Reading comprehension — test scores are very low on those in most areas and it is not just English is a secondary language students getting low scores. These scores are from students brought up in this Country going to large city schools.
My son is an adjunct professor at a Chicago College while getting his PhD at another and he teaches three remedial English classes out of 53 before they added some more.
An example of two items taught by Chicago schools:
Every sentence must contain ten words. It is a sentence even if there is no subject/predicate as long as it has those ten words.
All paragraphs have to be five sentences even if the five sentences talk about different things.
He checked it out after hearing student after student say they were taught the same thing. It was true. About 75% of the kids in his class want to learn to write. He threw out the textbook and is going with basic English. Sad commentary of Chicago schools that don’t believe in failing students and looks like they don’t believe in educating them either.
Obama was in charge of millions from the Annenberg Foundation to help Chicago schools — where did the money go? Notice that his children go to private schools.
We have a fundamental problem in our city schools — teachers who don’t understand what they teach. NEA was the worst thing to happen to public schools. Day after day, students are being short changed by union teachers who cannot be fired. Would like to give Chicago English teachers a test on basic English and see how well most of them do.
Good public schools usually have a small number of union teachers as others have opted to join organizations in their states like the Oklahoma Education Association here in Oklahoma.
Your definitions of a sentence and a paragraph reminded me of some math ‘rules’ taught to students. My favorite: when working with decimals, everything to the right of the decimal works backwords. Never could figure that one out but an overwhelming number of students were taught that.
There are also overindulged, unmotivated children with a sense of entitlement unparalleled in history. These children often have parents who are either missing in action, or on the other extreme, are helicopter parents who care more about their child's record than their child's character and skills. Don't you know their little prince/princess can do no wrong and its all the teacher's fault. The problems were too hard. The student just had to work on the homecoming float. The family just had to take that vacation and have the kid miss a week of class.
These students can and do frustrate excellent teachers, and can bog down entire classes with their antics. These students whine when homework is assigned. They know how to make snide comments/noises at the most inopportune times. They don't take any ownership of their education. It is almost impossible to remove these willful boat anchors from class rooms so that the motivated students can learn to their potential.
We really need to require performance from all parties in education - administration, teachers, parents and students. As a taxpayer, I want to see return on investment. If a teacher can't teach, remove them. If a student won't show respect for others in the classroom by behaving and at least try to do the work, I want them out. I'll pay for any who will work and treat others with respect. I have no compassion for those who won't and want them to receive the natural consequences of their actions.