Science Forums 2

[dannieyankee]

I got this quote from the Wikipedia page of American Education:
"15 year olds ranked 24th of 38 in mathematics, 19th of 38 in science, 12th of 38 in reading, and 26th of 38 in problem solving.[79] In the 2006 assessment, the U.S. ranked 35th out of 57 in mathematics and 29th out of 57 in science. "

I am not sure whether or not other countries have students like this, particularly in Europe, but in America the attitude is 'School sucks'. There are so many unintelligent students wasting space in public classrooms, and I blame some of these problems on a number of things.

1) The Media.
2) The poorly organised education system.
3) Lack of Government control in education.
4) Greed of schools
5) Incompetence of teachers
6) Lack of specialised skills in public schools.

I'll address each issue individually, starting from the bottom up.

The fact remains that many elementary and middle school teachers are not prepared to teach appropriate classes; one teacher will explain basic arithmetic, phonics, reading, and a bit of history and science. Teachers should get a more extensive training system, with less focus on being a babysitter and more focus on teaching a more advanced, structured class. Kids should NOT be leaving elementary knowing 5 + x = 7 with x = 2 as the extent of their advanced mathematics. The way I see it, elementary age children should be learning 5x + y = 3, 1x + 4y = 7, and be able to solve for both x and y. The separation of what constitutes as advanced and what does not is a major problem.


Schools are trying to make money off their students. Simple as that. The Government needs to be able to provide PROPER FUNDING for each and every school; School Districts would pay the salaries; government pays for everything else, with PROPER EDUCATIONAL BOOKS AND DEVICES. For example - recently, the school district chose a book for our AP World History class. That book was the worst out of all the choices, and yet they chose it. For that reason, the REVIEW BOOK - one that students bought themselves - was much more competent than the actual AP Book, which was not in a format that would assist in the development of World History knowledge at the AP level. Why did they choose it? Because it was cheaper than the other books, which had more information in an easier-to-remember format.

In High School (at least where I'm from), the schedule for years goes as follows: 9th grade = Algebra I, Earth Space Science, World History, and basic English I. 10th grade = Geometry, Biology, no required history, and English II. 11th = Algebra II, Chemistry, US Government, and English III. 12th grade = Any other math (required one more year), Any other science (not required), Economics, and English IV.
I propose that a better 'schedule' would be:
9th - Geometry, Earth Space Science, US Government, and a more advanced English curriculum.
10th - Algebra I, Biology, Economics, and a more advanced English curriculum
11th - Algebra II, Chemistry, European Governments, and American Literature
12th - Any advanced mathematics, such as Pre-Cal or Stat, any science, such as Physics or advanced Bio/Chem, World History, and British Literature

That way, the Algebras follow each other, the sciences remain at the level of difficulty as well as a more proper math for each subject, the social studies are in general, based on the difficulty of each class ,and you actually learn more about English in each class, covering most grammar and vocabulary skills in 9th and 10th and actually learning about poetry and interpretation in 11th and 12th.

Finally, the media - students are far too caught up on all the press coverage of popular celebrities and TV shows CENTRED SOLELY on dating and high school teens.

The lax uniforms and school policies allow for students to bring their iPods and other media devices to schools. Students with poor respect and manners are kept in the same classroom as those who are not, thus keeping the more able and willing students from being able to succeed, because there is not enough separation between students. There are basically a few LOOSE classifications for students - Regular, ESE, Gifted/AP Gifted, and Honors/AP.

I propse this: Regular, for Students WILLING and DESIRING to learn more and advance themselves,
Honors/AP for the students both willing and able to handle a more advanced curriculum, which WILL be provided, contrary to some modern Honors classes, Gifted/AP Gifted for students WITH both a desire to further themselves AND an advanced IQ (you can't only be high-IQ worthy, you also have to be WILLING), ESE for those who are willing to learn but have some learning disabilities (not retarded, just not as intelligent as the normal population), and then Specialised Education for those who are not willing to learn (this is both a basis of all required knowledge of high school and a sort of therapy program, one that discovers why a student does not want to learn and how to help them as much as possible. Might require psychologists and patience.)

I also propose a sort of 'tougher uniform policy'. Sure, for PE students can change into t-shirts and basketball shorts, but in school, that classic button-up shirt and tie should be mandated. BOTH boys and girls have the option of wearing pants or shorts, but they would be required despite gender, to wear the tie and have a jacket with the school logo.

Maybe it's just me, but American schools have these 'cliques' not seen in other places such as Britain. Maybe that's a big problem?