Children do not seem sufficiently challenged in our North American School systems. What do we need to change?

Question

Its a global economy and looking a students around the world, it seems that our children are "generally" no challenged. Math, Languages, self-study, etc...

Answer 1

Parents that stay together raise more successful kids -- a cold, ugly statistical fact.

The teachers sure are stupid! Guild socialism, the heart of the democratic party, they aren't so bright themselves.

I think we need arithmetic, reading and writing taught on instant-scoring computers and emailed to the parents DAILY. Give the kids some projects that they have to solve as a team, and the teachers can coach the teams (that way they can't slow down or interfere with the critical studies of reading, writing and arithmetic).

We need an eleven month school year instead of 9 months.

We need scholorships or grants for high school graduates going to college to major in the hard sciences and engineering -- those social science degrees are a plague of pseudo-knowledge that is impoverishing all of us.

We're only graduating 50,000 engineers a year in the USA --that is not nearly enough. I've heard India is graduating ove 100,000 a year and China over 150,000.

Answer 2

I would argue that our children are challenged, there just not making the grade. Remeber, when we speak about 'our children' in a national sence, we're talking about all the children in the US, and while white, suburban, middle class children are not being challenged per se, million of minority, poor, and rural children are stuggeling in school and with poverty, adverse homelife, and a myriad of other factor.

I think the educational system is a mirror on North American soceity. If we expect more from our schools then we need to expect from or society.

Answer 3

If you can solve this question you can save American schools!

It is a systematic failure, read Max Weber on the nature of bureaucracy and the special test as he calls it.

Factor in political interest groups, like, NOW (who think boys need to act more like girls) and the Christian Coalition, (who think everyone needs to act just like them) local politics, (no comment) and parents who are working 50 hours a week, (who think it is the schools job to raise their children);

Then factor in standardized testing, for which if too many students don't answer the right question the correct way, the teacher will lose her job,

Then consider schools have become big business and are becoming the new "tough on crime" campaign speech for politicians.

Then go to your local state website for the education agency, examine how much more is spent on administration than on students

In short, it is a big, cultural mess.

Answer 4

people post that where we live how we grew up conditions that we endured were the direct result of are education but I think that when I was in school and parted and finished my homework and went out at night and just didn't have my priority's straight then when I went to college I had to drop out as a straight A student because I made to much money and could not afford to pay the remainder of my monthly school bill which was not covered by grants or loans and my credit is shot so no bank loans for me but I lived out of my dads car for 3 months and had hand me down cloths when I went to school and was around drug users and drug dealers and I chose to make everyday count by setting a goal and going for it but in a school system you have kids that are REALLY SMART that just haven't bin given a chance but at the same time they will have to learn that the more you know the more you will want to learn So what I'm saying is only you can chose the path that you want and if you fall down get back up and learn from that mistake and go forward.

Answer 5

Parents need to stop medaling in the school sytem. When they want Johny to get an exception to use a calculator on the test, they make Johny stupider. One reason why Asians excel in education is becuase of their parents. They have to work before they can have fun.

I'm homeschooled, and find that I'm much smarter than the average/above average person my age. One reason is because there's really no socialization in home-school. Sure I interact with my other family members, but it's not as much goofing as one would do with a freind. Also my mother teaches like they taught when she was a kid. No calculators on tests, and other exceptops that "modern" schools give.

Answer 6

No. A lesson plan latest in a instructor's residing room is such vulnerable data. you could condemn the Morningstar midsection for what it have self belief in case you do not have the comparable politics as them yet you won't be able to condemn the academics. None of your rant mentions a instructor that used the lesson plan. None of your rant mentions a instructor who did something incorrect.

Answer 7

Excuse me? Take a walk in our shoes! We're struggling enough as it is! Why do you feel like you need to push us so hard that we collapse? I don't need any more challenge than I already have, thank you very much!

Answer 8

We need to stop catering to the lowest common denominator. Sure some kids won't perform as well as others, but that doesn't mean we should hold the other kids back to so that these lower performing kids aren't left behind.

Answer 9

I agree that is why I think schools of choice is important. Parents should be able to choose where their tax dollars are going to ensure their child gets a good education.... Then again, a lot of parents don't care. Or they believe the NEA that only a teacher knows what is best for their child.... and this "personal best" garbage... it's an excuse for mediocrity..... Oh boy, now you got me started..........................................................

Answer 10

People here just don't care. I have met lots of teenagers who don't care and flunk the year or have a narrow way of mind and don't open it up beyond their bubble of the school district, city, state, or country.