American education system - your solutions

[Magisleeper]

American schools should just outsource to other countries, like japan, I hear those kids are smaaaart..

[Shadowmelded]

American schools should just outsource to other countries, like japan, I hear those kids are smaaaart..

I lol'd since it fits in so well with another thread about the American economy :P

Sad but I bet some people would agree with it.

[Badpaladin]

Forcing this on a kid from the minute they enter kindergarten and it will become second nature that they have to do well in school or else they can't do something they love. Of course if you try it later in life they will rebell, you have to do it from the start.

You cannot force an ideal on a group of children such that they're not allowed to do what they love unless they perform at the utmost highest standards. Not only is that morally wrong, but it also kills all chances of creativity and innovation, something the US has led the way in since the industrial age.

[Deleted]

No, it holds up the the real world. Adjusted for inflation, prices go down and/or quality of product goes up constantly. This is because private firms come up with new idea's to make their processes more efficient to cut costs, or to make their products better.



Just an example how the increased productivity that leads to increased profits is ultimately passed down to the consumer, resulting in lower prices.

Price of wholesale Eggs from 1890 - 2010, eh?
Please compare the living conditions of chickens anno 1890 to anno 2010. Then tell me we should use that development in schools as well.

---------- Post added 2011-08-08 at 05:30 AM ----------

How much evolved?

Only everything we've looked at so far.
Kind of sets the mood.

Did everything evolve from one thing, or did things evolve from a variety of things?

The further back we go, the more species melt into one common ancestor.

Perhaps there was a Big Bang, but perhaps this was caused by G-d.

Or Ptah - who supposedly spoke the universe into existence.
Actually, some say it was Unkulunkulu...
But then, what about Ymir - I mean, where did his body go if it wasn't made into the earth?
... etc.

That makes more sense, no? Why would there be random particles of matter floating around and then explode due to compression?

I don't see that it does. Why would there be a god flying around before anything else?

Science is taught in science class, and creation (all of the religions, or as many as you can cram into the curriculum) are taught in religion class. Simple.

[Klingers]

Nationalised basic curriculum. English. Maths. Science. Basic US history and social studies. Room on the timetable for regional or discretionary subjects.

Schools receive X-dollars per student. Nation-wide. Indexed yearly against CPI.

Gee. That was hard, wasn't it?

[Deleted]

I just find it sad how little attention is placed on the number one issue. The home.

what do you suggest to remedy what you consider, the number one issue?

What I suggest, is that what you see in schools are only symptoms. And in order to fix the problems (the aforementioned home issues) causing the symptoms, society needs to change. You can't have the capitalistic society you have, AND have good schools for everybody. In order to increase the school system for everyone, the rich has to take a greater responsibility instead of tax breaks.
Take a hint from EVERY society that has a better school system than you do.

[Deleted]

Price of wholesale Eggs from 1890 - 2010, eh?
Please compare the living conditions of chickens anno 1890 to anno 2010. Then tell me we should use that development in schools as well.

The living conditions of the chicken is completely irrelevant. What is relevant is the quality of the eggs. The price of eggs has recently stagnated because of regulation controlling the quality of chicken eggs, which atleast in theory should mean that while the price of eggs isn't dropping, the quality is rising while cost remains constant. (Altough this sort of regulation does not always work, but it adds costs to the manufacturer).

My point was to show that when corporations make profits, competition shifts the profits to the consumer in reduced prices and higher quality.

[Deleted]

it's an evaluation test, i.e "let's see how well these people are doing".

you're supposed to learn how to pass the test (specifically, achieve the necessary proficiency in the subjects that the test encompasses) while in school.

So wrong.
A test is supposed to test if you can USE what you've learned. Not whether you've memorized it.

school is not a magical "we teach you how to be awesome at life" but rather a "we teach you how to read the contract you're about to sign, and also figure out how much tax you're supposed to pay using simple math".

Oh god.
If this is the attitude towards the school system in America, then THIS RIGHT HERE IS YOUR PROBLEM.
School IS about teaching you how to be awesome at life. How to perform well in teamwork situations, how to be a valuable part of a democratic society, how to think critically, how to adapt what you've learned and how to learn! - NOT how to perform a set of pre-determined functions that will probably have changed seven times by the time you're done. - It's not robot school, it's human school.

[Grym]

Bring back the % scare of each student so they can't be special snowflakes even if they are retarded.

Make pass makr and such more strict, can't get the mark, stay for another year.

Bring back the cane.

[Deleted]

The living conditions of the chicken is completely irrelevant.

I don't want to make a claim that complete privatization isn't the right way to go. How would I know it isn't? That has never been attempted as far as I know, so we have no data.
I do want to caution though. Privatization tends to result in priced quality: The more you pay, the better the quality - and the less you pay, the lower the quality. That won't help the school system as a whole at all.

I firmly believe schools should be based on ideology, not profit.

Some say a public system is less efficient, so they may only use 80% of their ressources effectively.
But a private system might also only use 80%, because the last 20% goes to profit. Is that better?

[haxartus]

From what I've heard all High School test in USA have always 3 or 4 options a) b) c) d) with only 1 correct answer. This is probably biggest issue.

Not only in USA. And this system is quite bad. You can get a high score on a test just by using logic and almost no knowledge. Some questions are connected, so giving a correct answer to a question X gives you hint for question Y and indirectly solves question Z. Though it's not obvious and requires a bit logical thinking.
On other questions you can exclude 1 or 2 answers that obviously don't fit and get a 50:50 situation. If you know anything about the subject you can get it to 70:30 or 80:20.
At the end in these schools they teach you how to solve tests and that's it. They don't think their role is to teach you something valuable, or to teach you how to apply the knowledge to real life. They think their role is to get you into college. And that happens with tests.

[ThePalidius]

What I suggest, is that what you see in schools are only symptoms. And in order to fix the problems (the aforementioned home issues) causing the symptoms, society needs to change. You can't have the capitalistic society you have, AND have good schools for everybody. In order to increase the school system for everyone, the rich has to take a greater responsibility instead of tax breaks.
Take a hint from EVERY society that has a better school system than you do.

you claim the issues in schools are symptoms stemming from the home correct?

in that case, could you clairify for me, the correlation between students home conditions, and improper spending and funding habbits displayed by the us government and school administrators?

i understand your point that you believe that society needs to change, but that would require an agreement, of all the people in the united states. and in regards to any issues the u.s. has faced, there is almost always 2 or more opposing opinions. and even if some would agree, not all would. this is because some people are just ignorant, selfish, ect. and others are the opposite. society, throughout history, is in a constant state of argument or disagreement on almost everything. so this would seem to be reasonably improbable correct?

[Deleted]

you claim the issues in schools are symptoms stemming from the home correct?

Not quite.
I made the claim that it is the number one issue.
I may have been unclear about that, I apologize.

i understand your point that you believe that society needs to change

this would seem to be reasonably improbable correct?

Yes. Working on secondary issues, while more futile, would be easier...

[Glacio]

I'd like to take a moment to tell you all about my eighth grade science teacher. She was the worst teacher I have ever had (and hopefully will have had). Her previous experience in teaching was two years of first grade. She taught us as if we were first graders , and we were a honors class. My average nights homework was to color our notes as we studied, and if it wasn't colored she asked us sit outside and color them while she continued to teach the class. Her "teaching" was taking more notes while we watched "scientific" YouTube videos. Sometimes the whole class thought about just walking to the class next door to actully learn. I'd like to apologize if this seems rantish, it's just that she made everyone so mad (and she's still teaching eighth grade science).

[Scrabblet]

From what I've seen most classes teach you how to solve tests instead of problems (and by that I mean real life problems). There's even a class I had to take for half a year (we took it twice and it was 1 quarter each) about how to study to get an A on a test. Most schools these days are just telling you how to make it through school and not life.