I know I have asked this question at least 100 times before, but I can't stop myself from asking it again:
"WHY ARE WE FORCING EDUCATION ON STUDENTS THAT HAVE NO INTEREST IN LEARNING THE TOPICS WE ARE TEACHING? WHY ARE WE TAKING KIDS WITH FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADE READING AND MATH LEVELS (IF THEY ARE THAT HIGH) AND FORCING THEM TO LEARN BIOLOGY, TAKE ALGEBRA, ETC, ETC, ETC?"
We can assume that all children can learn and, if taught properly will learn. Although, I do remember, from high school, that when you ASSUME you are making an ASS out of U and Me. Anyways, assuming everyone can learn, how can we expect any high school teacher, with a class of 34 students, many with learning disabilities, to be able to correct 10 years of educational neglect? How can we assume that the education courses the teacher has taken have prepared her to overcome these difficulties and succeed where others have failed?
The truth is that not all kids are academically inclined. That does not mean that they are not intelligent or gifted in many ways. Yet, society only seems to value book learning. I'm looking forward to the day when vocational skills are valued over academics.
7 comments:
You can wait for the day voc ed is valued over academics. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for people to notice that there is anything important besides athletics.
"WHY ARE WE FORCING EDUCATION ON STUDENTS THAT HAVE NO INTEREST IN LEARNING THE TOPICS WE ARE TEACHING? WHY ARE WE TAKING KIDS WITH FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADE READING AND MATH LEVELS (IF THEY ARE THAT HIGH) AND FORCING THEM TO LEARN BIOLOGY, TAKE ALGEBRA, ETC, ETC, ETC?"
Amen, sister.
That's all I have to say.
I must say, I agree with Jimmy.
I think the problem isn't in the high schools, but in the elementary and middle schools that failed to give their students the necessary skills to succeed. We need to set standards in our high schools, but we have to set them earlier than that too.
~ps
This is a tough one. I tend to agree, although I do believe that there is a certain amount of basical knowledge every student should possess. And to me it seems that maths and language skills, as well as knowledge of society and the past, gets less and less. We somehow need to keep standards high, or we'll plunge down even more.
The elementary schools face these same problems every day. Principals do not back the teacher up. Parents don't want to hear any negatives or they don't care.
It's the principal who makes the final decision on who gets promoted.
Schoolgal
It's too bad we can't show kids what their lives will be like 10-20-30 years down the road if they keep screwing off in school. They don't immediately see the impact of their behavior and it's unfortunate.
You just need to look at how much plumbers or electricians or stone masons etc. in your neighborhood get paid to see that society does indeed value vocational skills when it counts. ;-)
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