I teach high school. Because of bills like this, there are sometimes three adults in my classroom: Me--General Ed. a Special Ed. teacher, and an Aide to remind some kids to write down their home work and wipe their noses after they sneeze.
I can't even begin to tell you what is going on now in education. Who thinks these things up? Wasn't it Bush?
it was bush that brought this no child left behind program up, but he wasn't the one that created
subjects a child must take to graduate. some stupid idiots, and i mean stupid idiots, that come up with that crap. bush wasn.t smart enough to think up the required subjects!
i ask a math teacher if the reason young people can't count change back to a customer is because of this new type of math and her reply was "yes"! and this is just one of the stupid programs their having to teach.
mich. i agree with you!
get back to the basic three "r"s!
They can't count change because now they get to use calculators for everything. Man, if I could have used a calculator on my SATs, I could have gone to Harvard--well, maybenot Harvard...
Teaching subjects like chemistry and trigonometry are helpful to all high school students, assuming they are not mentally challenged. It keeps their mind active, continues the process of learning how to learn, learning to think and to not give up just because something is difficult. I think it is time better spent than listening to adults going around calling everyone "stupid".
About the value of learning things the kids see no value in, I have to agree with Ted. Every course teaches problem solving and thinking, etc. While I have never used an algebraic equation ever in my life, what I learned about study and logic increases me. But this is not what no child left behind is about. It's about rampsfor academics and main-streaming students, and making teachers accountable.
Like every good idea, it is take too far and becomes ridiculous. Enabling a disability so that a student can pass a standardized test--uhn uh.
again i call a bunch of this schooling programs brought on by a bunch of stupids. why does a student making "b" & "c" all year long, fail the stupid sat test and won't be able to graduate.
not everyone wants to go to college!
It's good to have chemistry, even if you never expect to use it. If you get frustrated from not being able to go to a trade school, you can always fall back on your chemistry, make a bomb and use all those over-your-head skills you were expected to learn.
TurboTed, I couldn't disagree with you more. Everybody doesn't have an aptitude for math and science, but they can have valuable skills in other areas. If we really want to make it fair for everybody, then lets do that. Let's take the students who may excel in math and science and put them in home economics classes, art classes, auto mechanics, and music classes, and force them onto the football team. Then, lets weigh their scores in those classes equally with the college prep classes that they excel in. Sound fair?
When I was in high school, some of my friends went to public school where they had programs for boys who wanted to be mechanics instead of going to college, and classes for girls who wanted to be secretaries, or hair dressers. They didn't take trigonometry or chemistry and seemed to do just fine at their trades. Instead of trying to jam every kid into the same mold, wouldn't it be smarter to let them excel in a trade if they choose to do that?
Crest, I didn't say that learning isn't valuable, I said that it isn't fair to expect students with no math and science aptitude to be held back and prevented from mastering programs that might help them find jobs. You don't have to be college-educated to get a job. As a matter of fact, we've had more than a few in this group who have degrees, even advanced degrees, and can't find a job, while that mechanic is still employed. Maybe he didn't spend his time struggling through chem and trig, and learned a skill that fit his aptitude.
No Child Left Behind was dreamed up by Bush and is nothing but a thinly disguised attack on public education. Because it is almost impossible to meet all the onerous criteria in that piece of crap, many, many schools get labelled as 'failing' and get dinged one way or another. The bill was also never funded so now many school districts are stuck trying to do things to meet the bill's requirements with no money for that purpose. As far as kids having to take classes they don't want, part of that is the emphasis on science and math that is pushed because of low standardized test scores in those areas. I agree with Michi, there needs to be a return to vocational education. That can be done either in the school itself or in conjunction with a nearby community college. There is a crying need for this kind of education, but because there is so much weight now put on the standardized tests, the direction is going toward math, science and English. Entirely too much emphasis is put on these standardized tests; there is a whole industry behind these tests. No teacher likes them or wants their curriculum determined by them, but now that NCLB is in place, this trend will now continue into the future, unless something is done to revamp it or get rid of it. Please keep in mind that the man who forced this on us was a mediocre student at best and if he had tried to get into Yale on his grades alone, it never would have happened. He was a legacy placement which basically means he got in because of who he is, not what great potential he had as a member of the student body.
I feel by the time your in high school you sort of have an idea of the path your gonna take . If your gonna be a cop or factory worker ect ect why do you need composition or the higher math skills . Give them what they need ; not what ya want to force feed them . I agree with who ever said it on here . if your gonna do that make everyone the same in cooking and physical skills too . Why make it just the brain ? What we raising little robot kids ? the Stepford Children ?
