was 5 years ahead of where my classmates were at anyone time.
I have discussed public education with people who have experienced it in the distant past who are in agreement with me that a high school education in the 1950s is equivalent to a BS degree today.
We try to educate our students, but we do not do a good job.
Human Resources is where all the cutting edge research is being done for business. How to get most out of trained employees rather than socalled educated people.
No, I did not care for what my public schools provided because I knew I was better suited for college.
I did not attend any social events, sports for the most part, and I did not participate in classes because I was bored with the subject matter and frustrated with almost everything related to my class and schools.
Today, a good community college can provide a good Associate Degree in a Technical Field and you can go back and get a 2nd AD and so forth.
Bachelor Degrees in Engineering and the Hard Sciences are good for 5 years or so then you need to go into management or go back for a Master's. Some people defy this contradiction.
If your in business or liberal arts than you need to work at it for 5 years before you will make money. In essence, your telling an employer you are trainable and broad minded.
How you perform in High School is no indication how you will perform in college or out in the real world? I was in above average classes in Public School, I made low grades, and I ended up with far more independent success than the other advanced students who the teachers seem to think would turn out great.
I, myself, am interested in getting a PHD, but the monetary cost is Prohibitive and it say's your specializing.
Personally, I have a wide range of experience that has nothing to do with that halfway house I called Public Education.