What is wrong with schools?

Question

Some people say that teachers are bad. Some think testing is ruining the schools. Others think it's the students, or the principals, or the bureaucracy. I've met people who blame religion or the lack thereof; who say it all has to do with vouchers or the government or dress codes or food choice.
We all went (or are going) to school and we all have an opinion. What do you think? What is going on with schools and what can we do to fix it? Or are we getting ourselves worked up for nothing?

Answer 1

I think we lack a certain set of standards for education in this country. We don't try to get kids to understand things; all we want them to do is pass. For example, the county that I live in requires 22.5 credits to graduate from high school, and students have 8 classes a year. By the end of high school, some students have 34 credits because they passed their classes and took some high school credit courses in middle school. Administrators have lowered the level of education, and regular and honors classes at my school are a joke (heck, even some AP classes are ridiculous). On top of that, there are STILL many many students who drop out or are credit deficient by the end of their senior year. They are offered tutoring services, but only two or three students come every week. I live in Nevada, and our school system is ranked 50th out of the 50 states even with all of the extra services and help available outside of school. I blame students as well as the schools; we could both do more.

Answer 2

As a teacher, I know there's plenty of blame to place all around. I've said so many times that I don't mind being held accountable, but I'm not the only person in these children's lives, so why am I the only one accountable? Why aren't parents held accountable? Why aren't administrators and school districts held accountable?

Finally, it has started to change as far as districts and principals. They're starting to be accountable too. I'm still waiting for parents to be accountable though. For example, there is a child at my school who is one of 8 kids inthe family. Mom doesn't work and looks to the school toprovide handouts so the kids have clothes and supplies. The kid, being one of 8 never gets a chance to do homework because he's taking care of younger brothers and sisters. The other day, this mom told our secretary that she'shaving another baby because she missed holding a baby! She can't take care of the ones she has...and she's having another?

Also, I've been a teacher for 13 years, and I've seen some pretty crappy teachers. I had one who told me that he only got into teaching as a way to meet women. I had another one tell a student she was going to "break his arms, break his legs, and THEN she was going to get mean". What happened to her? She was involuntarily transferred to another school. Why wasn't this woman fired? I had a principal take me off campus into a police action! Was she fired? Nope.

Let me be clear here about testing and standards. I think having standards is a good idea. It lets students clearly know what is expected of them, makes them responsible for their own learning, and makes clearer to me what has to be taught and when. Having said that, I have also seen the effects of constant test stress and theburnout of teachers and students as they move from one test deadline to another.

To make things worse, now there's the President's directive for nutritional guidelines. We can't reward kids with candy, we can't serve cupcakes at parties, we can't have anything that could be fattening because it leads to childhood obesity. THAT'S SO FRUSTRATING! We didn't give the obese kids the problem. They came to us 4 or 5 years after being born. They're eating hot cheetos for breakfast and large pizzas for snacks when they get home. Yet if we have students who eat healthy and make good choices, we can't reward them with a sweet snack at a party that we only have once or twice a year, not every week.
Sorry for any misspellings. This whole issue frustrates me to no end!

Answer 3

Schools, whether primary, secondary, undergraduate or graduate are way to inbred. No more free thinking or working towards something special. It's all about money and keeping your job while not pis*ing off the poor little students or their mommies or their lawyers.

Mostly it's just the lateral thinking, you know, inbred.

Answer 4

Nothing is wrong with the schools, the problem is parents not paying attention to their children and not making them do whats expected of them. It's not money either, the education system gets more than they need and deserve.