50 years of math

[RitterKreuz]

as an American, everything about this is funny... and nothing about this is funny  :-/

this is a huge problem in America

Its also the reason i dont watch Jay Leno's street walking skits where he asks average Americans Average questions and they manage to screw nearly all of them up... im sure they are editing out the smart ones, but still there must be only a hand full of them anyway.

I was lucky enough to spend my most formative years in private educational institutions. Only later, toward my high school life was a so unfortunate as to have to attend a public high school.

For those of you unfamiliar with the public high school concept in the United States... the public school system prior to the 12-13 year old age group is more or less just a big baby sitting hell hole... after the 13 year old age group its just a big social prison where the most important thing to the students is whether or not you have a car of your own, and if so what kind of car it is... what brand of clothes you wear, and if your keeping up with Paris Hilton's latest exploits.

Because the concept of public education here in the United States is funded by allocation of tax money, a lot of government officials spend the money on their pet projects and things that make them look good and then  delegate the left over cash to education.

another problem is the fact that education in America is geared toward passing these ridiculous standardized tests that all schools have to give their students as a measure of what you have learned when in fact you have learned only how to pass the test and have come away with no real knowledge of the subject matter. These tests are not practical in nature and do not demonstrate a thorough knowledge of anything other than the ability to take a multiple choice test and get 70% of the answers correct... and im sure 35% of those correct answers were luck alone!

The high school i attended has never had a shooting, but there was a bomb threat... and more than a hand full of gang fights in the 4 years i spent there. The school children were made up of about 50% high income family children and 50% underprivileged inner city youths. which shoots any desire to perform down because the school is so heavily segregated and divided already that all other desire by either group to succeed stands in the shadow of both groups' intent to make fun of one another.

I dont know what it is about inner city youths that makes them feel as if nobody cares and there is no way out of their situation, but they are only half right about the world... its true that nobody in the real world is going to care about their needs. the irony of their situation is that a good education is the only way out of their situation

and furthermore i dont know what it is about wealthy children that causes them to think that they will never have to work for a dime in their life and many of them realize all too late that a good solid education is the only thing that will provide for them once the demanding rigors of adulthood take hold of their lives.

rant over... sometimes i just want to immigrate to a European country... legally of course, but thats a whole other issue!

[Hagar]

rant over... sometimes i just want to immigrate to a European country... legally of course, but thats a whole other issue!

Too late for that I'm afraid. From your comments it seems that the current state school system in the UK is based on the American model. Please don't ask.

[spitfire boy]

rant over... sometimes i just want to immigrate to a European country... legally of course, but thats a whole other issue!

Too late for that I'm afraid. From your comments it seems that the current state school system in the UK is based on the American model. Please don't ask.

Not true.. at least where I am.

I appreciate that there can be quite a few thick tw*ts in all schools that screw things up for the rest ofus.. but that's the point. It's a few morons. The rest of us are nice, civilized, humans-in-miniature.

I just don't like it when people generalise about the education system. It has some WHACKING great problems, but also some really great things.

Sadly, our current headteacher is the former, not the latter...

[Hagar]

rant over... sometimes i just want to immigrate to a European country... legally of course, but thats a whole other issue!

Too late for that I'm afraid. From your comments it seems that the current state school system in the UK is based on the American model. Please don't ask.

Not true.. at least where I am.

I appreciate that there can be quite a few thick tw*ts in all schools that screw things up for the rest ofus.. but that's the point. It's a few morons. The rest of us are nice, civilized, humans-in-miniature.

I was talking about the education system which is now very similar to the American model that RitterKreuz described, especially the constant testing & performance charts.* This is not the fault of the pupils but unfortunately they are the ones that will suffer from it. PsychoDiablo's original "joke" is more of a comment & sadly too true to be funny.

I just don't like it when people generalise about the education system. It has some WHACKING great problems, but also some really great things.

Sadly, our current headteacher is the former, not the latter...

In my experience a school is as good as its head teacher. I don't think that will ever change.

*PS. DCSF School and College Achievement and Attainment Tables (formerly Performance Tables)
Note they can't even stick with a name for the darned things.

[aussiewannabe]

[quote]as an American, everything about this is funny... and nothing about this is funny

[RitterKreuz]

as an American, everything about this is funny... and nothing about this is funny  :-/

this is a huge problem in America

RitterKreuz,

This is a very well thought out argument and I enjoyed reading it.  ;)

thank you sir!

i could go on and on and on though  ;D

[TacitBlue]

It should also be noted that when not enough students are able to pass the standardized tests, the schools do the exact opposite of what they should do to correct the problem. You would think logically, that if kids can't pass the tests, then they need to do a better job of teaching them. Instead they just make the tests easier and lower the standards.

[H]

It should also be noted that when not enough students are able to pass the standardized tests, the schools do the exact opposite of what they should do to correct the problem. You would think logically, that if kids can't pass the tests, then they need to do a better job of teaching them. Instead they just make the tests easier and lower the standards.

I've only certifiably encountered this once, one other time only in a sense and one other, much worse, scenario. In the first, the teacher had been ill and our class wasn't properly prepared by the substitute, frequently iterating, "I don't know the answer to that but I'll find out," for the already prepared exam. The second was later, in my 3rd secondary school, with a personal credit in my favor. I had a car accident and missed the final exam in calculus for which I was schedualed for a make up. Sadly, the instructor finally succumbed to Parkinson's Disease and I never received the make up exam, counting for @ 30% of the term score, and the staff decided to give me a partial credit just for completing the term. More problematic was my first secondary school: the final exam upon which your entire term grade was dependant was given to you with the answers -- you then swapped for one without the answers and completed it. Ridiculous! Give me the books, I'll read them on my own and transfer to another school, even if they are right in mid-term.

Now, for the matter; most everything you've seen me type is from material learned, for the most part, in grade school. There is a direct influence of one high school English teacher insisting that a comma with 'and' is redundant (unless part of or preceded by a clause -- as seen in the fifth sentence of my preceding paragraph), a reason you will not see a comma followed by 'and' as often as with the rest of you. My general grades were from poor to good (D to B, with a dash of F and sprinkles of A). First, sort of learning from one's mistakes, then because circumstances led to lower grades because homework wasn't completed due to personal reasons on the homefront. My 'achievement' or 'performance' tests, however, resulted in high scores, maxing Word Knowledge in 5th grade (I've forgotten so much of it since but it's the main part of what you see from me now; many can certainly outdo me) and everything but math in 6th grade.
I had my friends but I wasn't much into extensive socializing. The clique attitudes RitterKreuz mentions may have existed but never had much impact on me, as some may have thought. I've changed to some extent but, unless there was apparent need otherwise in my prominent mode, you spoke first or I didn't -- no matter what anyone considered their (or my) station of existance.
For the point of this, I am but one person in the multitude. It is simplest to example myself because I am most acquainted to it and each of us are individuals. My personal concepts naturally affect how I perceive everything around me as well as what's said to me. Therefore, I may not realize the true meaning of your statement, or overlook it, as you may well do with mine. Much of my learning was also on a personal basis; many of you spend your extra time elsewise. Most often, you learn what you want to learn. Still, as RitterKreuz stated, I've noticed a definite lack of knowledge in certain places -- and overheard the 'clique' statements while in other areas; not everything applies equally along the board.

RitterKreuz is right: you could go on with this forever.

8-)