The Failure of American Schools....

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desertrain10
desertrain10 Members Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited December 2011 in The Social Lounge
people are crying there are no jobs in america but thats not totally true. there are job but aren't enough qualified americans to fill these positions, besides the fact that a college education is expensive as hell. imo its also partly because our schools suck....american students have been and still are being out performed by their foreign counter parts.... imo this is one of the biggest obstacles america must overcome if we are ever going to compete in a global economy long term

so ladies and gents who do you blame the most? soceity as a whole, the government, teacher unions????

and what are so good ways to improve our schools????...

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  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2011
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    It starts at home with parents. America spends a lot of money on education, so I honestly believe the main problem is at home, 2nd being the long arm of poverty that affects so many kids out there. When so many kids don't have enough to eat and have chaotic home lives, it's hard for so many to concentrate in school. Just curious though, how many jobs are really out there? I've heard some fields have a shortage of workers but that amounts to maybe 1 million jobs. There are 14 million people out of work at least, so even if those educated jobs were filled up in engineering or nursing, that would still leave tons of people out of work. The real problem is the amount of manufactured jobs that have been shipped over seas.
  • ustreet_monsta
    ustreet_monsta Members Posts: 2,536 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2011
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    It definitely starts at home. Most of the life skills kids learn happens before elementary school. There was a study a few years ago that showed that the primary reason middle class children do better in school than lower class children is the number of words they were exposed to before beginning school.

    http://www.education.com/magazine/article/30000_words/

    As you go down the economic scale theres a direct correlation between the amount of wealth a family has and the amount of time they spent reading and talking to their young children. Kids who havent been exposed to as much pre-school learning start off with a huge disadvantage.

    Teachers have low expectations too, but it starts with the parents.
  • DarcSkies
    DarcSkies Members Posts: 13,791 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2011
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    Dont matter...

    Lazy parents, teacher's unions, kids that dont want to learn are the problem...everybody ? up. not just the"system"
  • desertrain10
    desertrain10 Members Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2011
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    It starts at home with parents. America spends a lot of money on education, so I honestly believe the main problem is at home, 2nd being the long arm of poverty that affects so many kids out there. When so many kids don't have enough to eat and have chaotic home lives, it's hard for so many to concentrate in school. Just curious though, how many jobs are really out there? I've heard some fields have a shortage of workers but that amounts to maybe 1 million jobs. There are 14 million people out of work at least, so even if those educated jobs were filled up in engineering or nursing, that would still leave tons of people out of work. The real problem is the amount of manufactured jobs that have been shipped over seas.

    ok, so the people of finland, germany, sweden, denmark, japan, china, etc have perfected the art of parenting?.... because their children are out performing american children in international education tests
  • Madbeats
    Madbeats Members Posts: 544
    edited December 2011
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    I blame the government as a whole, but U.S citizens also need to stop being lazy and step it up.
  • @My_nameaintearl
    @My_nameaintearl Banned Users Posts: 2,609 ✭✭
    edited December 2011
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    Kids refuse to do the classwork, refuse to listen to the lectures, refuse to sit down and shutup, start fights in every period, chant rap lyrics at the teacher the entire time, and then their lazy ass parents complain that the school is the problem.
  • nujerz84
    nujerz84 Members Posts: 15,418 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
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    Kids refuse to do the classwork, refuse to listen to the lectures, refuse to sit down and shutup, start fights in every period, chant rap lyrics at the teacher the entire time, and then their lazy ass parents complain that the school is the problem.

    I cosign this... though there plenty of horrible teachers out there too who dont give a ? .
  • desertrain10
    desertrain10 Members Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
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    heyslick wrote: »
    You like to play the blame game - I decided to do a little search & nowhere in said search do I find the term 'we owe' anyone a decent living in this country......I'm getting so tired of those within society who ALWAYS bellyache about what America owes them & blaming others for ones own damn problems....especially some African Americans within this site. IMO THERE'S NO DAMN EXCUSE for having more babies than you can ever afford to take care of - then making endless excuses for those moronic decisions.


    public education was born partly as an effort to provide a qualified workforce to fuel our economy and fuel innovation....so not only should the government provide and owes its citizens a world class education and a decent wage but its a necessary if america is ever going to be able to compete long term in a quickly expanding global economy....not to mention my hard earned tax dollars and others are funding public education....
  • desertrain10
    desertrain10 Members Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
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    heyslick wrote: »
    Don't tryin pull that stunt on mme -- either stay on the subject or make up your confused mind about where the underlying problem REALLY exist. lOTS of our fellow citizens have failed in the parent game....that in itself is tragic - but to deny that this isn't possible i.e., VERY BAD parenting skills by many young African Americans -- who fight the system like it were there worst enemy...& many so-called parents teach that to thier children. Like the old saying about garbage in garbage out.

    ? please....

    the faces have changed but what hasn't?????...the system. our schools are over crowded... teachers underpaid and under valued.... the in way which school districts are divvied up is inherently racist...the curriculum is outdated and doesn't stress critical thinking... its impossible to fire a bad teacher... and if you don't have money you can't decide what school to send ur kid too... we need serious reform

    imo public education should no longer be a state monopoly... monopolies don't have much incentive to compete. we should have a system like belgium and a lot of other european nations where the money is attached to the kids like a voucher system. the more kids a school attracts the more money they are awarded. the government still funds education but at many different kinds of schools ... if a school can't attract students, it goes out of business.
  • titu90
    titu90 Members Posts: 29
    edited December 2011
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    IMO it's a combination of things. Unions suck, society is lazy and cries about unfairness if a kid has to do too much learning, government misuses and misdirects funds for education. ? , if we want to get down to it, I think it goes so much further than any of this. I really do think we should look at how rapidly the middle class is shrinking and why that is. You are right, we won't be able to compete in a world economy unless we stop sitting around on our lazy ? hoping someone else will figure it all out for us. As Americans, I believe we stopped thinking for ourselves long ago, and have let government take over...therefore leading to the disarray we see now. We also need to start holding teachers accountable. There are way to many ? out there becoming teachers just so they don't have to work too much. They don't care about our children learning, and they aren't that intelligent themselves. If teachers aren't performing, they should be out, regardless of tenure or unions or whatever else they hide behind! I know I am rambling now, this subject just really gets me heated!
  • one_manshow
    one_manshow Members Posts: 4,591 ✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
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    Lack of parental involvement (kids raising kids or clueless parents)
    Lack of school funding (ratio of students to teacher)
    Labeling kids as ADD or with a learning disability when they don't suffer from neither
    School boards not knowing how to embrace or handle multiculturalism
  • Hyde Parke
    Hyde Parke Members Posts: 2,573 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
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    it does start at home. Beyond that, the education system could do much better. The content of materials taught is basic and repetitive and doesnt do much to focus on real skills that prepare a child for success. The public school system prepares kids to work in a basic job market, while private schools prepare kids for entrepreneurship. The magnet school system they have i think is a good thing because it focuses on specific skills/tools you can actually use to prepare for leadership. & Thats just the tip of the iceberg. i come from a family of educators and its the same thing ive seen/heard for myself, its not that the kids are lazy or whatever else adjective you throw out there, its that the kids aren't interested. After 5th grade, the material is repetitive and isnt challenging to most. That said, yeah, public school has produced some great people, im willing to bet that # would triple or quadruple if they focused more on skill and leadership.
  • Hyde Parke
    Hyde Parke Members Posts: 2,573 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2011
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    heyslick wrote: »
    WOW! I had to read that twice and both times I never saw any mention whatsoever of parents being responsible,for the actions of their children. I really get heated when people like you blame everything on others while some people procreate with impunity/actually if they can't nurture them babies they have no business having more than they can ever take care of. WTF? why is some women who has 4 or five kids with multiple partners ? about the system is against her and she just keeps on having them babies....man that irraties me.


    shut up. you can be a hypocrite at times. always calling out those who blame others when you do the exact same ? , Obama being a prime example. If you dont like it when people blame others, then maybe you shouldnt do it either.
  • titu90
    titu90 Members Posts: 29
    edited December 2011
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    heyslick wrote: »
    WOW! I had to read that twice and both times I never saw any mention whatsoever of parents being responsible,for the actions of their children. I really get heated when people like you blame everything on others while some people procreate with impunity/actually if they can't nurture them babies they have no business having more than they can ever take care of. WTF? why is some women who has 4 or five kids with multiple partners ? about the system is against her and she just keeps on having them babies....man that irraties me.

    You are absolutely right and I can not believe I left parents out of my rant! Especially since I feel that most people should never be parents! Good point!!!!