Quote:
Originally Posted by Platapus
(Post 2147775)
What concerns me is that despite all the money spent on education in this country, almost half of the students are still below average. :nope:
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There are the obvious factors, such as poor neighborhoods with poor schools, and there are the less obvious yet just as relevant factors, such as the very nature of american society itself.
The one thing that i consistently saw throughout my schooling was the
immense lack of motivation in many, many of my peers. They didn't seem to care if they got horrible grades. They didnt seem to care about having to take summer school, or night school, or a 7th period to make up for their utter lack of effort (though they complained constantly about it). We had pretty good teachers for the most part, and our high school was and still is one of the highest ranking in california. So its not like they didnt have opportunity. They simply didnt try, whatsoever. They would always come to me asking how to do the lesson, complaining about how our teacher didnt explain it well at all, and i told them "Well, i understood it. Ergo he cant be THAT bad of a teacher. Why dont you go get help from him personally before or after school" and they just were too lazy to go.
For whatever reason, it seemed as though almost none of my friends had any sort of plan nor any sort of goal after graduation. I'd constantly tell them "If you dont get your act together, youre gonna get stuck wasting away in community college going absolutely nowhere". In California, many community colleges are a death trap for people planning to transfer. Getting even basic general ed classes is an absolute nightmare here, because our community colleges are overflowing with students. My friends didnt listen, didnt care, and only had the faintest of goals for what they wanted to do for the rest of their life. When i asked them what they wanted to do, they gave me what seemed like careers they had pulled out of a hat. They didnt listen to me when i tried to talk them out of some careers that get you nowhere (psychology is a good example).
Its not like they were teaching kids that things are going to work themselves out. Its not like they werent pounded with the idea that the beginning of the rest of their life was looming just over the horizon and that they needed to start thinking ahead. Thats all i ever seemed to hear was how important college/trade school was, yet few really took it to heart.
Another problem is that schools teach to pass tests. Students learn all of the information they are supposed to know at some point in their schooling, yet almost immediately forget about it when they dont use it. That's why you end up seeing all these videos (which are biased yet still startling) of random americans on the street being asked very simple and common questions, and seeing those people fail miserably. Other factors include this whole "everybody is a winner" mentality, and the impartial all-encompassing crap that schools employ now. For instance, If i had gotten into a fight with another kid when i was in high school, both of us would have been arrested, right on the spot. Doesnt matter who started it, who threw the first punch, who provoked it, or whether one kid was acting in self defense. Both would be arrested and suspended. The ONLY exception was if one kid literally took the beating and didnt try to defend himself at all. That was the only way only one of the students would be punished.
There are just too many reasons why so many students do poorly. Some dont have access to good schooling. Others dont get the assistance they need. Some get awful teachers (who are incapable of being fired). But most of the poorly performing students have an appalling lack of effort and are entirely unconcerned with anything outside of their daily lives. Actually that seems to be a problem with many Americans, not just students. They cant be bothered to be aware of whats going on elsewhere. They cant be bothered to retain even more rudimentary scientific and mathematical skills that have very practical use (such as knowing general information about their health). They cant be bothered to be informed about their government and the candidates they blindly elect. And its these kinds of people that become sheep. Its these kinds of people who never research ANYTHING beyond a superficial 30 second google search. Its these kinds of people who dont plan for anything in life and never fully understand the consequence of their actions. Its these kinds of people who live inside a bubble and are flabbergasted when the bubble pops and their way of life is suddenly changed because they had zero foresight and zero insight on anything that didnt occur in their day-to-day lives.
If we want to really improve our education, we need more than just the obvious reform that has been required for decades. We need to change our society as a whole to drill it into these kid's heads that you cant just expect to succeed in ANYTHING unless youre willing to put forth an effort and plan ahead. Im not saying kids have to go to college, or that they have to get a degree in a high-paying field. They can do whatever they want. (though we should be encouraging science and math so as to stay competitive in the world) But that attitude of "Ill do it later" and "Who cares" is going to give them a very rude wake up call in a very harsh world. Hopefully we can work towards eliminating those mentalities from our general society in the future.
