What is wrong with the system today?

Question

I know my children are also doing well, I have a daughter on the Honor roll, I have a son who has graduated from high school with high marks but he still can not effectively read.
I would place him with roughly 8th grade reading skills.

I was capable of reading and writing in half the time.
How can a system fail so miserably?

None of my children can read.
I have purchased books for them to read and I see skills developing here at home but left up to the local school system I see nothing.

I did notice early on and brought it to the school Admin with the promas of doingsomething.
The local education system and I worked on an IEP but that seems to be a bust.

We live in a small town, No over crowding, Gangs, Pay is good, teachers homes are better then many of the other residents.
When you go to some teachers to talk about it they point the finger at the child with no input on how to fix the situation.One teacher flat out said he will not budge.

PS my wife and I read to the children as we have for years.

My children struggle in all subjects due to this problem.
I do take a very active roll in my childrens education and home life, I do because my parents did not and I know how it feels

Answer 1

they only want to keep their statistics up so that the money will keep on flowing in.

If they admit that they are failing students then blame will need to be found, is it the teachers? is it the curriculum? at this point it is fruitless,

I have seen this in my child as well, a change of school to where the curriculum is more centric on the task than the goal has been good.

Answer 2

Funding goes into standardized testing (tens of millions of dollars, and rising) and administration, rather than into the classrooms. Classrooms are overcrowded, with insufficient materials. Teachers are not able to provide enough individual time with each student because they are dealing with too many students. If you asked a teacher whether they would want twice the pay, OR half the class size, most would take half the class size. Administrators fight giving students additional help (specialized small-group reading classes, special education, etc.) because they don't have the funds to cover it.

NCLB does NOT help our children... as a matter of fact it is hurting them because of the intensive focus on standardized testing.

If standardized testing was a true and valid measure, there would be no one flunking out of college (per the ACTs and SATs), and no incompetent professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc.) because professionals take several standardized tests before getting licensed.

It should be that grades should mean something (perhaps backed by student portfolios that are randomly audited)... and retention in a grade should continue until a child can pass that grade, at real grade-level expectations, at 80% or better accuracy... and give teachers half the number of students to work with (12 rather than 25 at elementary level, 90 rather than 180 at secondary level). Two or more retentions would result in an automatic referral to special education support.

Do you remember when you EARNED that grade, when standardized tests were a judge of YOU and not your teacher, and when you learned a great variety of things in class? NCLB has killed that.

Answer 3

The Almighty Oz is talking out of his almighty butt. The problem does NOT lie with uncaring teachers. We still get into the profession with the hopes of making a difference, but we can only work within the confines of the system. Students are coming to us without the skills they need to be successful. In this respect we're not just trying to help them make a year's growth- we're trying to catch them up to grade level so that they may THEN make a year's growth. Very seldom are teacher recommendations for retention honored by principals. That would hurt graduation rates. When half of a school's population is on free and reduced lunch, it becomes clear that half of the school's population is not having their needs met at home. They're not getting enough sleep, not enough to eat, not enough hugs, not enough baths, not enough clean clothes- they're obviously not being read to by their parents, and they're obviously not getting a sense of how important their education is. With so much baggage coming to the classroom door, it's any wonder we get anything out of them at all. Schools are also putting pressure on teachers to pass everyone. For example, I'm not allowed to give students less than a C if they're EC or ESL. They go through the school year thinking they're doing just fine when in reality they're struggling with the work. On the high school level, many schools don't allow teachers to give students less than a 60 for the first term so that the students don't get low self-esteem and give up for the second term. A student can skip class all the time, do no work, and still make a 60. This is NOT something teachers are choosing to do. It's something we're being made to do. Our standards for average are being lowered all the time. The system is failing, but most government-operated programs do. It sucks that your kids did so seemingly well in school only to find that they're not as successful as you thought. Things are going to come to a head in this country regarding education. Keep pushing your kids at home, and keep pushing your concerns on your representatives.

Answer 4

Teachers don't care anymore. When we went to school teachers cared about their students and made sure they learned. Another thing is teachers have overcrowded classrooms, gang bangers, trouble makers and the like in their clas. There are some kids that really work hard to learn and be ahead of the curve. I was like that but I had average grades. Didn't do my homework or didn't do it to the max. Just did it to get it done. Test were all high grades (B+). Reading wise I was always ahead of everybody. Kids now don't read as much and that's another reason why they're behind reading wise.

Answer 5

The current system is built on a factory model based on economies of scale. Thousands of anonymous students are seen as the "raw material" and the "product." Hundreds of anonymous teachers are seen as replaceable, interchangeable "cogs in the machine." There is no personal accountability because teachers are all required to teach a tightly prescribed district or state curriculum and the students are too numerous to really be known by any of the adults.

We need to move back to smaller schools where a "knowable" number of students get personal, inspired teaching from a knowable number of teachers.

Answer 6

GOOD QUESTION. Kinda shakes your faith a little don't it? But, why didn't you recognize this problem earlier on? Like the 9th or 10th or 11th grades (rhetorical question)? The fact is, he needed and still needs to get reading, speaking, and writing skills that the school failed to provide, and that you failed to recognize.

Because these are basic life skills, I suggest you take him to someplace like Sylvan Learning Centers where they can measure, tutor and monitor. PLEASE DO IT TODAY.

Good Luck