Why are American kids so dumb?

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by notyoueither
How terribly glib. I shouldn't have expected more, but still.

Morever, brilliantly glib answer to a terribly glib question.

[:) Smiley]

From my experience in a New Jersey public school system, the major causes are as follows:

1. Anti-learning culture "it's not cool to be smart", lack of government or private recognition of intellectuals. I took a business class in high school, and there were people in the class who thought that sports players made more money than corporate executives. Incidentally, "sports marketing" was part of the curriculum.

2. Dumbed down one size fits all standards, in large part caused by small size of school districts. My town had a single high school with just over 1,000 people. Only in the last few years did the county finally open a science high school. Since the local district sets curriculum, there's a limit to what a small staff can do.

3. Inverse relationship between intelligence and number of children a person has.

- - - - - - - -

At college, however, things get better, since the first two factors are negated.

[aneeshm]

Why not simply raise the bar and introduce tougher syllabi , tougher standardised tests across the whole country ?

I will refrain from commenting about how state-based education ( like state-based anything ) is and has to be a failure , but even from the viewpoint of the state , why not simply become a mandatory standards authority , with standardised testing ( and very tough standardised testing ) across the whole country ? It works pretty well in India .

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Sikander


Teacher pay isn't that bad for the quality of the teachers it currently attracts. When I was in college education majors were the stupidest on campus based on their test scores. Most of them have no more reason to complain about compensation than anyone else. However if we do want to attract a better class of person into teaching than we will have to make the profession more competitive in terms of compensation.

More blaming the people on the job.

As for the social problems, I don't see them as any more challenging than the problems of the past. What has changed is in fact the expectations of what the education system is supposed to accomplish (we aim much higher).

I disagree wholeheartedly. The expectation may be higher, but the incidents of broken homes are much higher than they used to be, parental involvement is in the crapper, and now alot of the kids are drugged up on something.

I also firmly disagree about the testing issue. We need to test to see where we are, to do otherwise is insane. The testing issue has become a power struggle between the teacher's unions and the republicans, with neither side operating completely in good faith. But I hold that teaching to the test is very desirable if your test is a good one. And there is no reason whatever that a test can't test for a variety of skills (ie testing whether or not the student has actually learned to think) rather than a rote list of unconnected facts.

Standardized testing has always been used in the classroom.


However, the problem, now, is that it has become so huge that it has replaced actual teaching with teaching students to take tests.

Teachers are complaining that they no longer get time to actually teach.

[Darkstar]

Ted Striker... 20 years ago, students were drugged up on something as well. Alcohol, pot, and speed were 3 biggies and all easy to score. Other drugs were certainly occasionally available. Sniffing was big for kids that didn't know how to score other things, or didn't have anyone to steal the money off of to use to buy recreational aids.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Ted Striker

Morever, brilliantly glib answer to a terribly glib question.

Maybe for an idiot.

[Ted Striker]

I know, but you tried.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Darkstar
Ted Striker... 20 years ago, students were drugged up on something as well. Alcohol, pot, and speed were 3 biggies and all easy to score. Other drugs were certainly occasionally available. Sniffing was big for kids that didn't know how to score other things, or didn't have anyone to steal the money off of to use to buy recreational aids.

I'm not talking about THOSE drugs.


I'm talking about prescription drugs.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
I know, but you tried.

Your answer to who runs the system is that you all do. That's fine. That means you are responsible for Iraq.

Nice standard.

[notyoueither]

Idiot.

[Ted Striker]

Yes, we are responsible for Iraq.


We broke it, we have to fix it.


Anything else?

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Idiot.

[notyoueither]

No. You, You personally. You had the power to make a change, but you failed.

[Ted Striker]

That's correct.

Anything else?

[notyoueither]

Just one question. How do you manage to keep your head up your ass so long?