Current Events > Is America's education system really THIS bad?

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://youtube.com/shorts/dmUdWYvYvKU?si=x3h_eM1SyPbWKjbJ

Is this clip of fictional material really close to real life education in the US? The comments seem to say yes, but I was wondering what CE 's opinion on the matter is.

What is that from?

Didn't watch, but I'm gonna say "yes."

I really hate that I instantly recognized this lame hilary swank movie that I didn't even watch (because it seemed like a knock-off of michelle pfeiffer's dangerous minds and so many other movies of the time) yet still somehow remember (and also because I disliked swank)

Cheater87 posted...

What is that from?

A movie called Freedom Writers.

Cheater87 posted...

What is that from?

Freedom Writers according to the comments.

And it isn't bad. The American Education is worse and makes that clip look positive by comparison.

Every time I see a horror story about the Usian school system I thank the fact that I don't teach there and I'm part of the private industry.

im not american but something tells me the private schools are fine while the public ones are in the shitter.

Shit. I knew it was bad, but it's actually worse than the clip portrays? No wonder American's seem dumber lately.

GhostFaceLeaks posted...

And it isn't bad. The American Education is worse and makes that clip look positive by comparison.

This. Those kids are at least sitting down asking questions without a phone in front of their face.

No child left behind really accelerated the destruction of the American education system.

Not just bad but unfixable. Attempts to fix the many, many problem it has resulted in right-wingers going so absolutely fucking apeshit that people have given up trying. It's the crisis nobody wants to acknowledge.

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Worse than that, in Shakespeares day the women were all played by men pretending to be women. And many of his plays are about women pretending to be men.

/s, just in case

Lillymon posted...

Not just bad but unfixable. Attempts to fix the many, many problem it has resulted in right-wingers going so absolutely fucking apeshit that people have given up trying. It's the crisis nobody wants to acknowledge.

There's teachers who say their students are lost causes and have no future at all. Some even believe that them dying is preferable to living in the most extreme circumstances.

If you all haven't already done so, and if it's possible, you should go back and thank your teachers that tried to make a difference in your education. That's what I did before leaving Cali many years ago.

here in Texas the local schools don't do or teach anything it's all about the sports teams which makes it easier for the surrounding businesses to rip the kids off when they get employed there America is straight up doomed Carlin said that what they want are people just smart enough to run the machines and dumb enough to not notice how badly country sucks, the 90s were legit our peak and that's a downright shame because the 90s weren't nearly as glamorous as nostalgic has people believe

We're pretty fucked.

In this country, it's more important to beat our chest and declare ourselves the best than actually invest in education.

If we invested in our kids, maybe we'd actually do something about them being shot up all the time.

Other nations have long since passed by us and will continue to do so. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Canada and Mexico should be really worried Trump's admin is filled with war hawks who desperately want us in another armed conflict that signal leak really showed how these people feel about the lives of those who aren't them, they laugh, cheer and throw out emojis and outside of that some of them have made it very clear they want to see the military start killing people on American soil

I was in the 8th grade when I learned about the Holocaust. I knew about Hitler's existence, but not about the things he did or the millions of people he ordered to be killed or put into camps. Hell, I didn't even know that LGBTQ+ people were also targeted until just a few years back, when my SO talked about it.

tremain07 posted...

here in Texas the local schools don't do or teach anything it's all about the sports teams which makes it easier for the surrounding businesses to rip the kids off when they get employed there America is straight up doomed Carlin said that what they want are people just smart enough to run the machines and dumb enough to not notice how badly country sucks, the 90s were legit our peak and that's a downright shame because the 90s weren't nearly as glamorous as nostalgic has people believe

Compared to now, the 90s are pretty glamorous...which is sad to say.

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......I have no words.

Umbreon posted...

We're pretty fucked.

In this country, it's more important to beat our chest and declare ourselves the best than actually invest in education.

If we invested in our kids, maybe we'd actually do something about them being shot up all the time.

Other nations have long since passed by us and will continue to do so. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Americans really are just modern cavemen, and the left really needs to start treating them as such the minute they display signs.

ZevLoveDOOM posted...

im not american but something tells me the private schools are fine while the public ones are in the shitter.

It also depends on where they are

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Why was that even something that was being discussed with a first grader?

You think that's bad watch Stand and Deliver and realize that was like 30 years ago and Teachers and situations like that are incredibly, INCREDIBLY RARE

Ivynn posted...

Didn't watch, but I'm gonna say "yes."

This. I've seen kids in other countries be way smarter than kids in America

ZevLoveDOOM posted...

im not american but something tells me the private schools are fine while the public ones are in the shitter.

Private schools are far from fine. Just like public schools here, their quality varies wildly except with less oversight. They're at least part of the problem with schooling in the US.

this is just depressing

GeminiDeus posted...

I was in the 8th grade when I learned about the Holocaust. I knew about Hitler's existence, but not about the things he did or the millions of people he ordered to be killed or put into camps. Hell, I didn't even know that LGBTQ+ people were also targeted until just a few years back, when my SO talked about it.

How? My kid learned about the Holocaust in 5th grade when they read Number the Stars.

Were you in a red state & is the education there that bad?

We live in CT. My kids go to public school. My 8th grader is taking algebra 1 and my sophomore is taking pre calc along with AP Bio and AP Comp Sci. I cant say they are not getting a good education.

But I believe education starts at home. They both know that they can turn to us if they need help. They also know that we care about their grades.

Private schools are better funded but you never know what bullshit they might be teaching.

ZevLoveDOOM posted...

im not american but something tells me the private schools are fine while the public ones are in the shitter.

Depends. There's plenty of absolutely shit Christian private schools. I went to one for a couple years and it was a gigantic mistake. I literally got taught young earth creationist bullshit.

LightHawKnight posted...

No child left behind really accelerated the destruction of the American education system.

This. I mean shit I was in school around the time NCLB was implemented and it's only gotten worse since then.

It's literally "Yay, everyone's a winner!" even if the kid comes in dead last.
>_>

I saw that movie, it's really good.

HylianFox posted...

This. I mean shit I was in school around the time NCLB was implemented and it's only gotten worse since then.

It's literally "Yay, everyone's a winner!" even if the kid comes in dead last.
>_>

And what's funny, is that Republicans try to put the "participation trophy" stereotype on Democrats, even though it was Republican politicians who started it due to their own kids being such losers.

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It is absolutely fucking staggering what kids don't even know about themselves let alone the world around them.

Cuticrusader09 posted...

How? My kid learned about the Holocaust in 5th grade when they read Number the Stars.

Were you in a red state & is the education there that bad?

We live in CT. My kids go to public school. My 8th grader is taking algebra 1 and my sophomore is taking pre calc along with AP Bio and AP Comp Sci. I cant say they are not getting a good education.

But I believe education starts at home. They both know that they can turn to us if they need help. They also know that we care about their grades.

I've never heard of Number the Stars, but I skipped 5th grade, so maybe that's why? My first exposure to the Holocaust was 8th grade like Gemini. And went to the Holocaust museum during a 9th grade field trip.

Yeah, I actually learned quite a bit about WW2 and the Holocaust in Grade School, but it wasn't until years later that "oh, you mean Jews weren't the only target?" was a revelation.

That said, we did learn about the Enola Gay despite it being a big no-no these days.
In fact, I distinctly recall reading a YA novel about Hiroshima... from the perspective of the Japanese. It was very interesting.

Dam
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That is horrifying. My home address, phone number and parents' workplace were drilled into my head early. I can't even imagine not knowing my last name.

Are parents not listing their home address, apartment names, or anything on documentation the school keeps?

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Sadly, this isn't new. I was in middle school in the very early 90s, with undiagnosed ADD, and literally could not force myself to do homework, no matter what. Straight E's every semester of 7th and 8th grade.

Still got passed on to HS because I could always ace the CAT test.

So many horror stories itt. We need 70s/80s/90s style edutainment as mandatory viewing ASAP.

You know what really makes me feel old is I actually learned how to write cursive in grade school

Granted, all I ever use it for is signing my name, but still that's more than most people can do
>_>

HylianFox posted...

Granted, all I ever use it for is signing my name, but still that's more than most people can do

im physically incapable of writing in cursive

I was in Honors/college credit classes in high school but I heard a lot of students just straight up flunked and had to be carried to graduation because they didn't do their assignments during COVID, which is just nuts to me

It's going to depend on where you look. I've been teaching high school mathematics for 8 years now in a rural district.

The problems in education are multi-faceted and the solutions require time, resources, and a restructuring of the systems within the institution. There's no magic bullet that can fix things and you can't have an effective response if it's a singular one.

Here are a three federal policies that, in my opinion, would improve K-12 education.

1) A national unifying set of educational standards for math, science, english-language arts, social studies, and physical education. A national curriculum can be drafted and made available for any district that wants to use it, however a specific curriculum does not need to be prescribed/enforced at any level but should be structured to meet these standards.

2) Funding to build new schools in underserviced regions staffed with enough qualified teachers to reduce the average classroom size to 12-15 students per teacher, and enough special-education staff/paras to reduce their average caseload to 3-4 students per teacher.

3) 100% free breakfast and lunch for all students and 100% free after-school childcare.

NoxObscuras posted...

I've never heard of Number the Stars, but I skipped 5th grade, so maybe that's why? My first exposure to the Holocaust was 8th grade like Gemini. And went to the Holocaust museum during a 9th grade field trip.

I am lucky in that I can pick up my kids from school everyday. And everyday I ask what they learned. And we eat dinner together a talk. So if there is anything they didnt learn we teach them.

I did find sex ed even in a blue state to be quite lacking so I filled them in on that. Especially since there was no discussion of consent.

It is some sort of systemic-cultural problem. Multicausal. The United States spends a lot money per student nationwide but gets inconsistent results. Our top performers and mid-level performers compare favorably against students worldwide. However our struggling students really struggle.

I think one mitigating factor in defense of the US system is the shear breadth and diversity of students which it tries to teach versus a lot of other countries.

The concept of not knowing your name or address is nuts though. That was one of the first lessons they drilled into our heads at school and most kids came into school already knowing that sort of thing.

furb posted...

I think one mitigating factor in defense of the US system is the shear breadth and diversity of students which it tries to teach versus a lot of other countries.

I could be wrong, but don't some European and Asian countries track students early on and only select the best performers at the higher levels?