what part of the system exactly? the system of using tax payer money to educate the public or the teaching methods used in classes? because the teaching methods used in classes needs a major overhaul.
Tax money is put to damn good use if it educates people in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with that. But yeah, the approach teachers take need serious reforming. Public schools in general need major reforming... I feel like they don't focus on educating but rather "preparing for life".. Which would be good if they didn't seemingly try to prepare every goddamn kid to live the same exact lifestyle.
This thread has a lot of my favorite Blades in it, awesome. My family moved around a lot when I was in school years, so I got to experience a lot of different schools in my state, and one outside of it. The contrast within the state is great, but all of the West Virginia schools I went to fell far short of the standard set by the one school in North Carolina I attended. I was able to take Spanish in 6th grade in North Carolina, and learned more Spanish in that one year than in my two years of high school Spanish classes. I don't know what solution to offer. It makes me sad though knowing that a large part of the kids I met are going to work as coal miners until they can retire.
This is very very true, I was over at someones house I didn't know really hanging out and if his kid started to cry or something he would throw on the TV and the kid would just sit and stare at it. cant be healthy for little minds.
With the rise of the internet and the cost of public school infrastructure we will see a huge change in the way education is presented in the next decade. Not really cost effective to bus kids and support huge buildings under the guise of education anymore.
But those big yellow buses and high-security buildings make for such a convenient way to transport and detain prisoners.
Chimed in to say I agree with all of you. Its everyone's fault. There are exceptions in which it churns out perfectly apt citizens. I didn't become critical of the education system until I was in college. I had three good friends there studying to become teachers. I learned about their instruction (what a joke) and then their subsequent student teaching experiences from them. I kept in contact with two after they graduated. I will not be allowing my children to attend public school because of them. Even if only a small percentage of teachers are like them ( I think its more than half though), it doesn't take more than one bad teacher to derail an education if its early enough. I think the solution lies with the childless adults, or those fresh out of the system, if there is one at all. Everyone else is already involved and in too deep. I think we're treading some deep idiocracy water here. I think a move to certifying ability instead of rewarding education could move us in the right direction -- and yes I'm aware certain professions do this already, but I'm not only talking about careers.
I have so many examples of bad teachers.... My disgust with the school system was etched into me when I had to struggle through listening to my 10th grade biology teacher tell us that she wouldn't teach evolution if she wasn't required to by the state. Then she gave us this lesson, essentially: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oixmj5jA7JI]South Park Evolution in a nutshell - YouTube[/ame]
Education needs a major overhaul and I think we can point blame at many things as to why Education keeps getting worse and worse. There are many distractions with the advent of things like youtube and mp3 players the newest generations don't have much of an attention span. I don't blame them but here is the real problem. Why teach every kid the same thing pretty much? You know what I mean? There is a little variation in courses but here is what high school was like for me as a person who is inclined towards creative things like writing and drawing. I sucked at math and most of my teachers were dull as fuck so I wouldn't pay attention in math. But I excelled in science, history, and english. Science even has math in it and I had no problem with that. I am taking math in college and I don't have a problem with it now. There just happened to be lots of options for me at my high school. I took graphic design classes, traditional art classes, ceramics, photography, cartoon/comic creating class, calligraphy, creative writing, and web design. I was able to take things I was interested in and actually good at. Now based off of all that I know here is the problem. 1. Teachers are sorely underpaid -In places like Japan teachers have very high salary's because they know that they are teaching future generations to run the country. 2. Parents Lack of Investment in Their Children -Parents need to be involved with their kids school lives somewhat at least. They can't just be there to look at your grades say do better and move on. 3. Teacher's Lack of Passion -A lot of teacher's come to hate their jobs because of the way their students treat them. -When a teacher is passionate about the subject they teach the average grades always seem to be better. 4. Language/Cultural Barriers(for my school at least) -For whatever reason half of my class was Hispanic but only ten were in the graduating class. -They need to know english well to learn from english teachers. 5. Everybody is Different -I'm an art major do I want to learn about Math every year in high school? No...but I had to anyways. Some people are good with their hands and would be better off managing their own classes. Students should be able to petition for classes if there is demand for it. -There should also be specialized schools for crafts. Teenage years are the best time to learn anything use it wisely and teach them shit they will use. Note: I'm not saying we drop general education but the focus on it hurts people who would better function if they were learning something else. General Education is important and should still be taught. This is just my thoughts on it.