FCAT failure rate is `scary'

What we have lost in this country is a sense of community, neighbor helping neighbor.

These were values our country had from its inception and for many years following (barn raisings being one example that stands out in my mind.) I think voluntary community service helps to restore this to the community and the individual.

IMHO, we lost the willingness to volunteer in our communities right about the time that people realized they were being robbed and then that money was being used to aid community programs and charity. This is why, in too many cases, REAL charity programs (most formerly run by churches and other civic organizations) are now being funding by nanny-government (through FORCED taxation) instead of locally and by folks contributing voluntarily. Ergo, when the government steals the fruits of people's labors, they have less left to voluntarily give where they would like.

My guess is, that they give some sort of credit for it, i.e. you earn an academic credit by doing it which would be consistent with the "dumbing down" of the educational system.

I'll second your sentiment and add that "mandatory" community service is being used to enforce the Communist belief that we have a "duty" to serve our fellow man. Never mind the Constitutional ideas of personal responsibility and initative. These programs are being utilized to groom our children for citizenship in a collectivist/socialist, one-world order society. These programs are also direct decendents from UNESCOs "Rights fo the Child" progroms....

The girl had not passed the math portion. Her mother was talking to me about this and said she didn't understand what had happened, since Anna had gotten straight A's in math all year. This is not a "minority" school district, but a strong middle to upper-middle class town, yet grade inflation was obviously going on in her daughter's school. These were parents who attended the parent-teacher conferences, who were active in their school with fund-raising. They were not uninvolved parents. But, if the teacher and school lie to you about the child's progress, what then?

I know this happens. It happened to our daughter, who survived public school grade inflation, graduated and received a business degree from Texas A&M. We too believed she was doing wonderfully in her math studies. All A grades came home in math, until the final Algebra II exam, which she failed. Her 9 week grades kept her from failing, but obviously she knew nothing. After aprox. 8 sessions with a private tutor, she was able to learn geometry, algebra II (she had learned algebra I while we were in Virginia) and pass a summer Calculus class to get into A&M. Her mind is sharp, her high schools education was not.

The teacher was letting them grade each other's papers and call the grades up to him. This followed another teacher who had them take group tests. All this happened in a supposedly "very good school district." Perfectly good minds are being wasted because the schools don't have teachers who can teach or who don't know the subject matter. Too many parents don't know how bad it is because schools are inflating grades to hide it and their unions will do everything to keep them employed and in front of the students. Going to meet with teachers like these does no good, they are the ones inflating the grades and telling parents their children are excellent students!

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