dumbed-down schools

[ReservoirDawg10]

The local mcdonalds and gas stations will always be needing cashiers. The people that can't figure it out get to fill these roles. Slow people are needed in this world.

 

[emptyMAGS]

 

[testdepth]

You sir would be correct. Public schools get their allocation of funds from students that pass the ''core'' final exam and attendance. My wife has been told by here administrator that she, as well as all other teachers, is not allowed to give a grade below a 60 and to retest until the student passes. Both mandates contradicts state policy.
It is a rarity to have students fail. They are pushed on to the next grade without fulling understanding what they where have to ''learned'' at that grade level. Thus compounding the ''dumbing down'' of our youth.

Shines a brighter light on the high school graduation rates the schools report. All we hear
are the percentages of graduates and nothing mentioned of how often the kids had to be tested to pass.

 

[roundhouse]

In today's public school system you would have been classified as ADD and your parents counseled to have you medicated for it.

I think any child male or female that is very intelligent will be bored in public school as most of those programs are taught to the level of the most ignorant in the class. My ex-wife's daughter was attending public school in San Diego when I was stationed there. It was to easy for her and did not challenge her to learn more. I had a parent conference with her teacher to specifically ask her to give my daughter more homework or more challenging homework. The teacher said she could not do that because the school and curriculum does not allow her to. I told her my daughter is bored and not challenged in your class and this is not providing a good education for her. Basically she and the system is set up to teach to the most ignorant in the class and that's when I pulled her out and placed her in private school.

Absolutely

I never realized how much time was wasted in school until I was in the 11th grade and got three days in school suspension for answering a teacher asking a personal question that “it was none of your damn business “

The in school suspension was in the elementary grade building and they brought your books and assignments to you

Worst part was you couldn’t read any books besides your school books and couldn’t sleep

I had all the work completed for all my classes by 10:30

I don’t think there should be any homework
Geeze you’re in class all freaking day
Half the time doing nothing

When my kid was in high school and driving
Some days he would come home at odd times and say that they were just watching movies or something in class and he came home

 

[HornofA]

There is a big problem right now with math especially. My older 2 are learning regular math. My younger one is in common core. He hates it. He constantly gets problems marked wrong with the right answer but wrong way of coming up with it or just doing the easy problems in his head. He's youngest is pretty smart but very analytical so he can do a lot of work in his head but apparently that's not allowed. We talked to his teacher and she said it's out of her hands and she doesn't like it either. A lot of good math teachers are quitting over it right now.

After my nephews derisively explained "common core math" to me years ago I was pleased to also hear them exclaim how stupid the concept is and it actually handicaps the kids who aren't already mentally capable of using rote memorization.

As a numbers guy, I get the intent of common core when it comes to math, but as you know the path to hell is paved with good intentions ...

What they are trying to do with common core is to make the student understand WHY X + Y = Z rather than simply using rote memory to understand that X + Y = Z. And that is the difference between the old way and the new way... rote memory. Doing it the new way really pays off when you get to complex mathematical subjects like Calculus and Number Theory. However, it does not work because 1) their parents weren't taught that way and learning is often done at home in addition to school and 2) Most students never get to the complex fields of math, so the old way of learning math often works better for how they will apply their mathematical knowledge in the future.

Funny yet simple example: a fundamental reason why Asian cultures are better at math is how they communicate about numbers. For example, in Mandarin or Cantonese, they say "out of 5 take 3" to verbalize the fraction 3/5ths. If you were to say "3/5ths" in English to someone who had no understanding of fractions, it would be gibberish to them. However, in those Chinese languages, simply saying it explains what it is.

 

[GFB]

Funny yet simple example: a fundamental reason why Asian cultures are better at math is how they communicate about numbers. For example, in Mandarin or Cantonese, they say "out of 5 take 3" to verbalize the fraction 3/5ths. If you were to say "3/5ths" in English to someone who had no understanding of fractions, it would be gibberish to them. However, in those Chinese languages, simply saying it explains what it is.

Filipinos and Indonesians don't tend to do real well with math. What's the fundamental reason for that?

 

[Smiley]

As a numbers guy, I get the intent of common core when it comes to math, but as you know the path to hell is paved with good intentions ...

What they are trying to do with common core is to make the student understand WHY X + Y = Z rather than simply using rote memory to understand that X + Y = Z. And that is the difference between the old way and the new way... rote memory. Doing it the new way really pays off when you get to complex mathematical subjects like Calculus and Number Theory. However, it does not work because 1) their parents weren't taught that way and learning is often done at home in addition to school and 2) Most students never get to the complex fields of math, so the old way of learning math often works better for how they will apply their mathematical knowledge in the future.

Funny yet simple example: a fundamental reason why Asian cultures are better at math is how they communicate about numbers. For example, in Mandarin or Cantonese, they say "out of 5 take 3" to verbalize the fraction 3/5ths. If you were to say "3/5ths" in English to someone who had no understanding of fractions, it would be gibberish to them. However, in those Chinese languages, simply saying it explains what it is.

That’s my understanding of it. I remember it being extremely tough for me to get over that Calculus hump. But, once I did, it opened up a whole new understanding of mathematics. I am following my kids homework and while it’s different than how I learned basic arithmetic, it’s how I run through most math problems quickly in my head.

Rote memorization is great as long as the concepts are limited.

 

[roundhouse]

Rote memorization is useless in the real world
As is about 90% of what you spend all your time learning on school

As are GPAs

You need to know how to read write do basic math and know how to think for yourself , and solve problems in a logical manner

Not one single time after I graduated HS has any employer asked about my grades

Told my kid I didn’t care what his grades were as long as he did his best and at least passed the class and didn’t get an F

You have to take a test to graduate nowadays even if you pass all
Your classes

So why can’t a 8th 9th or 10th header take the test and graduate if they pass it ???

Theres a reason the govt won’t allow you to do that

You also can’t drop out and take the GED

I tried that and at least when I was in school they suspended your drivers license if you dropped out and you were not allowed to take the GED until you were 18

Past the 6th grade School was just like a prison sentence for me

And I’m sore it’s that way for a lot of boys today

You must serve a certain amount of time locked inside the compound
Doesn’t matter what you learn ,
you still have to serve four years in high school

There is no test to take to advance to the next grade or skip classes or advance at your own pace like there is in college or college or vo tech school when I went to Carroll tech you could advance thru the class based on your skill level and learning , it wasn’t time based .

To graduate a particular class you had to complete the assignments and get a passing grade on each one and then you moved to the next assignment

 

[HornofA]

Filipinos and Indonesians don't tend to do real well with math. What's the fundamental reason for that?

I don't know ... it is hard to do long division writing in the dirt? Or they aren't the "smart" Asians like the Japanese, South Koreans, Chinese?

 

[GFB]

I don't know ... it is hard to do long division writing in the dirt? Or they aren't the "smart" Asians like the Japanese, South Koreans, Chinese?

I was hoping for more explanation of Asian cultures and language as it pertains to math skills. What a letdown. Your explanation of numbers doesn't hold up because other languages follow the same pattern for expressing fractions and they're not all noted for their math prowess. Also, numbers in Korean are relatively (highly) convoluted but they tend to produce a lot of number-crunching magicians.