Education worse now than before?

Question

Everyone always cries "Education is so bad now!"

but then I see what the kids are doing... like algerbra in like the 5th grade... no one did that in the past... if your over 40 algerbra was like a senior in high school course... or even college...

they are doing stuff many people didn't even do in college in high school now...

granted there are some dumb kids out there... but there were dumb kids then that didn't know their head from a hole in the ground... one or two dumb kids don't make a bad system ... it just means that they are dumb kids...

what do you guys think? I think a kid from today's classroom could score decenly well on an SAT test, while a kid from a classroom from 30 years ago wouldn't even know how to start to do half the stuff on it...

coragryph: you were FAR above the pace then nationwide... maybe you don't know it... but you were... I know people who are around 50... that never took algerbra even in high school...

firemedicgm: the girl who answered below you took COLLEGE LEVEL calculus as a sophmore...

Art The Wise: I'm not argueing with you... maybe that's part of the problem... we're teaching to tests instead of teaching to live?
but such a high importance is placed on tests, that teachers have to teach to them...

HOLY CRAP... this is almost like a quasi-intelligent discourse on yahoo answers... I've not heard a "stupid libtard" or "ignorant Neocon" comment yet...

Frankly... I'm a little scared... hahaha

bd5star: while frankly, I'm inclined to agree with you (you got me on that one)... hahaha...

at the same time... it seems like we always look back on the past like it's some "fantastic time of enlightenment"... but let us remember that women and African Americans couldn'e even vote until about 40 years ago... the changes have been very dramatic and I fear that even back then... dicourse wouldn't have been much better on a similar mode of communication (if they would have had one available for the same percentage of the population)...

Martin L: interesting facts... but there is no real comparison here beyond the subjective human... in other words... you're not comparing how people did on the same tests years ago, you're just assuming that they would have done better...
in other words, you have many things telling us "how bad we're doing" but nothing more than opinion when you compare now to the past...

Answer 1

Where to begin?

When American students are tested against children in China, Taiwan, and Japan on conceptual and visualization skills, they fall farther behind the older they get; i.e., the longer they spend in American schools. [1]

Academically, this is cause for major concern, but the real test is in the job market. Some points to ponder: in 1992, Pacific Telesis reported that 3 out of 5 high school graduates applying for jobs flunked a seventh-grade-level company exam. When Intel began interviewing applicants in 1996 for positions at a new plant, only one-fifth of the candidates (all high school graduates) could pass their ninth-grade level test on math, reading and writing skills. [2]

I would like to report that things gotten better in the last 15 years, but I can't. In my experience (having taught at the graduate level), things have gotten worse, if anything. Writing skills are abysmal. No one can spell without a computer's help. And, sad to say, many of my colleagues (with post grad degrees--not students), are so bad at math that they do not even feel qualified to balance their own checkbooks.

When I was in junior high in the 70's, Algebra was either an 8th grade or a 9th grade course, depending on your level of proficiency. Now, most if not all colleges offer Algebra as a freshman math class! I am told by my colleagues that many public high schools have quit teaching calculus because very few of today's students ever reach that level while still in high school.

The result of these lax standards is that students are ill-equipped for the job market once they graduate high school. Businesses are still complaining that a high school diploma means nothing when they are considering a candidate for any remotely skilled position. Even for positions that they once filled with high school graduates, businesses are now looking for something more, even a college degree in some cases.

Technical skills are on a decline in this country that is reaching crisis levels. According to the National Science Foundation, enrollment of science and engineering graduate students declined 1993-98, but in 1999 showed a minor up-tick in foreign grad students on temporary visas while the numbers for U.S. citizens declined again. [3] The trend continues today. We are increasingly dependent on foreign engineers, doctors, and scientists, most of whom have no particular loyalty to this country and could leave for their homelands at any time.

How are colleges reacting? By reducing the requirements for admission, requiring fewer science and math classes, and offering high-school level classes to entering freshmen so that they can learn the skills necessary for college. Wasn't high school the time for these kids to take those classes?

Even the SAT has been dumbed down, so the claim that SAT scores are increasing is specious and misleading. [4]

In my opinion, the primary indicator of how the education system is working is the literacy rate. The system's performance by that standard is also woeful. According to the June 23, 2005 commentary, Literacy Then and Now, literacy was much higher in the colonial period, and generally through the 19th century but with a marked decline throughout the 20th century. This is true despite the fact that, in 1900, only 6% of students even finished high school! [5] That tells us that all the extra years of schooling required today do little if anything to increase the literacy rates in this country.

In 1992, just 40% of college graduates could read and comprehend at the Proficient level (defined as capable of comparing viewpoints in two different editorials). This is bad enough, but it has gotten worse. By 2003 only 31% of college graduates - three out of ten - were found to be literate at the Proficient level. [5]

That is an abject failure of the school system.

It seems the current educational system is in place to churn out diplomas, but little more. One can only hope that real standards will be adopted, reliable methods will be utilized, and that, in the future, our kids will be expected to reach an acceptable level of proficiency before they are allowed to graduate. It's our only hope.

Answer 2

Schools are schools. They evolve with the ever changing standards of society.

Some people seem a bit critical of vo tech type classes. Career and tech education is a positive step forward for many students. Some of them would be drop-outs if it wasn't for those practical type of classes. Vo tech and work experience classes that can get them a job straight out of high school (because not all kids are interested in college, no matter how much we as a society push them) may bring the disinterested student to school more so than a science or math class. Same thing can be said for art and music classes.

As for college algebra... big ******* deal. I have a Masters degree and I haven't used that horsecrap since I finished my required college algebra class back in my undergrad days. Some careers might have some use for it... but I think too many people see it as some sort of holy grail that we must force down all kids throats as early as possible. If we are going to teach math, lets teach PRACTICAL math. Like classes where kids figure interest rates on credit cards... or learn how to balance a checkbook. You would be surprised to see how many kids get out of high school without that basic of knowledge.

Answer 3

Schools are far worse today than in previous generations. In years past, there was no grading on a curve. You passed or failed.

Today, they teach to standardized, national tests. I would put a 1950's high school graduate up against any of today's graduates in subjects like english, chemistry, or math.

It's not enough to be able to solve a math problem, it is far more important to UNDERSTAND the problem. Logic and rational thinking are sorely lacking in today's schools. Students today are being taught by rote memory. They regurgitate facts without an understanding of how that applies to real-world situations,

In my contact with young people, they either grasp conceptual theories on their own, or they are left behind. There is no foundational emphasis in the instruction they receive.

Answer 4

Education is better now. Children of today are not only a generation ahead in thinking but also evolved to a better species by a generation. Now education is not confined to upper middle class white males.It is open to all. More and more children are willing to face tougher competition. Professional skills are no longer family secrets. More students are less racial and colleges are international. Students who do not have scholorships have loans... Smoking ,drugs and crime are coming down.Research has gone beyond space and there are lesser human casualties in war. The world is in safer and more educated hands.

Answer 5

I would have to disagree with you. In 1989 I took Calculus as a senior in high school. From what I can see, not many high schools even offer it anymore.

The biggest problem I see is that high schools are focusing more on career prep and voc-tech classes to prepare students for college, but what they're sacrificing are the basics - math, science, and English (specifically, composition). Without a solid understanding of these areas, the voc-tech and career prep classes are worthless.

Answer 6

You are right in some ways. But kids today don't know anything about responsibilty or the real world except for having this and having. What's the use of being book smart if they are plainly stupid when it comes to the real world?

Answer 7

Students learn different things, but the overall level of critical thinking and educational preparedness is dropping nation-wide.

And in my junion high-school, algebra was 7th grade. That was late 1970s.

Answer 8

Todays educational system is a complete farce, for proof of that, you only need to read the posts of approximately 70% of the fools on this forum !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

well, i was in 5th grade when i took algebra.........right now im going to take AP Calculus BC in my sophmore year.............i think education has becomed so advance that it greatly benefits some students when it greatly hurts others