Education in USA Failing
May 24, 2008
The sad state of eduction is our own fault, that of parents, citizens, teachers, administrators. We have allowed those who have no idea of quality education to run things. As long as our kids received As and Bs, as long as teachers didn't get any parent complaints, etc., all was well. Guess what? All is not well and the chickens are coming home to roost. Whatever is latest fad is the new program, curriculum, etc. Have you ever noticed that no education reforms, NONE, ever mention hard work, responsibility, accountability, etc.? Oh, don't talk about the state tests. The way teachers teach to the test, as if the tests were legitimate (Don't believe me? Check the newspaper throughout the state which have found errors, flaw, etc. in the test or ask to take the test yourself.), the results are flawed. About a dozen years ago, my son had a teacher who was following the district "cooperative learning" scheme. My son was graded down, consistently, because he wasn't "cooperative." I asked why and the teacher said he wouldn't go along with the group answers; he insisted on submitting his own. Well, I asked, were his answers right? The teacher, with a straight face, replied, "Yes, they always are." To make a longer story shorter, I just told her, "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." You see, teachers are either afraid to confront such stupid policies as this or, well, don't realize they are stupid policies (and what does that say?). Of course, who gets to be the administrators who determine these policies? Yep, those who went along with the earlier jokes. Nope, things won't get better until more than one person objects...and most of us are too busy watching American Idol, following the Red Wings, or whatever else is more important than education. Just one man's lonely opinion.
--by Ron on 5/24/08 Lives: Michigan
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7 Comment(s)
The real culprit's in education today is our education colleges racket.Loaded with liberal politically correct theories and very little common sense.
--by on 5/24/08 Lives: Dearborn
Though no longer a resident of Dearborn, I continue to feel a certain kinship for that special place. You see,Dearborn was my hometown and Russ Gibb was my pal growing up. We shared many adolescent adventures together. In the ensuing years, Russellbob (that's what I call him) and I though I now live in San Francisco, have managed to maintain long-distance contact with one another. Russellbob was a groomsman in my wedding. Though we may have differing views on certain delecate issues (read political), I continue to respect his integrity and stubborness in mounting his horse and riding off in all directions in support of his views (wrong though they often may be). Russellbob and I rececently had occasion to renew our friendship and it was he who made my return to the old hometown one of the memorable moments in my life. I don't always agree with him but I continue to love him.
--by on 5/25/08 Lives: Dearborn
What is common sense? We have lost our bearing on common sense. Our public schools are so absolutely screwed up that we no longer know which way is up.
The politically correct bunch has hijacked the public education system without as much as a fight.
--by on 5/25/08 Lives: Dearborn
You know what really screws education? When smart people who received a good education the traditional way start theorizing blindly and decide that some new, non-benchmarked way is the best, and then blame a lack of data for poor results, which is just an excuse to keep these programs longer. It's like America's forgotten what education is really about.
--by on 5/25/08 Lives: USA
Ron...you are RIGHT ON! But, I beleive the biggest problem is with the parents and other concerned citizens that allow the school administration to invent these non-sensical approaches to curriculum. And, with any curriculum, nothing is going to benefit the child without parental involvement in their children's education. So many are very content to stay home and watch TV with their kids rather that get involved with their homework so they would be able to know if what they were being taught was worthwhile. When my kids were in the Dearborn schools, I was always dismayed regarding the extremely low turn-out at parent teacher conferences and the lack of attendance and involvemnet in the PTA. Parents, many of them anyway, just do not care and would rather turn over their kids to the state run institutions to be taught whatever blather comes forth. The same can be said of us citizens that do not get involved in our state or federal governmnet. They don't read and digest the dialy news, read papers, listen to debates, don't know what the issues are, don't attend or tune-in on city council or school board meetings, don't know the names of more than one of 7 council members, don't know how many justices are on the Supreme Court, couldn't explain the difference between a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, don't vote, etc, etc. As Alley Oop said, "we have met the enemy and he is us." So, wake up people and get off your arse and get involved!!!
--by on 5/29/08 Lives: Dearborn
One big problem is the total contradiction of our own system. We see case after case where we aggressively enforce the law for some but ignore it for others, separation between church and state for Christians, but Muslims seem to have a free hand to do whatever they want.
U of M installs prayer rooms and foot baths, McDonald Elementary school posts its daily school news in Arabic and routinely posts "Praise be to Allah" on the monitor for all to see, but Christians cant do silent prayer inside a school.
We have a Principal who was SEEN striking students without as much as a slap on the wrist, but God forbid we have an assistant wrestling coach who dare practice Christianity openly only to see his job as well as the head coach’s job evaporate!
Education is all about what is fashionable and politically expedient, not about what is good, true and right.
As long as we continue to see the exploits of special interest groups driving the public education system for well funded and influential people, we will continue to see decline in public schools.
--by on 5/30/08 Lives: Dearborn