We have Bush & Co. (+ Congress) on one side taking us down the path to economic and societal doom with constant war, Big Brother laws and so on. On the other we have schools screwing our future by not teaching our kids what they need to know to keep us from descending into mediocrity.
50 Years Later, a New ‘Sputnik’ Crisis: The War of Minds
Lacking a clear and present danger, the American education system is not mobilizing to support science, technology, engineering and math. Today’s generation of kids is the most technology savvy group that this country has ever produced. They are born with an iPod in one hand and a cell phone in another. They’re text messaging, e-mailing, instant messaging. They’re on MySpace, YouTube & Google. They’ve got Nintendo Wiis, Game Boys, Play Stations.
Their world is one of total interactivity. They’re in constant communication with each other, but when they go to school, they are told to leave those “toys” at home. They’re not to be used in school. Instead, the system continues teaching as if these kids belong to the last century, by standing in front of a blackboard.
since when has america ever cared about math and science — ever since i was a kid, anybody good at math and science was mocked as a geek, whereas the kids who were good in sports got away most everything.
this nation’s got loused up priorities — face it we’re a nation of frat boys
thankfully that at least now it’s well known that geeks tend to get rich, so who knows? maybe the tables will turn
ahahahahahhahahahahaha, yeah right
It doesn’t take a lot to turn the mood of a nation around. One can debate how successful the JFK administration was, but it did inspire much of the nation. The biggest challenge of leadership isn’t determining a direction, but getting people off their ass to follow. This generation needs what all others needed, inspiration and a challenge.
#2 – I agree – a bit. Through the years and years of the civil rights movement, we finally got a moderate change. Through the years of opposing that egregious war in VietNam, we finally stopped it. Sputnik scared the Pentagon wooden soldiers enough to provoke some response in useful education.
But, any courage pumped into our politicians evaporated easily and soon. The phony leadership – of the two tweedledeedum parties – went back to business as usual.
Meanwhile, education in America fell apart as the result of two distinct (and sadly successful) themes:
Liberal college kids – affronted by discipline – adopted the mantra of laissez faire learning and no one had to learn anymore. They run the “education” schools, now.
Racist, Xhristian America ran like hell from having their kids go to public schools “with them” – and initiated the parting of the Red Sea led by home-schooled/bible-schooled/private-schooled Stone Age simpering blivets.
These predominant mainstreams continue to lead America into world-class mediocrity.
Well if the kids are so tech-savvy, then whats the point of teaching it? Focusing on basic principles such as being able to do math strikes me as a better use of resources, then spending tens of billions on the latest technology.
I really do not see the connection between preventing a kid to bring his cell phone to school and the lack of teaching real science. I wasn’t allowed to bring video games to school when I was a kid and yet somehow I found plenty of time to be proficient playing them. That kids know how to *use* technology is entirely different from them *understanding* technology and having the skill to make it.
>>They’re text messaging, e-mailing, instant messaging. They’re on
>>MySpace, YouTube & Google. They’ve got Nintendo Wiis, Game
>>Boys, Play Stations.
And where did it get them? They’re now a generation of over-entitled pimply-faced lard-asses, growing up to be losers scouring the dented cans bin at the supermarket, calling home with each potential bargain on their bluetooth headset.
Maybe they SHOULD leave their toys at home, and spend some time learning how to read, write, and do ‘rithmetic.
I totally disagree.
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Children are discouraged from bringing electronic “toys” to schools in order to avoid thefts.
Schools today are graduating more and better educated students then ever before.
Although not every school is the best, average scores are continually improving.
The worst schools are all showing improvements.
While becoming more robust all the time, laptop computers are still too fragile to handle the rigors a student is capable of inflicting.
Laptops are still too expensive to provide to every student.
All computers have too short a lifespan to provide one to each student (Laptop or desktop).
Actually, there is less religion or religious influence in schools today than at any time in history. State mandated curriculum all mandate secular education.
Home Schooling still concerns only a small number of students, most of whom are left behind as a result of the inferior education.
While private schools usually have good test scores, they also get to pick their students.
Alternative, publicly funded schools have not been shown to be better than Public Schools.
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But sheet, it sure the hell is easier and a lot more fun to criticize our education system than it is to recognize not everyone is a Nobel Prize winner.
#7, Mr. Fusion, is easier and a lot more fun to criticize our education system than it is to recognize not everyone is a Nobel Prize winner.
Cha-ching! And just to make you laugh on a Monday morning — (award not meant for you) — BubbaRayDipDork!
#6 is right…
Anyone who thinks that using a cell phone, iPod, or computer ( for most simply email/web browsing/file sharing/instant messaging) means that you are “tech savvy” is simply naive about such consumer electronic devices… the kind of person who (in the 80s) would complain that they couldn’t figure out how to program their vcr.
You don’t need an iPod and a cell phone to do cooperative learning. You’ll get plenty of “interactivity” by applying some of the methods espoused by Dr. Spencer Kagan.
>>Average scores are continually improving
Got any data to support that?
And I not that you did not disagree with my contention that students today are “now a generation of over-entitled pimply-faced lard-asses, growing up to be losers scouring the dented cans bin at the supermarket, calling home with each potential bargain on their bluetooth headset.”
Probably, because the contention is correct. Sure, maybe they can thumb in an IM to their buds quick as a wink, but make change at the supermarked? Fageddaboudit!!
“Schools today are graduating more and better educated students then ever before. Although not every school is the best, average scores are continually improving. The worst schools are all showing improvements.”
Take it from an ex-teacher, this is all false. What we have going on today is teaching to the test for federal dollars. Critical thinking skills are not easy to test, therefore ignored.
Critical thinkers have no problems with evolution, global warming, peak oil, or mercury poisoning. They can see that the Bible can in no way be literally true. They see through corporate controlled propaganda falsely called “news”, and they know the difference between reality and political “spin”.
Therefore, critical thinking must be discouraged for political reasons.
All computers have too short a lifespan to provide one to each student (Laptop or desktop).
Bullshit. A semi ruggedized laptop could last 5-6 years. Especially if it didn’t rely on resource hogging Windows that requires you double you RAM and processor ever few years, just to boot it up.
“They’re text messaging, e-mailing, instant messaging.”
And I’ll bet hardly any of them know how to touch-type.
For those of you looking for the answers to the Public Education Crisis in the United States. Take a look at John Taylor Gatto’s 1990 New York City Teacher of the Year Acceptance Speech at the link below.
http://tinyurl.com/2ct3zy
In addition to being 1990 New Your City Teacher of the Year, he has also been Teacher of the Year in that State. Gatto has a website:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm
#7 Mr. CommieFusion
Schools today are graduating more and better educated students then ever before. What drugs are you taking?
Guess we can mark you down for, “Free education for all children in public schools. Combination of education with the industrial production.”
More Later
#11, ArianeB
Take it from an ex-teacher, this is all false. What we have going on today is teaching to the test for federal dollars.
Are you talking anecdotally or with some facts?
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The Department of Education points to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, released in July 2005, showing improved student achievement in reading and math:[19]
More progress was made by nine-year-olds in reading in the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined.
America’s nine-year-olds posted the best scores in reading (since 1971) and math (since 1973) in the history of the report. America’s 13-year-olds earned the highest math scores the test ever recorded.
Reading and math scores for African American and Hispanic nine-year-olds reached an all-time high.
Math scores for African American and Hispanic 13-year-olds reached an all-time high.
Achievement gaps in reading and math between white and African American nine-year-olds and between white and Hispanic nine-year-olds are at an all-time low.
Forty-three states and the District of Columbia either improved academically or held steady in all categories (fourth- and eighth-grade reading and fourth- and eighth-grade math).
Wikipedia,
http://tinyurl.com/yqhy7d
NAEP,
http://tinyurl.com/h5nx9
#14, Confederate Traitor
Guess we can mark you down for, “Free education for all children in public schools.
Yup. We could also teach them the Confederacy lost the war. That makes them losers.
#12, gq,
Ok, name one currently on the market that will live after being dropped repeatedly from a four ft height onto concrete, have Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew repeatedly spilled on the key board, repeatedly be thrown into a corner full of sweat socks, repeatedly pass through and around magnetic fields, and play dirty, scratched CDs. Did I mention be carried home in the rain?
Now, if you found one, what would it cost to outfit every student with one?
Fusion, you are looking at the results and the propaganda. The ex teacher is telling you how those results /really/ come about.
Home schooling? Anecdote: A woman was spending 6 hours prepping the days lesson and 6 hours teaching her kids. She got tired of the work while her husband kicked back, so she shoved it off on him. He prepped for a half hour and taught for a half hour, and the kid kept up with the public school kids. (LOL The wife took back the chore, for some reason.) Now, I don’t know exactly what that says.
Another home school kid I know got an all expenses paid scholarship to Stanford. I think he would have been held back had he gone to the public school. I also know a bunch who have gone no where (shrug).
As for the rest, we have a bunch of cry babies right here, whining and complaining about how horrible the US is, and they whine and complain about the things that need to be done to make the US better.
A bunch of posters here need to look in a mirror.
Look Mr. Fusion, I can Google too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/opinion/03ravitch.html
The first thing you learn in Education is that quality is not quantifiable. Our current Secretary of Education is a political hack who rolls out rosy statistics every chance she gets. Test scores are up because the federal government wont pay out money unless they are.
#19, Ariane,
Yes, BUT, you cite an op-ed piece while I cited facts. Your op-ed piece didn’t even give any numbers other that 1% of eligible students change schools.
I don’t suggest American schools are perfect by any means. They are not nearly as bad as made out to be though.
17,
http://www.laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/features.shtml
I guess it turns out we need the “one laptop per child” computer more than those poor kids abroad.
Just because they’re more interactive doesn’t mean they’re more intelligent. It’s kinda like how some people mistake noise and motion for purposeful action and thoughtful insight. Anyway, the U.S. has always had a decidedly anti-intellectual bent to it. We tell kids to love science and math, but when you compare the pay of those professions with what celebrities and sports stars make, it doesn’t even begin to compare. Same thing with child care–people say they love their kids, but child care workers and teachers don’t get paid squat. Follow the money and you’ll always see what people’s true values are.
22 – All this “America is horrible”, “the President is a moron”, “boys are despicable” hog wash going on in the schools is bad for moral, and bad moral makes learning harder.
#21, thanks you beat me to it.
There are two things at work nobody understands. First, our population can be divided up into two groups: Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Digital natives are the ones, according to Dvorak, born with an iPod in one hand and a cellphone in the other. They are used to using technology. They communicate and find information using digital technology. Digital Natives are used to collaborating over great distances for a common purpose. MySpace is a place to communicate with friends. They are our kids. Don’t believe me? Watch them play games online. They are taking this mentality into the working world.
The other group, Digital Immigrants, have varying degrees of comfort with technology ranging from can work well with it to avoid it like the plague. Cell phones are for making phone calls only, pictures are taken by a camera that is not like a Swiss Army knife and the pictures are either in a photo album or in a folder on a disk drive but not on Flickr. MySpace is a place where kids find ways to get into trouble or meet pedophiles. These are mostly the adults. Guess which category teachers mostly fall in
The business world is willing to adopt new things because it can fatten the bottom line. Education, however, is not set up like the business world. Educators are forced to show positive results on tests designed for functioning in the last century. There are those in the education community who are pushing for changes but it will be a slow process since technology jobs moving to India has not had the same effect on Americans as Sputnik did 50 years ago.
#19, Ariane,
The first thing you learn in Education is that quality is not quantifiable.
After a 25 year career in Quality, I can most assuredly tell you quality is quantifiable.
Averages go up because the standards are lowered. See dropping analogies from the SAT, or for that matter renorming the tests to raise the averages. You can get 800 scores for work that before would have gotten you a 750. But hey, not everyone can be a Nobel Prize winner, and you only need so much education to work at Walmart
I know parents whose kindergarten children already complain about having to go to school. My feeling is that children are already neurotic by the time they get into first grade. They were weaned at two weeks old because their mother had to get back to her career, The father comes home stressed and wants to watch TV instead of spending time with his kids. The nanny who the infant spends more time with than his proper mother can’t speak fluent English and she’s unattentive to bonding. They bond to Barney the dinasour and a stupid Yellow Bird on Sesame Street therefore seeing humans as the mascots. By the time they learn to start speaking words, their parents don’t listen to them because the parent knows best and since logic rules the parent brain it must also rule the child’s.
See where I’m going? Children today in the most crucial time of their life (age 0-5) before entering school are being destroyed by Money and the fear of offspring not being productive consumers of the future Market.
I see it in kid’s eyes. They’re lost.
Everything of worth I ever learned I taught myself. I wouldn’t have been schooled in science, history, or philosophy without my own persistent effort. Indeed, as some here have noted, in schools learning anything of worth is discouraged as being somehow anti-social. But if you play football; hoo-boy, have they a brief, tragically overinflated life for you!
Of course, the two years my mom home schooled me, a period in which I took in more science and spent more time wondering at the world in those constant field trips we were taking that the experience couldn’t be replicated in a public school Pavlovian bell setting. Somehow, I avoided becoming a ‘simpering blivet,’ I’m not sure how I managed that.
Well put, Jason.