does the US public school system make people more intelligent, or simply teach them to repeat facts and obey?

Question

does being able to regurgitate information back to an instructor and follow rules really make a person intelligent, or does it just mean they are a more effective robot than the rest?

if there was enough space, i would have put the word "facts" in quotes.

also, i am not advocating private schools. if anything i am advocating SELF education.

Answer 1

Compared to the educational systems in many other countries (I know specifically about India's and Japan's), the US system teaches analysis and generative thinking much more effectively. There's a lot less memorization in a US education than in Japan's or India's. In the US students are taught a much more questioning attitude. I don't think that makes American students more "intelligent." A comparison of standardized test scores suggests Americans lag some other countries in math and literacy skills. But I do think it makes Americans more willing and able to challenge the status quo.

Answer 2

The 'Public School' as we know it today is nowhere near what the Schools used to be. Everything is 'dummied down' and the kids spend all of their time preparing for FCATS,SATs and so forth. We have children who have no idea how to put a proper sentence together, cringe at the sight of a word problem.... I think you get the point!
So I guess in the long run the answer is ROBOT. Although how effective we are as Robots is questionable.
Try www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/1895exam.html
There is a test on there(you have to scroll down) that you took in the 7th Grade and could retake again in the 8th if you didn't pass the first time----Our kids have it easy and would NEVER pass this . That is how lazy we have gotten in the Education Dept.

Answer 3

My opinion is that there is not enough fact memorizing. Kids should know all the States and Capitols, every county in their State, and every single President. There are many students from around the world (other countries) that seem to know more American History than our own US students do.

At age ten, students from twenty five countries take the same test that American kids take. American kids place eighth. By age 15, when students from forty countries are tested, Americans take twenty-fifth place. The longer kids are in the American Schools, the worse they do in International competition. That does not sound like our schools are forcing memorization or learning too awfully hard.

To name a few countries that score better: Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Latvia, England, Netherlands....now, ask yourself this....can you tell me some facts about these countries? Can you find them on a map, tell me who runs their government, what they export, etc?

American schools are afraid to teach you to obey, and you do not. American schools are afraid to tell you you lack the skills to become a productive competitive worker, they want you to believe in yourself, no matter how dumb you are.

As long as our government is in control of the education system, schools will continue to produce less than learned students.

Well, that is my two cents worth.

Answer 4

i'm a conservative and that i do no longer believe that public colleges are the right talk board to be discussing non secular beliefs previous a literary or historic foundation. If mum and dad want a religious coaching, there are a range of places that could be carried out: non secular college, attending facilities, discussing it in a kin putting. The time period "worshipping" looks to bypass adversarial to the first commandment does it no longer? i imagine the time period "believing" might want to be slightly more desirable helpful. Believing in Jesus does no longer an ethical individual make. enable us no longer ignore the wars and murders dedicated in the call of religion. moral habit is taught through party (something I do believe Jesus might want to consider). basically because someone believes does no longer immediately cause them to an ethical individual. If that were the case, there might want to be plenty a lot less scandals in this international. colleges might want to instill self-discipline and help construct personality besides as feed information to the youngster...even with the undeniable fact that it fairly all begins at domicile. Its no longer the colleges one should be searching at as a lot because the domicile. each baby should be allowed to worship as he or she pleases and that i imagine a second of silence after making a music the nationwide anthem is a sturdy answer.

Answer 5

I am a public school teacher in an "upper class" community.

Nature vs. Nurture. That's the real question. I have had students in my class with near genius IQs. Unless children find/are shown the value of education, they may not put forth the thought and effort required to show "good" results.

I have had " mentally challenged" students who have fared better than "gifted" students.

The real difference is in the parents and their expectations for their children's accomplishments. Children who do well in school are not allowed to make excuses for poor performance!

Answer 6

hmm....

Well you see, you're kinda expecting too much. China's educational system is excatly as you have writen. They don't get hands-on expirence and just know facts.

I don't know which school you're basing this information off of, but I can tell you my school district is nothing alike that. Most people know how to problem solve and stuff, even in history class, all they do is tell us to relate to modern day, and how history is connected.

Of course...fact memorizing is also an effective/cheap way of teaching.

Answer 7

I for one am not that proud at all about how my children are "learning" in the Texas school systems. Teachers are not teaching math and reading anymore, they are teaching TAKS. Text books....WHAT TEXT BOOKS?????? Everything is downloaded or sent to them to comply with the state on what they cram our children with and how long they spend cramming it. Time is not used teaching anymore like it was when I was in school. I think it is very sad. Our kids are not children learning in school anymore, they are children in elementary preparing for the big university. It is all about which school scores the highest now days, not how much the children actually learned. I could go on for hours about this very sore subject, but I am sure you can tell what my feelings are. I want my children to learn, not just know it for this big test the school will be rewarded for.

Answer 8

There are a lot of intelligent people that came out of public schools. Private schools don't have a monopoly on education.

Answer 9

No one can make you more intelligent-you can increase your base of knowledge, but what you do with it determines if you are intelligent or not. Sometimes the methods used by teachers can assist a person to think critically using logic and reason. It depends on the person's learning style.

Answer 10

The elementary school system (in the U.S.) was developed in the late 1800s in response to the Industrial Revolution. It strives to teach three things: rote, punctuality and obedience to authority. These attributes make a good factory worker, you see.

It used to be assumed that colleges existed to teach students to think; this is, in my opinion, much less the case than it once was.