Is U.S. education truly getting worse?

[Radrook]

Or simply try to hold an intelligent conversation with the first ten HS graduates you meet and see how far you can get. The religion philosophy forum on this site is a good place to start.

 

[Chris Haynes]

Or simply try to hold an intelligent conversation with the first ten HS graduates you meet and see how far you can get. The religion philosophy forum on this site is a good place to start.

hmmm... I don't seem to have a problem having an intelligent conversation with my high school son and his friends. Granted, most of them are only juniors in high school taking physics, AP US History and AP Calculus AB, and a couple are lifeguards, so it may be a biased sample. (one just got his first W-2 form, so that has been an interesting conversation!)

Oh, and we are still waiting for someone to show us that calculus instruction was common in high school during the "good ol' days".

Could you please be more specific? What does the religion section have to do with it? Are you speaking of those who have only graduated from high school but have not started college? What do you regard as "intelligent conversation"? Whether or not they believe the same as you do in regard to religion or lack of religion?

 

[Radrook]

hmmm... I don't seem to have a problem having an intelligent conversation with my high school son and his friends. Granted, most of them are only juniors in high school taking physics, AP US History and AP Calculus AB, and a couple are lifeguards, so it may be a biased sample. (one just got his first W-2 form, so that has been an interesting conversation!)

Oh, and we are still waiting for someone to show us that calculus instruction was common in high school during the "good ol' days".

Could you please be more specific? What does the religion section have to do with it? Are you speaking of those who have only graduated from high school but have not started college? What do you regard as "intelligent conversation"? Whether or not they believe the same as you do in regard to religion or lack of religion?

I'm speaking of all the high schoolers I have ever met during my life who have shown a miserable deficiency in most if not all the High-School required subjects and yet have a diploma which proves mere attendance.

BTW
The ones I met in college fared only a little better. Perhaps you are unaware that here in the USA there was once policy of passing a student from grade to grade regardless of how he did in academically but simply based on attendance and age. The diploma given meant that he or she had attended. This policy was established during the 1960s.

 

[Chris Haynes]

I'm speaking of all the high schoolers I have ever met during my life who have shown a miserable deficiency in most if not all the High-School required subjects and yet have a diploma which proves mere attendance.

...
.

That is an anecdote. The plural of anecdote is not data. Do you have some other criteria to judge education? Perhaps something more succinct than half of high school graduates are below average.

 

[Prometheus]

I'm speaking of all the high schoolers I have ever met during my life who have shown a miserable deficiency in most if not all the High-School required subjects and yet have a diploma which proves mere attendance.

BTW
The ones I met in college fared only a little better. Perhaps you are unaware that here in the USA there was once policy of passing a student from grade to grade regardless of how he did in academically but simply based on attendance and age. The diploma given meant that he or she had attended. This policy was established during the 1960s.

Perhaps you are aware that here in the USA, educational policy is set at the local, or in some cases, the state level, and that policies differ from location to location. If such a ridiculous policy ever existed anywhere, it was certainly not nationwide.

 

[Prometheus]

... Perhaps something more succinct than half of high school graduates are below average.

I actually heard a political candidate once make the campaign promise: "I will not rest until all students have above-average math scores!"

 

[Jeff Corey]

That's like the possible urban legend that in 1957 President Eisenhower was stunned to hear that half the American people were below average in intelligence.
Bush was stunned to find that half were above average, given the fact that he was selected twice.

 

[volatile]

Or simply try to hold an intelligent conversation with the first ten HS graduates you meet and see how far you can get. The religion philosophy forum on this site is a good place to start.

That's rich, coming from a member of a cult who actually denies the utility of education. (Source)

"The printed policy of the Watchtower until 1992 is shocking. The 1969 Watchtower said this: "Many schools now have student counselors who encourage one to pursue higher education after high school, to pursue a career with a future in this system of things. Do not be influenced by them. Do not let them brainwash you with the Devils propaganda to get ahead, to make something of yourself in this world. This world has very little time left . . . make pioneer service, the full-time ministry, with the possibility of Bethel or missionary service your goal." (March 15, 1969, p. 171)"

 

[volatile]

Perhaps you are aware that here in the USA, educational policy is set at the local, or in some cases, the state level, and that policies differ from location to location. If such a ridiculous policy ever existed anywhere, it was certainly not nationwide.

In the UK, pupils do generally simply advance through school based on age alone, though they resolutely do not receive a certificate just for attendance. We don't have the US system of holding people back, or of requiring people to pass tests to graduate from each school year.

 

[Chris Haynes]

Or simply try to hold an intelligent conversation with the first ten HS graduates you meet and see how far you can get. The religion philosophy forum on this site is a good place to start.

...Could you please be more specific? What does the religion section have to do with it? ............................Whether or not they believe the same as you do in regard to religion or lack of religion?

That's rich, coming from a member of a cult who actually denies the utility of education. (Source)

....

I do not wander much into the Religion Section, and I am not very familiar with Radrook, but did I come close to figuring out his reasons for an opinion on someone's religion/education?

 

[volatile]

I do not wander much into the Religion Section, and I am not very familiar with Radrook, but did I come close to figuring out his reasons for an opinion on someone's religion/education?

Spot on. He's pretty transparent...

 

[Dancing David]

Or simply try to hold an intelligent conversation with the first ten HS graduates you meet and see how far you can get. The religion philosophy forum on this site is a good place to start.

bam bam bam, another senseless driveby posting.

 

[digithead]

Okay...here it is for you to Google (gonna need you to offer some proof, by the way, that you found this online when you come back and lie...er, say that ya did, okay? You can prove it by telling me what is sketched on the inside cover): The Standard Referenc Work, Vol. VIII, Chicago Standard Education Society, 1927.

Tokie

Well, I see he's suspended again but the book that I got from interlibrary loan, The Standard Reference Work: For the Home, School and Library edited by Harold M. Stanford and published by the Minneapolis and Chicago Standard Education Society in 1922, was simply an encyclopedia (P through Z was the volume I got)...

I have a hard time believing that schools in the 1920s taught out of it but I could see it being on the shelf as a reference book...

If anyone learned from this book they would know very little about a lot of subjects, not the rigorous and scholarly subject matter that Tokie is describing. But it would give some a starting point to research things and it had some great illustrations of wildlife...

Btw, sex is not one of the entries in the volume, I guess they didn't want to corrupt young minds back then...

 

[Supercharts]

The consequences of an American Education

This has been e-mailed around. I haven't checked Snopes.

IDIOT SIGHTING:

We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us

that one of our problems was that we did not have a "large" enough motor

on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest

one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and

said, "Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower." I responded that 1/2 was larger

than 1/4. He said, "NO, it's not." Four is larger than two.."

We haven't used Sears repair since.


IDIOT SIGHTING

My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I

gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a

quarter. She said, "you gave me too much money." I said, "Yes I know,

but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back." She sighed and

went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and

he handed me back the quarter, and said "We're sorry but they could not

do that kind of thing." The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and

75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.


IDIOT SIGHTING:

I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the

local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER

CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: "Too many deer are being hit by

cars out here! I don't think this is a good place for them to be

crossing anymore."

From Kingman , KS


IDIOT SIGHTING IN FOOD SERVICE:

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the

person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry,

but they only had iceberg lettuce.

From Kansas City

IDIOT SIGHTING:

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee

asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?"

To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?"

He smiled knowingly and nodded,

"That's why we ask."

Happened in Birmingham , Ala.

IDIOT SIGHTING:

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street.

I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She

asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals

blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on

earth are blind people doing driving?!"

She was a probation officer in Wichita , KS



IDIOT SIGHTING:

At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker. She was leaving

the company due to "downsizing." Our manager commented cheerfully, "This

is fun. We should do this more often." Not another word was spoken. We

all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.


This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.



IDIOT SIGHTING:


I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself

and for the sake of her life, couldn't understand why her system would

not turn on.



A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.



IDIOT SIGHTING:

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up

our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the

service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the

drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively

tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I

announced to the technician, "its open!" His reply, "I know. I already

got that side."


This was at the Ford dealership in Canton , Mississippi

 

[Prometheus]

A slight correction:

....

My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I

gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25....The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and

75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.

I wish I had a dollar for every time a McD's worker got confused!

 

[volatile]

In the factory we used to suppy parts to, they once had a recent engineering grad they'd sent to the workshop for some woodscrews come back empty-handed, only to announce she could "only find metal ones".

 

[Prometheus]

In the White House, where we keep the figurehead leader of the country, we once had still have a President who thought the word is pronounced "nuke-u-ler"....

 

[Kestrel]

In the factory we used to suppy parts to, they once had a recent engineering grad they'd sent to the workshop for some woodscrews come back empty-handed, only to announce she could "only find metal ones".

Sounds like a story they made to show that women don't belong in certain occupations.

 

[volatile]

Sounds like a story they made to show that women don't belong in certain occupations.

It could be, I suppose. But it wasn't told to me in that way; rather, the toolshop guy I as talking to was ragging on the relative naivety of college graduates new to working on the factory floor.

I'm sure its veracity is dubious, I just thought it was funny, and pertinent.

 

[lightcreatedlife@hom]

This has been e-mailed around. I haven't checked Snopes.

IDIOT SIGHTING:

We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us

that one of our problems was that we did not have a "large" enough motor

on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest

one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and

said, "Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower." I responded that 1/2 was larger

than 1/4. He said, "NO, it's not." Four is larger than two.."

We haven't used Sears repair since.


IDIOT SIGHTING

My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I

gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a

quarter. She said, "you gave me too much money." I said, "Yes I know,

but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back." She sighed and

went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and

he handed me back the quarter, and said "We're sorry but they could not

do that kind of thing." The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and

75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.


IDIOT SIGHTING:

I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the

local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER

CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: "Too many deer are being hit by

cars out here! I don't think this is a good place for them to be

crossing anymore."

From Kingman , KS


IDIOT SIGHTING IN FOOD SERVICE:

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the

person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry,

but they only had iceberg lettuce.

From Kansas City

IDIOT SIGHTING:

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee

asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?"

To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?"

He smiled knowingly and nodded,

"That's why we ask."

Happened in Birmingham , Ala.

IDIOT SIGHTING:

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street.

I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She

asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals

blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on

earth are blind people doing driving?!"

She was a probation officer in Wichita , KS



IDIOT SIGHTING:

At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker. She was leaving

the company due to "downsizing." Our manager commented cheerfully, "This

is fun. We should do this more often." Not another word was spoken. We

all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.


This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.



IDIOT SIGHTING:


I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself

and for the sake of her life, couldn't understand why her system would

not turn on.



A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.



IDIOT SIGHTING:

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up

our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the

service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the

drivers side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively

tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I

announced to the technician, "its open!" His reply, "I know. I already

got that side."


This was at the Ford dealership in Canton , Mississippi

I think someone posted earlier that our education system is not getting worse, it just has to do with how and where someone makes their point. It think it is safe to say that examples like the ones above, can be found all over the world.