Should there be an Urgency to Fix Education in the U.S.?

[archer75]

There's little clear thinking on what education SHOULD be. Is it to provide childcare / storage so both parents can work? Is it to cultivate in young people a high degree of intellectual ability? Is it to teach them the current buzzwords in public discourse?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Here is a sample response from a poem students analyzed (11th Grade ELA):
Covers standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1.A
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1.C
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1.D
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.2

Inferring Meaning in the Poem Kinship


The meaning of stanza 5 is that moving from an ancestral home is different for the narrator’s mother and father. Their mother moved fora better life and the father moved to escape the atrocities in Ukraine. Between stanza 1 and 4, the narrator writes, “ ...the violence in the Ukraine, which dad’s parents had to flee forever, leaving all their loved ones behind….when I asked my Ukrainian-Jewish-American grandma about her childhood in a village near snowy Kiev, all she reveals is a single memory of ice-skating on a frozen pond.” The demonstrates the two sides of the parent’s past, the father faced hardship and violence in which he had to escape as an attempt of ensuring their immediate family’s safety. The mother’s past ancestors can have fond memories of their home, but immigrated, most likely not to escape from violence, but to ensure them a better future. The difference between immigration and escape involves the fear and threat of violence and the abandonment of the native home and culture.

Why present the inferred meaning? Isn't that cheating on behalf of the student?

 

[Caliban]

If schools can fail students and place them with younger kids to repeat they can also move more gifted kids ahead. The only problem I see is the insistence on age-uniformity.

If schools had the funding, we could place smaller groups of students in levels appropriate to their skill level. Unfortunately, people do not want to pay higher taxes for this type of thing.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

There's little clear thinking on what education SHOULD be. Is it to provide childcare / storage so both parents can work? Is it to cultivate in young people a high degree of intellectual ability? Is it to teach them the current buzzwords in public discourse?

It all depends on who you ask. School used to prepare kids for U.S. citizenship and work. I don't know what the purpose is today.

 

[Caliban]

Why present the inferred meaning? Isn't that cheating on behalf of the student?

I don't understand your question. The prompt was for the student to read the poem and make an inference pertaining to the meaning of the passage.

 

[Caliban]

There's little clear thinking on what education SHOULD be. Is it to provide childcare / storage so both parents can work? Is it to cultivate in young people a high degree of intellectual ability? Is it to teach them the current buzzwords in public discourse?

“The main purpose of the American school is to provide for the fullest possible development of each learner for living morally, creatively, and productively in a democratic society.”
Quote from ASCD.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

If schools had the funding, we could place smaller groups of students in levels appropriate to their skill level. Unfortunately, people do not want to pay higher taxes for this type of thing.

Perhaps we can rearrange the budgets to provide more. I have proposed a way for black schools in the inner cities to be better funded. Reduce crime and reassign the money saved for education. Also, to reduce class sizes stop having so many kids out of wedlock. Lock up all the gangs so the kids won't get shot walking to and from school, or shot in their homes while doing their homework. We can also address their general health as well. The potential for savings there is very great.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I don't understand your question. The prompt was for the student to read the poem and make an inference pertaining to the meaning of the passage.

Sorry, I thought the teacher 'inferred' the desired meaning from the composition, in order to pass the student.

 

[Caliban]

Perhaps we can rearrange the budgets to provide more. I have proposed a way for black schools in the inner cities to be better funded. Reduce crime and reassign the money saved for education. Also, to reduce class sizes stop having so many kids out of wedlock. Lock up all the gangs so the kids won't get shot walking to and from school, or shot in their homes while doing their homework. We can also address their general health as well. The potential for savings there is very great.

Teen pregnancy is at record low levels.
Locking up gang members only intensifies crime. The root cause is where we should place our energies. There is a lot of evidence for this from criminologists.

 

[eleos1954]

I have observed that many discussion threads on this forum end up discussing education in some form (often off topic). Because of this, I thought it would be helpful to have a discussion specifically relating to education and its perceived positive or negative effects. I want to make the topic broad enough to allow a wide range of ideas and opinions. As long as we stick to the general topic of education, it shouldn't be considered off topic.


Many young people today are struggling to perform well in school. When students do well, it hardly makes the news; but there is increased attention upon the educational attainment of students and their knowledge base.What is your opinion concerning the urgency of the problem?


If interested, please take the poll.


Some stats to consider:


For the First Time: 90% completed High School or More


Nations Report Card—4th Grade Math by State

We need school vouchers so parents can decide what school they want their child to attend .... would become more competitive ... this would include charter schools.

Cream rises to the top ;o)

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Teen pregnancy is at record low levels.
Locking up gang members only intensifies crime. The root cause is where we should place our energies. There is a lot of evidence for this from criminologists.

If so then they don't understand the problem.

Most health experts don't reveal the most important health practices, but we look to them anyway. Is it any wonder we aren't as healthy as we could be.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Teen pregnancy is at record low levels.
Locking up gang members only intensifies crime. The root cause is where we should place our energies. There is a lot of evidence for this from criminologists.

Record low levels doesn't mean it isn't still a serious problem. Perhaps abortion has reduced the problem.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Teen pregnancy is at record low levels.
Locking up gang members only intensifies crime. The root cause is where we should place our energies. There is a lot of evidence for this from criminologists.

I didn't say lock up 'gang members'. I said lock up the entire gangs, all of them. That will greatly reduce the presence of drugs in those neighborhoods. Such gangs are the distribution and retail arm of the drug cartels.

 

[Caliban]

We need school vouchers so parents can decide what school they want their child to attend .... would become more competitive ... this would include charter schools.

Cream rises to the top ;o)

Charter schools are already free to parents--they are public schools. The problem with vouchers is that it is arguably unconstitutional for Federal or State governments to financially fund religious institutions. There is fierce opposition to vouchers.

 

[Caliban]

Record low levels doesn't mean it isn't still a serious problem.

I don't see any statistics that it is a serious problem? Maybe it is. Do you have a link?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I don't see any statistics that it is a serious problem? Maybe it is. Do you have a link?

Just apply critical thinking to it. Think of the domino theory; all the unintended consequences.

 

[Caliban]

I didn't say lock up 'gang members'. I said lock up the entire gangs, all of them. That will greatly reduce the presence of drugs in those neighborhoods. Such gangs are the distribution and retail arm of the drug cartels.

Well, entire gangs are comprised of gang members. Incarceration does not solve the problem, it only damages peoples lives and kicks the can down the road. It doesn't solve the underlying problem. The U.S. already has the largest number of incarcerated people in the world--including countries with larger populations.

 

[eleos1954]

Charter schools are already free to parents--they are public schools. The problem with vouchers is that it is arguably unconstitutional for Federal or State governments to financially fund religious institutions. There is fierce opposition to vouchers.

well my kid is grown .... I'd be home schooling if I had little ones these days.

 

[Caliban]

Just apply critical thinking to it. Think of the domino theory; all the unintended consequences.

But that is not scientific. if teen pregnancy is a large problem affecting educational attainment, I need to know the numbers. For example, how much money should be allocated each year to address the problem? This has to be quantified in order to ensure an effective budget.

 

[Caliban]

well my kid is grown .... I'd be home schooling if I had little ones these days.

Why would you choose to home school instead of utilizing a public school?