Period.
Posted on 07/07/2008 12:10:42 PM PDT by achilles2000
...This film takes a deeper look at how the three superpowers of the 21st Century - China, India and the United States - are preparing their students for the future. As we follow two students - a boy and a girl - from each of these countries, we compose a global snapshot of education, from the viewpoint of kids preparing for their future.
Our goal is to tell the broader story of the universal importance of education today, and address what many are calling a crisis for U.S. schools regarding chronically low scores in math and science indicators...
(Excerpt) Read more at 2mminutes.com ...
The same theme was taken up by John Stossel a year or two ago. Stossel's program, without commercials, is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw&feature=related Unlike Compton, Stossel does not skirt the issue of the pathological tendencies of American public schools. For a brief look at one of the ways the majority of government schools are handicapping children in math see : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI
Except for government school apologists and middle class parents addicted to welfare in the form of "free public education", we know that the government school system is destroying our children academically. Unfortunately, many of those who benefit from the $600 sloshing around in the government school system continue to deny this despite the fact that none of the TIMSS, PISA, or NAEP data suggest that our suburban and rural schools measure up against comparable international competition. They are, of course, better than our inner-city hell-hole schools, but that is all that can be said.
And then there is the moral and spiritual damage done by a government education....
Public school math?
The school system is failing miserably. I just got out of high school a year ago and some people came out far worse than they went in. Plus we never had a basic course in any of our founding documents, which confuses the hell out of me. It would seem that that would be most important.
PING
Nonsense... failure is what the system was designed for!
I don’t entirely disagree, but I would suggest that the government school system’s failure to educate is largely a reflection of the fact that, today, the main function of the system is to allocate $600 billion among special interest groups and provide some of those special interest groups with privileged ideological access to children. Most teachers don’t understand this and are terribly frustrated by incomprehensible policies and other instituional behavior that makes it almost impossible ot teach anything effectively.
However one looks at it, the system needs to be taken down. In the meantime, parents need to be rescuing their children by refusing to render them to Caesar’s schools.
Period.
When everyone is beholden to missions other than the good of the students (unions, political backscratching, the distorted dreams of some parents) it’s no surprise the system turns out poorly-educated wards.
I’m a technology person myself, and between the PCing of math and science and the de-emphasis of trade skills, I regret there seems to be just no place for a curious kid to learn about technology in the government school system. Meanwhile American companies beg for foreign visas because they can’t find enough technically competent Yanks.
An illustrative quote:
“Football may be the best-taught subject in American schools because it’s the only one we haven’t tried to make easy.”
i agree... however, this will not happen because... ask just about any parent about his child's public school and he will swear that the one his child goes to is top-notch... it has really good teachers... good test scores, yada, yada, yada...
True, because of the liberalization of travelling and palming calls, and aluminum bats.
But this time, someone made a movie about the problem ! We’re SAVED !
“Watch later” self ping
I agree that it is not happening as fast as it should, but many parents are leaving, and in California entire churches are withdrawing their children.
Thank you. It should have been $600 BILLION...
I think you can’t ignore the ideological component. Many of the government school special interests have as a primary mission pushing their worldview - “environmentalism”, feminism, socialism, sodomy, etc.
I agree. Today it takes a child with exceptional talent and luck to make it through the government school system with a sound preparation for a technical career.
Not to those with an agenda aimed at programming America's youths to be good little Liberal, tax-paying, gun-hating, homosexual-loving consumers.
ping
We may not be saved, but every little bit helps...;-) The system is collapsing. If 20% of th estudents didn’t show in September, th eloss of Average Daily Attendance funding would probably sink the system. Watch Detroit, which is losing students at a phenomenal rate - a $400 million school district deficit and no bailout from the state in sight.
Yeah, no kidding. Unfortunately much of the politics came from the students (always liberals) and it went basically unchallenged by the teachers. Of course there were plenty of teachers who threw in their 2 cents.
I can attest to that. At my school it was mainly multiculturalism with a lot of environmentalism too.
My sister got the highest score in her class on the Constitution in Middle School. I was impressed that they HAD a unit on the Constitution. Maybe they could sit down some of our Supreme Court Justices.....
I’m jealous. I wish I could have taken a course about the Constitution.
It is a required course in Virginia public schools, generally taken in 12th grade.
What state are you from? In Illinois there is a Constitution test that you must pass to graduate; it covers both the Federal and State of Illinois constitutions.
Really? That’s awesome. We had a US government course, but I didn’t get much out of it. It was pretty watered down in my opinion. It focused too much on things like the dates of certain trials and who the judges were, not saying that’s not important, but we never discussed anything in real depth. It always seemed like memorizing rather than learning.
“..Failure of American Goverment Schools”
That depends on how you define “failure”. The American school system is a total success as far as the democrats are concerned — it resulted in the readily acceptance of the marxist and socialist propaganda coming from the ass party.
That the system is destructive to the survival of America is of no concern to the democrats.
Take an hour out of your busy life and read it. The U.S. Constitution is very short, and it makes for compelling reading.
I liked Compton’s retelling of Chinese parents response to the “don’t you put too much stress on your children for academic achievement “ question. To paraphrase, the Chinese parents wondered the same thing about American parents - namely, every year they read about school boys dying during 2 a day football practices in August and wondered why American parents place so much stress their children over sports. After all, they pointed out, no one ever died of heatstroke studying calculus.
bump
Courses about the Constitution are usually not about the actual Constitution, but rather about the new “living” Constitution that has been unilaterally imposed on the US by a handful of judges. In law school virtually no time is spent on the actual text and meaning of the Constitution as enacted. Nor are the Federalist Papers covered. Instead, you get to read opinion after opinion, mainly those written by leftist judges.
I have on many occasions. But many people don’t, especially high schoolers. Most think that the phrase separation of church and state is in the Constitution.
Your sister is a true mother and a patriot.
But those aren’t really classes on the Constitution. Such classes should be taught with the context of the time with relevant quotes by the Founding Fathers about the text, including the Federalist Papers I think.
These LABOR organizations are narrow minded and see the only solution as more funding ($$$)
It as silly as thinking “spare the rod, spoil the child” is in the Bible. It isn't, but “perfidy is in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” is.
Yes, but that’s not too new either. I remember my tenth grade US History class getting “Constitutional Law” pamphlets detailing the nuances of the Miranda Law ruling, and two other equally convoluted reasoning living law cases. Can’t remember which ones. The whole point seemed to be that constitutional law is beyond the ken of even the most advanced high schooler for being intractably arcane, nuanced and complex. That was circa 1968/9.
Of course...but that is what is labelled as a course on the Constitution today. I shudder to think what the government school courses on the Constitution are presenting.
Let me guess....there were few, if any who was of a Conservative mindset.
The founding documents mention a Creator,
an objective unappealable source of rights and morality,
and the writings between the founders specifically attribute the principles of the founding to Christianity,
and that CAN’T be taught in schools these days.
As one homeschooling speaker put it -
“Don’t sacrifice your kids on the pagan altar”
“Constitutional Law” has little to nothing to do with the actual Constitution.
Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution
Can't do it. There's too much attribution to Christian morality. The ACLU would shut that down in a heartbeat.
Ping for the official Free Republic public school apologist.
Your pet subject is getting HAMMERED in here.
This is the school system whose leaders a few years back (the teacher's union) was stealing dues funds to buy fur coats and flat screen TV's.
It takes awhile for entrenched ideas to be challenged, such as public education. Remember, all the old folks you know with an 8th grade education? The ones who have character, work ethic, and practical smarts? Their education now far exceeds that of the high school diploma or nowadays even what masquerades as a college degree.
My suggestion to folks is to work to avoid becoming an indentured servant to student loans.... leverage technology to get a degree ONLY IF you need it. And do it without keeping the cat-fat libs well-fed on your hard-earned dollars in academia.
“failure is what the system was designed for!”
Thanx to dewey and his marxist ilk. McCarthy had it right.
It’s unfortunate that they are taught that way. A course about the Constitution and it’s context seems logical to me. I guess not to the liberals. Wait, of course not to the liberals.
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