FAILING PUBLIC SCHOOLS -- Why Little Billy Feels Good About Himself But Can't Read or Write!

Iconoclast.ca ^ | by Hans Zeiger

[BurkesLaw]

"All men by nature desire to know," said Aristotle. Either Aristotle was wrong, or public education is failing to awaken the academic desires of American students.

According to a new Manhattan Institute for Policy Research study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, only 32 percent of recent high school graduates were qualified to attend a four-year college. In addition, the report showed that the high school graduation rate remains depressingly low at only 70 percent.

For years, American education experts have been alarmed at the growing inability of public school students and graduates to compete academically with peers in other industrialized democratic countries. As Charles Sykes wrote in his revolutionary 1990s book, Dumbing Down our Kids: Why America's Children Feel Good about Themselves but Can't Read, Write, or Add , "When the very best American students -- the top one percent -- are measured against the best students of other countries, America's best and brightest finished at the bottom."

While Sykes may have exaggerated the problem, it is true that America's students are average at best.

According to the most recent academic comparison study by the Program for International Student Assessment, of students in 32 developed countries, 14 countries score higher than the U.S. in reading, 13 have better results in science, and 17 score above America in mathematics.

It isn't as though American students aren't scoring first places any more. A survey by the Princeton Testing Service shows that American students rank highest amongst industrialized democracies for amount of time spent watching videos in class. And William Moloney, chairman of the Washington, D.C. based Education Leaders Council -- a coalition of reform minded political and educational leaders -- writes that American students feel better about their math skills that any other country in the free world, while Korean students (who feel worst about their math skills) outscore everyone else in math.

The characteristics of self-esteem-obsessed, video-watching schools are manifested in the frustrations of America's higher education system. According to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Olympia, more than 40 percent of recent Washington State high school graduates attending community college enrolled in remedial courses to prepare them for college-level work. But a public-school system that transfers responsibility for learning basic knowledge to higher education isn't giving taxpayers and parents a return for their money. More damaging, the failure of elementary schools to prepare students for their future hurts America economically, socially, and intellectually.

Over the past century, public education has devolved from the classical approach of character plus basics (reading, writing, arithmetic, respect, and responsibility), to skills, to psychological-social engineering....

[valkyrieanne]

Homeschooling is not the answer for families with two parents working outside the home and it is not the answer for single parents. In a utopian world maybe everyone who had children would be able financially and capable intellectually and emotionally of homeschooling them, but it just isn't reality. So what's your next best solution?

I agree, and this is my last year of homeschooling (year 13.) It's a great option for those who *want* to do it. It's not a panacea for anything, and making it sound like one isn't a fair or accurate portrayal. Re: your point about good parochial schools. Not all public schools are bad, either.

[valkyrieanne]

Typical high school has 40% that don't even want to be in school, 50% that just float through (many eventually getting it together), and 10 % high achievers that know where they are going at 16. That top 10 % are our America's future leaders and why we will survive as a Nation.

Right, 100% agreement. My suggestion is that mandatory attendance laws be changed so that mandatory schooling ends at 14 (like in Japan, the country that articles like these like to beat us about the ears with.) After that, you want to go to high school, you can take an entrance exam and score well to get in. If you have suitable *behavior* you can go to a different school, but in either case, sny misbehavior -any failure to do the work - you're out. If you want to come back, you have to pay tuition (a lot - the full cost of education, usually about $6000-$8000 a year.)

[valkyrieanne]

homeschooled through 9th grade, then sent my 15 year old to the local college. We have a great program called dual enrollment, and if they can pass the College Entrance, they can take classes for free that count as college and high school credit.

High school students can do this too; my daughter's been racking up college credits at the same time she's going to high school. Keep in mind that this is at one of those evil public schools that are supposed to be all "failing." The advanced biology course she took was the equivalent of the one I helped teach as a graduate student, in college. Her history course is considered the full equivalent of a college course, as are her English literature and art history. These are classes she's taking on the high school campus. When she gets a car, she can also take classes at the local university as well, but unfortunately not at a reduced rate (our state is feeling poor these days...)

[valkyrieanne]

Well we are still the #1 Capitalist nation on the planet, and that isn't going to change any time soon. What was the last invention out of Europe, or any other place for that matter. USA still rocks, we just have to use a heavy hand against "The Enemy Within."

Other than Israel, we have the largest number of patents granted - the largest number of Nobel Prize winners - obvious military superiority. Did all those brilliant people go to private schools? I think not. Check out the admissions statistics for "the best" universities, at least the difficult ones - the vast majority of those kids come from public schools. No, they're not from the public schools featured on nightly news reports about "failing schools."

[GoLightly]

I came across a very old "Time" magazine, from sometime in the 1940's & there was an interesting article about a noticable decline in the quality of American education. That was long before most of the government polcies promoting a decline in the family.

The industrial revolution & the rise of union power changed our education system. Society needed greater numbers of semi-educated sheep to fill jobs & at the same time a way had to be found to keep the job market regulated, so the flow of applicants into job openings met demand, while at the same time, keeping "unemployement" numbers low.

The answer was *mandatory* education AND a set age of "graduation" around the age 18. Gone were any of the old motivations of learning, including a natural desire to know more things. Line up class. Remain silent & raise your hand until you are called on by the teacher... Leaders arose *despite* the education system created, not because of it.

Think of some of the greatest minds in American history. Many did not do very well in the education system. Their inate hunger & drive took them to the top of their fields. Many also had crummy home lives.

We kill drive by making education *required* & boring. The bright are held back, cuz we instruct down to the lowest common denominator. One of the best ways to learn is by teaching, so eliminating something that made single room school house learning great also cost us.

I'm very radical about education. The "cure" IMO would be the creation of mixed age classes made up of kids with similar IQ's.

[Bandmo]

Yes, but just look at wonderful basketball players that are produced, not to mention the 14 yr. old mothers.

[kittymyrib]

There is also the problem of parents thinking their child is gifted, when he is at best, an A student who simply does the work...a rarity in class these days but not a sign of superior intelligence. The reason the parent deems the child "gifted" is because he is smarter than the parent, which is not all that hard!

[dawn53]

Sounds like a similar program. The program in our county is open to all students, homeschooled, private or public students. (he didn't have a license since he just turned 16 in March, so I was the chaffeur this year, lots of driving back and forth)

In fact if you're a public school student in the program, they even pay for your books. Homeschooled and private school kids have to buy their own books.

But either way, I'm just happy that we're getting the college credits for free. He'll have 30 credits in two weeks when this term ends, and he has two more years to use the program. So conceivably he could have at least 90 credits "for free" even if he doesn't do any summer courses.

If he chooses to stay in the state college system, he should be able to transfer all the credits.

Sorry your state is poor. It sure helps the pocket book when the tuition is free, LOL.

[HungarianGypsy]

My husband always laughed at the gifted label. He was/is gifted, but very lazy when it came to schoolwork. He said he really wasn't gifted, just smarter than the people giving the test.

[TXBSAFH]

My wife is a high school science teacher in an at risk school. Most of her students come from broken homes and parents that are trash. I could fill a two page post with some of the crap she has seen, just a taste, one parent cmae into a parent teacher conference and told my wife he did not know why he was there. He said and i quote, "It is not my job to raise the brat, that is why I send him to school." The parents have a ultimate responsiblity to raise their child and to see that he is educated.

[Lizavetta]

Lizavetta's 29th Truth of Life...

You will never meet a parent whose children's school is one of the 'bad' ones.

[Lizavetta]

Lizavetta's 30th Truth of Life:

American schools will remain broken as long as the American family is broken.

[nunoste]

Far more families can afford to have one parent live at home than we give families credit for. The question is would that family give up 2 cars, vacations, etc. to home school their kid. The answer is generally no, but for those parents that do homeschool, the answer is yes.

[Jaysun]

HERE'S WHAT THEY'RE 'LEARNING'



Sign Reads: "Gay Straight Alliance"

[Lizavetta]

What? A family should give up that 2nd car? What are you.... some kind of commie? Convenience is America's middle name!

(/sarcasm)

[elk]

What do you think about the "trend" of moms coming home to be with their children in numbers large enough to get the attention of Time magazine (cover article a couple of weeks ago). I haven't gotten a hold of it to read yet, but I did skim the Hewitt book about women who thought they would be able to have children, only to find out that it's too late for them (education + career > marriage and family). I wonder if the elites are trying to get the message out to the elites to have more children?

Anyhow, children do not gain character and stable personalities by default. People should take their marriage decision more serious, because a lot flows from that point. You can't just hope your children grow up all right.

I do my best to encourage my peers to come home to their children, if they can. I work with them to come up with ways to save money. On the other hand, so many of them have huge student loans to pay off -- it's like a second mortgage, so they have to work.

I scraped and scrimped like a dog for several years to be able to come home to homeschool. Women -- work as hard as you can to control your emotions so that you select the right husband, realize the debt you are incurring for higher education, and think long and hard about financial issues -- these all impact how much attention you can give to your children!

[FourPeas]

Fascinating.

[FourPeas]

From what I've read, a child's IQ is usually very close to that of their parents'; the IQs of siblings are also usually very similar.

[chickenlips]

The next best solution to homeschooling is to abolish the Dept of Education and privatize every school in the nation.

[Colinsky]

The bright are held back, cuz we instruct down to the lowest common denominator.

Not always--individual teachers can make a difference. My high school American History teacher caught me reading a novel during class and made me stay after school, at which time I explained to him that I was able to read at a very high speed and I'd read the entirety of the textbook during the first week of the semester. It ended up with him allowing me to use the class as a free reading period as long as I continued to get A's on the tests. And I did.

Years later I was trying to get accepted into some competitve University of Michigan program that I wasn't quite qualified for, and at the meeting where I was to present my case, that same high school teacher showed up out of the blue and vouched for me. I have no idea how he ever found out what I was doing.

That was in the 60s, though.