What Public Schooling Lacks
By: Brett
There is a growing problem with the public school system it seems. I have heard or read many stories about parents and teachers claiming that in the last 4 or 5 years, they have seen a dramatic decline in the creativity and critical thinking students. What is going wrong with our Public schooling system? Why are kids that think different or act different punished and exiled from a system that should support creative thinking and outward expressions.
The system that is in place, I believe needs a huge face lift. I would like to see how much the curriculum has changed from the 1960s through the present. I talked with my mom who taught for over 3 decades in the Minnesota school system and she said a lot of it was due to government funding. If schools didn’t perform up to certain standards, their budget would be trimmed or even axed all together.
The focus really needs to be on grooming kids of all types of learning paths and preparing them for the real world. I’d like to see classes on business, credit scores, banking, and other subjects that pertain to what one will need to know in the current world. Obviously you need the core subjects as well but be able to offer a wider range of classes to assist and appeal to the ever broaden range of students.
One really just needs to look at me and my brothers. Oldest brother: Really smart.. Me: Border-line retarded.. Youngest brother: Full blown moron. Okay that might be exaggerating a little bit.. the oldest is just smart. Just jokes, just jokes.. They know I’m only kidding.
Anyways check out Steve Olson’s article on this matter, he goes into a lot more depth than just comparing siblings. How The Public School System Crushes Souls
This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 3:31 pmand is filed under Politics, Misc, Daily Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
“What Public Schooling Lacks”
July 20th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I think one of the problems with public schools is that they have the 7th and 8th grade. My high school experience has shown me that 7th and 8th grade are the two most pointless years in schooling. I think those two years mentally hold a kid back from expanding his mind and releasing creativity in school. It wasn’t until recently either, that schools would allow you to start taking PSEO classes which are courses offered by a college in high school for the advanced student to earn college credit. Legally any state has to offer you 4 free years of schooling and by taking those classes in high school you are basically getting a free years worth of college without applying for scholarships. Public schools should almost advertise that information for prospective students. I thought high shcool was a bit of a joke because it didn’t really prepare me for college. I felt like I was just going through the motions of going to school. If high school offered more college oriented classes without being classified as a private school, it would be more beneficial for the students of tomorrow.
July 21st, 2007 at 9:27 am
Your mom, who ranks as one of The Coolest and Best Ever, is right on about government funding. The focus is now put on “checking a box to say the kids know a certain thing/score a certain score on a test” and not “can these kids think/write/communicate/etc. on their own after being in our classrooms” because the government rewards (read: funds) according to the latter. PSEO is a fantastic option for juniors and seniors (I am a bit biased, being a PSEO Coordinator at a college) because it allows students who are ready for an experience more in depth and quite different than high school the chance to go get it at no charge. It’s tough for the schools to sell PSEO to their students though, because they lose the funding for the student if they are at a college and not a high school. Again, then focus is all wrong if it’s about The Almighty Dollar and not the students and their needs. Despite the good intentions (I have to believe) of No Child Left Behind, it has indirectly also turned into No Child Excelling Ahead. Like healthcare, public education should be turned into a transparent pay-for-performance system … but that’s a long rant post for another day with at least three Summertime Shandy’s in me.
July 21st, 2007 at 11:01 am
That is a problem if the school is holding back the advancement of the student from college credit classes, just so they don’t lose out on that kids funding. Something is morally wrong with that, and it’s all dictated by the government.
I believe at the time of my high school graduation, students at Central were maybe offered 4 or 5 classes that had college credit. Not sure what that number is now, but a kid coming from Esko (Scottie too Hottie) came to college with something around 30-40 college credits.
There needs to be something where those opportunities are spread throughout to every student.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:08 am
This is why people should vote based on issues as important as school funding and not ridiculous issues (that will never actually impact you during the term) like prayer in school. By the way, my public school did actually have a class called Personal Finance where they teach you how to balance your check book and do your taxes–but if you are in an advanced track you don’t get that class, go figure.