Is education today as good as it used to be ?

Question

Having spent a long time reading questions on this site it would appear perhaps that the youngsters of today have a poor grasp of the English Language and how to use it.

Answer 1

You're partly right. A lot of what you see here--and elsewhere on the Internet--isn't lack of knowledge. Instead, it's the result of an informal shorthand that's evolving. That's not a bad thing--as long as it's not "instead of " a proper command of English.

But there are real problems with America's schools. The most recent "National Report Card" shows a continuing decline in language skills as well as math skills among graduating seniors. Comparatively speaking, they used to be the top--now they rank 17th among 22 industrialized nations.

There's a lot of reasons--but the bottom line is that on average, schools are not doing a very good job--and so far the professional educators have spent mor time shifting the blame than in trying to find solutions. Don't get me wrong--many teachers are good--and dedicated. But the ones who are are mostly hamstrung by bureaucracy--and they are a minority. The young people entering teaching who are good tend to leave after a few years--they aren't alllowed to do the job right-and if they are good, they can do better financially elsewhere--so they don't stay. Most would rather teach--but if they face only endless frustration, they might as well go elsewhere and get a bigger paycheck.

But on the whole, I think teachers and school administrators wil start to make improvements when they quit making excuses and face the fact that it's their job that is not being done and start to work on putting their own house in order.

The really sadd thing is that with the tools computers/information technology make available, education today could be the best the human race has ever seen. Instead it is deteriorating--and our children are the victims.

Answer 2

Education is much more intense today that is for sure. That is why kids aren't doing as well.

In the "old" days, focus was on the fundamental "3 R's", reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic.

Cirriculums are more intense, classes bigger, teachers more stressed and either not paid enough or feel they are not paid enough, but in general, kids are "left behind" because there is too much too learn and if you don't get into good learning habits, if you don't do homework (because you have to practice and need your parents to help you, especially if you are behind or special ed, etc.) then you are going to do poorly.

You need to establish good organizational skills, reading habits, homework habits etc. at a very young age, grade 1 and 2 and 3, and that way by the time you are in grades where you are really expected to absorb and contribute with projects etc. you have good learning habits established and you put a lot more thought and detail into your work. These little extras are what make you succeed at learning, but the "spark" to learn and the desire has to be ingrained at an early age.

Kids waste way too much time on useless things like video games and computer. The computer should be a learning tool not a passtime, and video games should be a reward, not a "norm", but if you got parents who sit by the tube, chances are so will your kids, and you'll never do well in education when your time is spent on jibberish.

Answer 3

I defiitely don't agree that there has been a slackening of educational standards.

When I graduated from high school 50 years ago, only about 10% of American kids went on to college. Even the 2nd decile of kids went to work, to business college or in the service. Today, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th decile of kids go to college. So, of course, they are not as good as the top 10% used to be, but I think they are WAY better than the former 6th decile was!

I went to a top 10 university and my son went to the same school 35 years later. He was MUCH better prepared going in, and he had a MUCH more demanding and advanced education than I did.

Whenever people complain about how poorly kids write today, I am reminded of a comment in one of Jane Austen's novels written about 1800 - she has a character say that people write very good letters, except for three things -- total lack of subject matter, bad spelling and a complete inattention to grammar. I did a history project at our local historical society years ago and we edited the letters home from a lot of soldiers in the Civil War and WW I. Pretty often their grammar, spelling and handwriting were so bad we could hardly figure out what they were talking about. Bad writing is decidedly nothing new.

Answer 4

What is very sad is the fact that young children are growing up with the txt language! UR=you are, gr8=great, bcs=because etc...This is spilling over into every day writing and language. I see it every day in the school I work in. The education standard isn't dropping but the ability to get these children to spell correctly and write coherently is becoming very hard. One of the other preoblems I have encountered is the fact that they stay up until the early hours playing games on their PC's and are just tired the entire time. This has a very dramatic effect on their ability to focus or take in any information at all.

Answer 5

There is a good deal of bad grammar being used on this website. However, I find most of it not coming from Americans but from Indians. Considering that many from India are bilingual I am hardly going to criticize them. As for the kids writing things like "cuz" and such that is just their way of communicating on the net. The real kids who are having problems academically are not the kids who for the most part are posting here.

I will make this one point regarding education though. As people attempt to make education more professional or scientific they are dumbing down the curriculum. What education needs to focus more on is increasing teacher salaries and less on building up layers of administration and bureaucracy to attract better teachers rather than more layers of watchdogs.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 6

I have to think that the education my mother received was much more intense and classical than mine. My mom was taught Latin as a matter of course. She had a vast and deep knowledge of Literature, History, Math, and the Arts. She helped my brother with his thesis on Machiavelli. She basically wrote my essay on John Dunne off the top of head over the phone. And guess what? She did not even finish college. So based on that, I would say the level of education has fallen somewhat.

Answer 7

Education is better than it used to be, just the generation is grasping it very poorly. Also, we're all on the internet, our vocab changes. The most of us know how to spell and use the language, some of us just choose not to.

Answer 8

I think it is a combination of things....the amount of material that students need to learn is more, but sometimes I think the content has been watered down. I hope that makes sense.

Because of testing, so many teachers have to teach certain topics so students can achieve good grades, but then it leaves little time for all the other things, so it is taught at a lower level.

Answer 9

I think that it is the kids fault for not grasping it very well. I see in my school for example that kids choose not to listen in class or do the homework. Its not the teachers fault it is the kids fault for choosing not to learn.

Education today I think is better, its the kids faolt fo making it look bad. I am takin college classes in high school and i am learning something and even in non college classes I am learning something because i choose to learn and I want to learn.

Answer 10

It depends on your benchmarks.
Furthermore, schools are expected to do so much, I think the content is spread too thinly.