The American Education System (and my plan to overthrow it)

[MSG]

First of all, I think it sucks. Its a conveyor belt meant to make every person the same, laboring individual who will do the crummy jobs like sweeping the streets and polishing the cars and stuff. (note: A few slip through and become successful businessmen who don\'t have to "work" as much as they have to "think", but that doesnt happen very often and it usually involves a family member having the job also.) Every high ranking school staff member knows this. They do not realize it until they are in the position, however they refuse to admit it since it would ruin the career they "worked" oh-so-hard for. Up until now me and my mom have fought the school system tooth and nail. I am trying to learn in school, be educated, however they won't let me get into the harder classes until I can "prove" I know the material by doing the work. You don't know me, you don't know what kind of medical conditions I have, and you don't understand how frustrating it is for someone like me to be faced with 50 math problems, each and every single one you know how to do, but just can't do. It sucks, and people like me are the people who wind up homeless and on the street, or still living with their mother, but you never hear about them because they never get diagnosed properly. If you teach a man with no limbs how to play basketball, tell him the rules and regulations, he can probably learn it just as good as any other individual and probably teach another person how to play, but if you ask him to prove that he knows what you just taught him by going out on the court and winning a one-on-one with a person who is not physically disabled, it would just not work. Sure he could flop around and eventually he'd learn how to make baskets, but he'd be better off doing something like accounting, writing books, or voice acting. It's the exact same thing with right-brained people like me however the disabily is not as apparent as someone with no arms or legs, its a psychological disorder that nobody can see nor understand. But that's neither here nor there. I have a plan. The first part is the essential part but it is also the hard part and the reason why nobody with my condition (its not as much as a condition as it is a privelege, but hey when everybody's got forks and you have the cake you're still a minority) has done this before. The first part goes as follows. EDIT: I deleted about 3/4 of this message because I started rambling and spoke too much and realized that I shouldn't post it. And I also realized that its not necessarily a bad thing that America molds everyone into labouring individuals, however it certainly is not a good thing. AT ALL. but anyway cue Leo Volont

[Alric]

You edited out your plan heh.

[Dangeruss]

I think it sucks, too. I think it promotes racism on a few levels. Now, I live in a mostly white town, so we spent a long time reading books about racism and learning about social injustice before most of us actually met a real black person. After reading 100,000 books about black people being called 'nigger' and eventually hanged, there's no way you can see a black face without all of that rushing back to you. It's simple word association. Now I'm no racist and I think you all probably know that already. What I'm saying is that the american educational system crams down our throats all the horrible things that white has done to black over the years, and makes it very difficult to talk to an actual black person without feeling ashamed of your own race. There are barriers, whether naturally occuring or a product of the books we've read, which made the black kids stand in one corner of the school and the white kids try to avoid eye contact with them. I refuse to believe that my town is full of racists, so I'm more inclined to believe that it's a product of the shame complex that I mentioned above. in 9th grade, the word 'nigger' made me cringe. Not any more. We've probably read the word literally thousands of times so that we're desensitized to it now. It makes us more comfortable with racism. it opens the door to racist humor, which in turn opens the door to full-on racism, an effect which i observed in some students that were a year older than me when I had ap biology last year. Racism education may have good intentions, but it can have effects which are the opposite of its goals. And with their method of teaching us the opposite of the correct way to act in such ridiculously high doses, the boards of education shouldn't be surprised if a new wave of racism pops up through their anti-racism re-education screen. Another last fact as food for thought: my ap english teachers of the past two years were probably the smartest two guys I've ever met. And they never made us read books about racism, not one. Instead of horror stories about black people being abused and lynched, they gave us books written by black authors. I've never seen a racist come out of the AP english program, but I've seen plenty come out of the honors and cp programs, where they teach to kill a mockingbird, uncle tom's cabin, etc etc all four years, but never give the students a chance to read native son.

[Manifold_Time]

I did a half-ass job my freshmen year because I began to realize how pointless school really was and how much of a half-ass education I was getting. I didn't care about my work, scantily studied for tests and dragged my body to school 5 mornings of the week. My grades? I ended up with an 86 in biology as my lowest grade and the next lowest being english with an 88. All my test scores were in the 90s except english. Yay for easy, repetitive, ineffective school.

[dazed and confused]

Let me start by saying that next year I will be a sophmore in all honors classes, whth a GPA of 3.9. *hopes this gives me some credability* I did not catch your post before you edited it, but the current state of the united states school system is a wreck. They can't afford to hire decent teachers (are so busy protsesting for a better salary tht they can't put grades into the computer correctly and need 6 weeks to fix them...), which hurts thoes of us who want to learn. Required classes that are not available in an honors level stink because all of the smart kids get stuck with all the illiterates and thus these classes become a complete waste of time...

[Manifold_Time]

Originally posted by dazed and confused Required classes that are not available in an honors level stink because all of the smart kids get stuck with all the illiterates and thus these classes become a complete waste of time... I don't think teachers realize that the people who don't care never will, and the people that do care, never get a chance because of the time wasted on the people who don't care. I remember in 8th grade when we got a new assistant-principle. Just about every week, she'd call an "emergency meeting" in the auditorium where she would scream and bitch about how terrible everyone's grades were. Sorry, but doing that is actually a catalyst to the already prevalent apathy in school. I don't think it's possible to change the psyche of a school full of idiots into minds with prospects.

[dazed and confused]

Originally posted by Manifold_Time I don't think teachers realize that the people who don't care never will, and the people that do care, never get a chance because of the time wasted on the people who don't care. And thanks to no child left behind things will only get worse. Teachers are going to try and get the kids who don't give 2 craps up to passing the the rest of us sit there with nothing to to. I am a republican, but man do I hate no child left behind. I had a world perspectives class (more or less world history), we had one of the administrators from one or more "houses" (house= how they divide kids up amongst the school administrators) in the class every day to tell us how bad we were. The teacher spent more time kicking kids out than teaching. Reasons why I really like honors/AP evel classes. There is no honors/ap WP class available.

[Alric]

The problem is that people don't even come out with the basics. 14% of the population in the US is funcationally illiterate. Thats just people who are below the basics though, there is probably a huge amounts who are at or just above the basics. If we lived in a third world country that wouldn't be to bad, but for the US it is. Then the people who do know how to read and write don't know math or basic histroy. Most people don't know how our government is ran. And thats just all the basics. Its an entirely different story if you want to talk about all the people who know the basics but are total morons anyway. Maybe they are lazy and watch tv to much or just don't care but most people don't really think much. You can tell when they give you flawed opinions that don't even make sense to themselves. Or when they say two things that are the total opposite of each other but they believe both are true.

[resonate]

o i've got plenty of beef with the education system. number one, the no child left behind act, FORCES highschools to hand over all information on thier students to the military upon request for recruitment efforts. number two, schools actually force thier students to stand for the pledge of allegiance. in highschool, if i were to refuse to stand up when the pledge of allegiance was said over the intercom, i would be written up and sent to the office. number three, highschools force male students to cut their hair once it reaches a certain length, they also force students to shave or else they are sent home. the reason behind this was "because it was professional such as in a place of business." at the begining of the school year the students have to sign a booklet saying they agree to all of these rules (including the ones pertaining to the pledge of allegiance), subjecting them to all of these penalties, but they have no choice other than signing the booklet, because otherwise they won't beable to recieve a free public education. and my biggest beef with the american system is its disregard for teachers. in the year 2003, all of the teachers in the state of texas lost all of their benefits of social security. they gave the teachers that last school year to pack up and leave and still recieve benefits, but after that they would get nothing. unfortunately many good teachers left and also unfortunately this whole thing recieved little to no media coverage. the teachers even lost all benefits they would recieve if their spouse were to die. and guess what. one of those teachers is my mom

[Leo Volont]

I'm glad that some of our Americans here have come to the realization that their education has been lacking. And, yes, they should try to repair some of the damage. Now that they know they are uneducated... perhaps they should back off for awhile... catch up on their reading... or consider studying abroad. Anything but showing off how uneducated they are. Oh... and watching Fox News and listening to Talk Radio does not qualify as remedial education, but only appeals to the ignorance that is the source of your problem.

[Alric]

Everyone knows the system sucks Leo. I have never seen a single person who said that it was great, or even good. Seriously its obvious to everyone. All you have to do is talk to people. Even poorly educated people noticed.

[Leo Volont]

Actually, a 'problem' that is not a problem will never be fixed. The Majority Party in America, the Republicans, knows for a certainty that they have captured the Uneducated Vote. The Republicans also know for a certainty that those of higher education... from the better schools... vote against them. So, if the Republican Party owes its success to a dysfunctionaly educational system, then they would have no incentive to fix it. Yes, the Republicans are in favor of Tax Credits for Private Schools, but for every one student who is educated away from the Republican Party through the superior Education of the Private Schools, the subsequent impoverishment of the Public Schools by the same policies (stealing from Peter to give to Paul) more than guarantees an even more severely dysfunctional Public Education for those who will then necessarily someday be voting Republicans. So, when a horribly inadequate Education helps the Party in Power, it is not likely that it would even be seen as a problem. Indeed, I more than suspect that if somebody were to study the Decline of American Education, then one would find design and intention along each declining step. Indeed, this points to the worst problem of Democracy as a System, that Democracies are elected by Majorities, and Majorities are typically the mediocrities and the common denominators of Society, when those of talent and intelligence are by their very nature the Minorities. The Worry once was that the rabble would use their Plurality to take over. but as it turns out, the Stupid Majority has been found to be easily manipulated. So it is that those of Wealth and Influence wish to superimpose the American System of Politics and Education on every Nation and Society in the World, so that they can be as easily co-opted as America was.

[Alric]

Thats actually a good point. If we did a better job with our education system neither the republicans or democrats would be in power. Atleast not in the same way as they are now.

[Dangeruss]

If children could vote things would be different. Or maybe if anyone gave a shit things would be different. not sure.

[dazed and confused]

Originally posted by Leo Volont I'm glad that some of our Americans here have come to the realization that their education has been lacking. And, yes, they should try to repair some of the damage. Now that they know they are uneducated... perhaps they should back off for awhile... catch up on their reading... or consider studying abroad. Anything but showing off how uneducated they are. Oh... and watching Fox News and listening to Talk Radio does not qualify as remedial education, but only appeals to the ignorance that is the source of your problem. Avoid the sterotipic mindset there. I don't know many other 15 year olds (going into my sophmore year in the fall) who can program in C++, advanced trig (working on calc, but that stuff blows my mind...), build computers and hold an amature radio lisence, ect.. And the thing is I learned to do this stuff on my own. Without school. Give me the text book or manual and I can figure out almost anything. I can't wait for college.

[Manifold_Time]

Yo dazed. I plan on becoming a theoretical physicist...School was too shitty so I'm just buying textbooks recommended to me at www.physicsforums.com and I'm getting help from Gerard t'Hooft's website so that I know what to learn in a general order. Teaching yourself math is hard. But I'm learning trig at the moment, I got through Alg II in about 1 month and a 1/2.

[dazed and confused]

Originally posted by Manifold_Time Yo dazed. I plan on becoming a theoretical physicist...School was too shitty so I'm just buying textbooks recommended to me at www.physicsforums.com and I'm getting help from Gerard t'Hooft's website so that I know what to learn in a general order. Teaching yourself math is hard. But I'm learning trig at the moment, I got through Alg II in about 1 month and a 1/2. Sweet. I really need to get my hands on an advanced alg. textbook, I think that is why I am having some issues with the calc. I did not have any problems with the trig, I had plenty of time to work on it instead of going to sleep in geometery last semester. Sweet link too, I am looking to become an engineer. Good Luck.

[Alric]

A lot of people say thats the main reason to go to school, to learn how to learn. Most people can't even do that anymore though. If you can learn something on your own, that means you succeeded in learning the most important thing you could. Regardless of what you know, if you can learn stuff on your own you will learn a lot over your life time. If you can't, your just wasting your life.

[docKnubis]

How the hell am i Undereducated!? Everyone else is just overeducated. At my high school in order to graduate you had to get 54 credits: 8 English 6 Science 6 Math 1 Communication 1 Economic 8 Social studies 1 Health 3 Physical Education 1 Computer 15 Elective 4 Humanities I also took 3 ap college courses. I graduated with around 60 high school credits and 12 college credits.......

[Alric]

8 English - Most people who come out of highschool is horrible at spelling and writing in general. A lot of people can not even speak proper english. 6 Science - Science is a subject most people tend to forget a few years after taking it 6 Math - The 2 math classes you take are pre algebra then algebra, not what I would call great. Though I know there is a third thats even lower but I don't even know the name of it. Probably remedial math. If you take the harder classes then it is possible to learn something though. 1 Communication - Is that even real subject? 1 Economic - Now this one is a joke. Almost no one is this country knows how our economy works. 8 Social studies - Another one thats a total joke. People dont learn a fraction of what they should of US history or government. Most people don't even know how our country works. 1 Health - You really don't learn anything useful from taking health once and you need a real class not 1 credit worth. 3 Physical Education - To bad it doesn't help when you spend the next 30 years not doing anything physical. 1 Computer - This is almost always a computer typing class and you don't actually learn anything about computers. 15 Elective - This is what will make or break you. To many people take easy classes and just surf through it. You have to use your elective and takes more math and science classes. You need to take a math class the entire time your in highschool, your really not educated if you don't. You should probably take a science class the entire time your in highschool as well. Electives go towards that first, always. Then after that you get a foreign language or something, not cooking or something like that. 4 Humanities - Now thats a nice name for something you may not learn much of anything in. Probably depends on what class you take though.

[FunkyMonk]

Yeah, the system is a bitch. It depends on your school, but you can make it at least somewhat worthwhile if you feel like it, but a lotta people don't. Eh, I play the system. It's broken, but that doesn't mean I cant use it to my advantage.

[Tsen]

I think the system needs to be reworked, but as is you can salvage some education from the wreckage of the American education system. For example, I talked my counselor into letting me take AP Calculus as a sophomore (Well, tricked my counselor would be the more accurate statement. He thought I was a junior and I intentionally did nothing to correct his mistake.) But currently, there's several problems. The computer classes that are required are a JOKE. I skipped the class, but it cost me $20 to take a test to dodge the requirement. I understand that all kids need to be proficient in computers, but why not have a mandatory test to see who knows their way around computers, and let them skip the class or take a more advanced course? 90% of students don't need to hear how to use a web browser or word processor. We did that back in first grade. Next, the English classes. My mom teaches art at a high school here, and she's had two kids in the last four years who are entirely illiterate. And proud of it. Not handicapped in anyway, either. They just never bothered to learn how to read or write. Even intentionally avoided learning. At that point, I'd kick them out of school. Why waste tax dollars trying to teach somebody who obviously doesn't want to learn? Further, even for those who DO pay attention, English classes don't teach much. I still remember that when I was in third grade, the vocabulary was made up of "duck" and "back" and other assorted four-letter words. (Not THAT sort of four-letter words, mind you.) Still, I found the entire thing to be a joke. Sure, some kids need to be taken along that slow, but we're too caught up in "No Child Left Behind" type mentalities that we haven't realized that in the process we've ensured that No Child Gets Ahead. For example, in elementary, you're stuck with math. You can't go ahead, you can't go behind. Eventually I was admitted into a "advanced" elementary, but even there the progress was so slow that I was frequently bored. The system needs to be more modular--let kids advance when they're ready, not when you feel like it. Anyway, I've got a long list of things that should be changed in the education system, and I might post them eventually, but for now I'm done.

[MSG]

the system needs a major facelift it's in favor of the people in power and not the people who actually have to put up with it people have forgotten that this is not normal, they live with it every day and work 1000x harder than they need to so basically, the people in power have no incentive to change it

[Alric]

Avoid the sterotipic mindset there. I don't know many other 15 year olds (going into my sophmore year in the fall) who can program in C++, advanced trig (working on calc, but that stuff blows my mind...), build computers and hold an amature radio lisence, ect.. And the thing is I learned to do this stuff on my own. Without school. Give me the text book or manual and I can figure out almost anything. I can't wait for college. [/b] Thats the problem. You don't know many people like that. No one does.

[FunkyMonk]

I still remember that when I was in third grade, the vocabulary was made up of "duck" and "back" and other assorted four-letter words. (Not THAT sort of four-letter words, mind you.)[/b] Friend is a four letter word. Yeah, I'm listening to my new Cake album. I guess I'm lucky. My district makes it easy-ish to get ahead if you feel like it. In 8th grade (at worthless middle school...) me and some other people were bussed over to the high school for geometry, world geography, and biology. Not only did this help me manipulate the GPA system, but like last year as a junior, was taking physics 2 and Calc AP. Although physics 2 was a pain in the ass.