Posted on 01/03/2004 4:17:11 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Maryland students scored poorly on the new high school competency examinations again last year, and officials said they expect no improvement until passing the tests is required for graduation.
About half of 65,000 students failed the 2003 algebra and biology tests, about the same rate as 2002. Four in 10 failed government, and six in 10 failed English, including a large majority of poor and minority students and those with disabilities.
The results were posted without notice on the state Education Department's Web site Christmas week, just as students and teachers were headed home for the holidays. But Gary Heath, the state testing chief, said there was no effort to hide the dismal results.
(Excerpt) Read more at sunspot.net ...
Government is the failure
These kids cannot learn unless they are taught, Mommy and Daddy do NOT care what goes at school anymore... its up to the kids and a good teacher might inspire them.
Of course, its public schools in a major city... the kids probably whip the teachers rear ends daily.
:o)
Anyways, not only do 2/3 get 50% or lower, but out of that 1/3 that is left, only about 40-50 (of 300+ taking it) actually pass the test. This pattern repeats itself as it has for the past 2 years. I was so dumbfounded that I offered to take the test myself. Made a 14. No genius, but I had not seen algebra in over 3 years. These high schoolers should have just seen it and also been preparing for the test...
I honestly have to go grade one of these tomorrow. We know my program is working when 2/3 fail. Seriously. If the statistics don't change, we know there weren't any problems with the program. Isn't that sad?
Yes, parents should do better. But the schools do not carry their load. Teaching this stuff (for basic competency) ISN'T hard -- I've done it. But the teachers focus on hair-brained theories and just don't make the kids do the work. It's pitiful.
I support vouchers so that the parents who care, and the teachers who want to make a difference, can congregate in private schools -- away from unions and government intrusion.
What percentage of the 18-year old population do you think is even theoretically capable of high school level academic work?
The reason our system has become a pious fraud is that its political masters think the percentage is or should be close to 100 (no child left behind).
The real number is probably closer to 25 than it is to 100.
There are urban school districts where the number is zero.
How to explain this?
I think it's because of the pressure to mainline the homosexual agenda in the elementary and secondary school sectors of our society.
One plus one homosexual can't multiply, but only divide.
Biologically, humans as mammals aren't asexual, requiring one male and one female to reproduce. Not spread by recruitment or adoption.
It's fraud. Close to half of all states' budgets go to fund education.
This is nonsense. There is nothing basic about algebra, which introduces and to a degree develops the ability to abstract concrete concepts.
Many adults are incapable of intellectual abstraction, not because their education was deficient, but because they are stupid.
In 1941 about 25% of the (all white) 18 year olds in the Army were capable of graduation from high school. This is probably close to the native rate of twelfth-grade intellectual ability.
In Maryland, if 40% of 18 year olds can do HS level math, that's actually pretty good (of course, the test is probably really 4th grade level).
My 7 year old daughter told me the other day that Mrs. Whoever told her that Jesus was born in Mexico. My daughter knew better, that is why she told me. No, I didn't call the school. My kids go to public scholl, but my wife and I teach them after school.
One of my children skipped a grade this year, but only becuase of the pressure we put on him to excel, not the school.
Seriously, Algebra is Algebra. College Algebra is a sum of Alg. 1 & 2...that's it. College Algebra is also the most failed course at most colleges across the country. It is so bad at my university that they are beginning to offer a watered down math class for non technical degrees ("foundations" or something like that).
Exactly, and tracking is the answer. Granted, tracking systems need to give every student a fair early exposure to an academic curriculum and make ample allowance for late bloomers and second chancers. Beyond that, however, we need to recognize that academic rigor is inherently stratifying.
One of the many errors of the 60's was the "every child should go to college" dogma, with the implicit corollary that a kid who didn't is a failure. Not so. Some of the happiest people I know are in the skilled trades. They're always in demand, earn more than the average college grad, do tangible work as opposed to staring at paper or computer screens, and often have their own businesses. The only thing such careers lack is snob appeal.
The simple fact is, grades do not reflect knowledge learned.
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