Posted on 04/27/2004 6:02:35 AM PDT by The Mayor
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:21:29 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Kids in New York's public schools might not learn very much, but here's one lesson they're sure to grasp: When the going gets tough - cheat.
That's the message officials have been sending with growing frequency, as pressure builds for the schools to turn out kids who actually know something - or hold them back until they do.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Home work is printed up from the internet/computer program.
I wish I could home school..
This is the part that some folks cannot stand:
A test that everyone passes is worthless unless there's a chance that someone could fail.
They report to us that cheating is endemic, with large numbers of very bright kids -- who could do well without cheating -- cheating regularly.
The pressure on the students to take the most difficult courses (my daughters and their friends take 2-3 AP courses a year from sophomore year on, and the rest honors coures), achieve all A or A+ grades, be active as an athlete, musician and/or drama student, and be involved in signficant community service, is intense. Pressure is both parental and peer. Most of these kids want to go to a short list of about 20 colleges and universities here in the Northeast and the ones who will need financial aid to do so are under the most intense pressure.
I am glad my older daughter opted to to to college in the mid-West and that her sister has an entirely different agenda, looking primarily at conservatories and music schools in universities.
If all your children's teachers do is teach them to pass the Regents exam, they're doing more (much more) that 95% of the teachers in the other 49 states.
Actually, not really...most of these graduation tests assess really minimal competencies. It's what happens when parents and elementary school teachers believe that children who fail will have their fragile self esteems irreparably damaged, so they promote children who can't read, write, or do math.
The graduation tests were implemented as a result of businesses complaining about students graduating without being able to read, write or do math (those ex-students make poor employees) -- but now the school boards are caught between parental taxpayers complaining and business-owning taxpayers complaining.
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