Is our education system properly prepping our students for college or the low class life???

Question

I believe our education is currently failing to prepare students for the "college life" so many of us strive for. More students may be graduating but how many of those students are going to college and are going to recieve a degree.

Answer 1

I agree I'm sitting in class now and the teacher is PLAYING on the computer OMG I can't believe this

Answer 2

We may think college is the ideal, but it's not nearly as profitable as believed.

College itself actually doesn't do much to prep people for real life. It's an institution created to educate people to function under certian tracts. Having a degree doesn't really make you a more knowledgable person.

It's true that the public education system in America is seariously lacking, and it would lead you to believe that the government is actually setting people up to fail. And reality this is probably true. But you have to wonder why.

The only way to stay on top is to keep people beneath you. Having more people living at the middle class to poverty level, makes the rich look that much more interesting.

Answer 3

Many educational standards, once held sacred by educators have been lowered to allow more people to graduate.
If a school has too large a failure rate, it looks poorly on the teachers and administrators.
Many use race as an excuse for failing saying that the "quality" of education is different in different communities. To avoid being called racists, the standards are again lowered.
I must say that your statement suggesting that those of us who do not have a college degree is "Low Class" is somewhat offensive but, I do understand where your coming from.

Answer 4

I get the sense that this very much depends on where you go to school. I know of kids at both public and private schools who are learning an amazing amount, and as a college professor, I sometimes think we had better be prepared to step up our game by the time they get to college (did you know what a rhombus and a trapezoid were in kindergarten? My five-year-old nephew, who is in a public school, does!). On the other hand, we daily get students in our classes who never learned even the basics, and again, this is as true of those who went to private schools as it is of those from public schools (I teach at a Catholic university, so our students are pretty well divided between the two sources). These days, whenever I give an exam, I can expect students to ask questions about the simplest of words I use on that exam (and I'm not speaking of those for whom English is a second language). They don't seem to be able to calculate their own grades, given the percentage that each assignment is worth. Who knows what they learned in school?

Answer 5

I taught 7th grade Language Arts in Atlanta, Georgia last year. I can honestly say I do not feel that I helped prepare those children for college. I did my best every day. Perhaps their hormones were more powerful than the wonderful curriculum prepared by the Georgia Board of Education.

I am sure that some of them will succeed. Success is measured in many ways. Ever met a college graduate that was miserable? Surely you have?

It's all about enjoying your life and realizing that you have been given opportunities.

Answer 6

To be honest, I believe most high schools are too focused on those students headed to college and don't cater to the needs of the students who won't be going to college or will need to work and go to school at the same time.

The high school in the town where I used to live offered all kinds of choices for college prep classes - including advanced math like trig and calculus, a wide variety of AP courses, and concurrent college courses. However, they had very few choices for vocational courses like like wood shop, metal shop, auto shop, etc. And their ROP program (basically on the job training) was virtually non-existent.

I fully appreciate the need to prepare those students who will go on to be doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers, and other professional types. But what about those who will go on to be vet techs, auto mechanics, carpenters or construction workers, electricians, plumbers, etc. I feel these students are largely ignored in many schools and by the structure of our education system.

Further more, I believe schools that don't cater to these students put them at greater risk for dropping out. If a 17-18 year-old knows they aren't going to college and feels high school isn't offering them anything of value, what incentive is there for them to keep going to school.

I realize that in an ideal world, most everyone would go to college and get a degree. But in the real world, not everyone can afford to do that or has the capacity. And no matter how many white collar workers there are, they will still need people to fix their cars, build their houses, and clear their plugged up toilets.

Answer 7

I concur with your opinion.

Emphasis is given to the narrow view of education, whereas the bigger picture, the totality of the student is ignored and wasted.

Example: in Florida the FCAT has decimated the learning experiences of the students and frustrated teachers. All other aspects of learning are ignored while the focus of education is geared towards teaching the norms of the FCAT in order to have students pass the test with a modicum of success.

A situation which will eventually corrode the basis of education thus failing to prepare students for a successful future in whatever endeavor they may choose.

Answer 8

The schools are sooo concerned with
teaching all they can...they fail to really
teach anything.
Only the excellent students can keep up
and the rest get 'labeled' to excuse the
schools failings.
If a student can't read or spell they will
never learn any other subject. Too much
education will never beat out a GREAT
EDUCATION.

Answer 9

I think the public school system has been broken for ages. They just herd the masses in, cram them full of the same trivial information, and herd them out into the real world unaware of how to really function in the college/ workforce arena.

Unless students already know they career path which they want to follow and choose elective classes to help them learn the skills, they will fail.

Just my opinion...

Answer 10

"No Student Left Behind" It's the biggest train wreck since "Affirmative Action". Doesn't sound too popular but both systems do the same thing. They deny the qualified and reward the lazy by setting a "warm body" example. Meaning that all you have to do is show up and eventually they'll just hand it to you.

Answer 11

This is what our education system thinks: they give us a crappy eucation so that we're not smart enough to realize that we can do better for our selfs so what do we do? go out to a dead end job which requires no college ect. so we go to this jobs & depend on them so much that we can't go to college cause we wont be able to pay the bills so the government keeps us in low states so that we wont fight back & want free college such as in ALL other countries or free health care so that have us right where they want us hopeless. And that sportsfans is sad....