Posted on 04/08/2020 6:30:52 PM PDT by BruceDeitrickPrice
Our schools claim to teach sophisticated topics such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, the meaning of math, social emotional learning, and dozens of other buzzwords. Truth is, the schools hardly bother to teach even basic skills and foundational knowledge. Simultaneously, children are indulged and excused, which encourage the least desirable personal traits.
All of which explains the answers left by teachers (on an internet forum, Quora) when asked this question: what are the most appalling things about students nowadays?
“One of the big things that disappeared over the years from teenagers is common sense. Teens would do something really stupid, such as chugging down any number of foods in vast quantities and then whine and complain that they were sick to their stomach. ‘It’s not fair!’ they moaned.”
“The number of students with abnormally-short attention spans, a difficult time ‘settling down,’ and aversion to silence increases every year.”
“I had two girls who could not read the recipe clearly, which called for one and a quarter teaspoons of cinnamon in a recipe. They put in one and a quarter CUPS instead, an amount that is 48 times greater than what the recipe called for. The lack of common sense meant that they emptied our industrial-sized canister of cinnamon, and they didn’t see any problem with this.”
“Students today will wait until the day before then try to find a way to cheat, fail miserably and throw some random sh*t together in two hours and then complain because ‘It’s impossible to get good grades from you!’”
“How about the student who didn’t know how to peel a carrot? I showed her how to hold the peeler correctly against the carrot and work her way around the carrot to remove the outer layer. What I didn’t point out to her was to stop when she got all the way around. She kept on peeling until the entire carrot disappeared into the sink. I am not making this up.”
“I taught 7th grade science and (a couple years of) 8th grade science/history. What I found most appalling was the lack of basic knowledge in the students who entered my 7th grade classes. The worst part was they were just realizing that they didn’t know anything. When they figured out that they were not prepared for the level of rigor in the 7th grade classes at the junior high where I taught, it was actually heartbreaking to watch.”
“The students think they are entitled to an education without doing homework, studying for tests, or paying attention in class. 25% get an education and the rest waste their time and money. Truly pathetic young people.”
“I don’t think students realize how much of their lives they are wasting on their smartphones. Compared to the students I taught even 15 years ago, they are oblivious of the sky, of flowers or trees, or of any nature; they struggle with concentrated reading, group work, or even conversation. Change oil? Start a fire? Forget it. Students on the street looked at me like I was MacGyver when my bicycle’s chain fell off and I threaded it back on.”
“What I find distressing about many US students that I encounter is their lack of knowledge — and curiosity about — the world and history….They can tell me where all the bars are in town, but can’t find Norway, Pakistan, Chile, or South Korea on a map…with hints.”
“I teach high school. Some students lie like the rest of us breath. It is second nature. As a result I think that most teachers end up being very cynical whenever a student tells them anything. Me: John, stop poking Timmy. John (continuing to poke Timmy with his pen while I look right at him): I’m not!”
“I would say it is their lack of respect towards the teachers and fellow students that is the most appalling thing. Respect is a quality seriously lacking in today’s society! There once was a time…. we respected our teachers by our words and actions.”
“…it is clear that students’ attention spans have shortened over my 25 years of teaching. With notable exceptions, most students’ boredom threshold is lower nowadays.”
“I worked at the Los Angeles inner-city middle school about 10 years ago, and something that struck me is absurd was that virtually none of the students met grade level standards but still received A’s, B’s, and C’s!! The fact that almost nobody could do grade-level work was very embarrassing for the school and the school district; so for the politically expedient motive of wanting to make it look as though profound learning was taking place, there was extreme grade inflation.”
“They are surprised that the world doesn’t revolve around them! I am amazed how many kids have never been told no!”
“Speaking of students higher than middle school I think their most appalling trait in general is lack of basic cultural/historical knowledge.…I retired after teaching decades of ‘X’ers' who continued to be less and less prepared for college and more and more overly confident about their abilities. I think us ‘boomers’ did a disservice when we gave ‘everybody a trophy.’ In an effort to want the next generation to feel special, they become overly confident and difficult to teach.”
“They’re unable to make change using simple arithmetic.”
The situation is getting worse, if anything. The obvious solution is to back up 75 years and start doing school correctly. Teach basic skills. Teach foundational knowledge. Just as important, teach responsibility and self-discipline. To improve the schools, we need to get rid of the people now in charge, them and their phony ideas. Give children the proper education they are surely entitled to.
For contrast, consider "the strictest school in the UK.” Students are treated like recruits in basic training. But they seem to thrive. —
Bruce Deitrick Price has more than 1900 answers on Quora.
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Teachers and administrators are worried parents and society will find out kids do equal or better learning at homethan at govt indoctrination centers. And be in a safer environment where the adults don’t view them as sexual appetizers.
“Drive around my area and you’ll see chest coolers at all the mailboxes for families with school-aged children. Those are for the free breakfasts and lunches that school buses are now delivering every day for every kid under age 19.”
/s
Loss of the use of corporal punishment as a deterrent to bad behavior. Judiciously applied, corporal punishment is a great extrinsic motivator to keep a kid from disobeying. Not saying we should hit kids, just that there is no mechanism where you can break down their resistance. Bullies do it all the time to control their peers. All teachers can do is ask, request, plead, argue, debate, convince, cajole, beg, deal, negotiate, threaten, but in the end if the kid doesn’t want to go along or to get along, the effort is wasted, and a great deal of time is consumed. I laugh at liberals who don’t believe in corporal punishment, they sowed and now they reap.
Another thing about teachers, many of them do not have children of their own. You wouldn’t believe how many teachers don’t have any kids, but they know better than you how kids should be raised.
...”and stuff”...
I hope you don't teach spelling, sweetie.
To improve the schools, we need to get rid of the people now in charge, them and their phony ideas.
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The children are being fed a toxic soup. Do we continue to feed this poison to children while the schools are in the process of being reformed?
Parents! Remove your children immediately!
At times a device like the agonizer from old Star Trek would be great for schools.
Public schools are bad simply because parents pressured schools to "be gentle with my darling".
All we have to do is make the godless communiss relinquish their iron grip on the educational industry and we might have a chance. How to do that? I dunno. Infiltration not invasion.
Let’s do something, we’ve been appalled by this failed system for decades.
This is a toxic soup of dysfunction. Remove children now.
That will never happen. So, do the correct thing for you Nation. Try to get it fixed.
I think there are two essential things that everyone can do. Learn why the phony methods used in our classrooms don’t work, things such as sight-words, constructivism, Common Core, and many more. Then citizens and mainly parents can fight back. You can’t take on the school officials if you don’t know how the machinery works. (Here are the main ones: https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/public-education-has-been-a-war-on-children-for-decades
It’s happening now.
Home school advocates tend to think in terms of the 1800s or early 1900s subject matter. There is so much more to learning than study and tests. Hands on work is actually required.
The major “stall” to learning chemistry and other STEM subjects is ....***math***! Ditto for basic building, carpentry, and sewing skills. Government schools have proven to be completely sucky at teaching math.
Our community orchestras, choral groups, and string bands **welcome** young people. As for dance? Gymnastics? Karate? Blue Grass groups? Theater for elementary age kids? That’s completely private.
—My homeschooled kids entered college at the ages of 13, 12, and 13.
—They finished Calculus 3 at the age of15. Two earned B.S. degrees in **mathematics** by the age of 18.
—Two were tutoring college students in math when they were only 14.
—One was teaching math to college students at the age of 18 and earned a masters at 20.
—The other was a world class athlete and traveled the world representing the United States. He earned a masters in accounting at a typical age.
—All play a musical instrument and sing in choir.
—One plays the organ and piano for church services.
—All are accomplished ballroom dancers.
—One was a world class athlete.
—All married members of our church and continue to be highly active in the church and community volunteering groups.
—One is an Eagle Scout.
These are only a few of their accomplishments. And...As elementary and junior high age children they never spent more than 2 hours a day in formal homeschooling. They played! Gradually, their play became their teenage work. It was a fascinating process to watch.
You evidently are not into chemistry, physics, electronics, or the like. Otherwise, you'd understand that labs are very important, above and beyond the math. Chemistry does not utilize a lot of math unless you are trying to theorize at the atomic level.
Society is social. School is a social thing, one that is very much a part of our society. Sure, it has its faults. All of those can be cured. Citizens have to care enough to fix the system, not abandon it. You don't actually care about your Nation. You want to abandon its needs without considering how it all evolved in the first place. It is "pooling our resources", something you might start all over again, just to eventually come around to the same old place for the same old reasons.
Very fine accomplishment for sure. I notices an absence of any electronics engineer, chemist, or botanist. I didn’t see an aerospace engineer in the mix. To my way of thinking, you have a narrow focus, and are damn proud of it.
I have an extremely good workshop facility. I share it with high school students who have a yearning for learning by mentoring the high school's robotics team. The school isn't up to it, but it is ultimately my school to maintain. I am one of We The People, the place is my responsibility.
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