The Failed American Education System

to fix the education system, we must do these things:

eliminate bias towards republican or democratic ideologies. This applies to history classes in middle and high school. Teachers should refrain from teaching (sharing is not a problem though) political bias especially in the area of economics.

abolish the "zero tolerance" policy. We have kids getting suspended for drawing guns, shaping their finger like a gun, chewing their pop tart into the shape of a gun, and even saying "im gonna kill ya first in call of duty".

bring back recess. Recess combines exercise and playfulness, the latter helps in a child's social development.

One of the greatest failings of our education system is that it teaches our kids that they can:

Be anything they want. They can't.

It teaches them they are unique. They aren't.

It teaches them that they need to go to college. They don't.

It teaches them that they need to know the answers to this test. They don't.

Basically: our education system has failed because it no longer teaches for the real world. Not everyone goes to college. It has encouraged the devaluing of college degrees. It has reduced the significance of trade schools. Students are coming out incapable of handling simple things like balancing check books and cooking and knowing how to apply for work. No physical fitness knowledge. Nothing. They are learning to memorize crap for a test that will not matter later on in life.

And don't get me started on the joke of a money making machine that is college. We need to teach our children how to be valuable members of society. Not that they are unique and special and get a trophy for participation. You don't get a trophy for participation


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Result of the Failed American Education System

President Trump

Education isn't failing, it has just become two tier. Like everything, if you can afford better, you get better. A lot is determined by money due to how the middle class is being shrugged off by the business and aristocratic elite.

The public school system is deplorable, partly because of cutbacks and partly because of how politics has interfered with curriculum planning. Many on the left and right have mandated material that severely restricts a teacher's ability to customize their lesson planning, which in turn reduces the atmosphere of critical thinking.

The labor force has largely shifted to outsourcing, and the government has not reframed the fiduciary responsibility of businesses. If it had any sense, it would have taxed foreign capital, but that ship set sail a long time ago. We lived in a globalized world now. The global market has devalued everything. It's not like there are NO jobs in the U.S., but I mean... the value of the jobs we have has been reduced by global competition.

If you look at the economic cycles that the western world has experienced in the last 500 years, easy access to good education has been part and parcel with increased rights, a democratic way of life, and a useful middle class. The U.S. is shifting away from that paradigm. We are about to see first hand how democracy is one point on a circle and not a destination, unfortunately. That's only if we don't start reclaiming financial power, and fast.

blackjack50 said:

Basically: our education system has failed because it no longer teaches for the real world.

Click to expand...

Respectfully, it never taught the real world. We're still using the model that was created around industrialization. It has always struggled with teaching critical thinking skills. We still lump every age group with their peers, instead of according to capabilities. And we still teach the same series of useless subjects, irregardless of individual skill levels. It's a one size fits all model that doesn't work and has never worked. It leaves too many children behind and it quashes all individual potential.

Joe Steel said:

This is frightening.



Obviously, the education system has failed. It has failed to teach these students the object and capabilities of government.

Click to expand...

Capabilities of government isn't even a one-hour class. The education system is a wonderful example of the capabilities of the government. I once had all my employees tested for reading comprehension. They were all high school graduates, some had been to college, and a couple had graduated. Most tested as functionally illiterate. We had a class that ran in the evenings for six week, twice a week, as I recall, and everyone taking the class moved up and most moved into functionally literate. They weren't stupid. They were victims of the system. Two had severe dyslexia and it was never noticed in school. I could understand why one wasn't noticed. He was the football star.

Joe Steel said:

This is frightening.



Obviously, the education system has failed. It has failed to teach these students the object and capabilities of government.

Click to expand...

I would guess from your signature that you failed to learn the object and capabilities of government, too.

haymarket said:

I can only speak for my state of Michigan. We used to teach government twice to students. The first time came in the 8th grade and it was called Civics. Then in the 12th grade, we taught Government. For a very very long time the one class every school district had to teach and every student had to pass was Government. Then in the late 90's we let the tail wag the dog and we moved Government to the 10th grade so it could be evaluated on standardized tests. The results were a terrible dumbing down of the course including going to a far less demanding textbook. And 15 year old kids were not ready for serious presentation of issues that they could be enticed into as almost adults ready to vote and go out in the world.

Click to expand...

The apathy demonstrated by the students in the OP is a function of the what they do not teach.

12 years of education and the system manages not to teach kids the basic principles on which this nation was founded (individual rights, freedoms liberty "Above" the legitimate authority of Gov't, Legitimacy of authority - from we the people rather than Divine right/God as in days of old, Social contract, the basics of Classical liberalism, Golden Rule and the Rule of Law)

I could give the basics ideas in about 5 pages.

What is also not taught is the basics of Philosophy (Logic, logical fallacy, what constitutes a valid argument and so on).

Without the most basic tools to wade through the daily cacophony of fallacy and bad arguments thrust on folks by politicians and the mass media, there is no such thing as a functional democracy.

It is just mostly a bunch of sheep who, while they are starting to figure out "Something is wrong", are far to ignorant of the basics to figure out what that something is.

thinkagain said:

The apathy demonstrated by the students in the OP is a function of the what they do not teach.

12 years of education and the system manages not to teach kids the basic principles on which this nation was founded (individual rights, freedoms liberty "Above" the legitimate authority of Gov't, Legitimacy of authority - from we the people rather than Divine right/God as in days of old, Social contract, the basics of Classical liberalism, Golden Rule and the Rule of Law)

I could give the basics ideas in about 5 pages.

What is also not taught is the basics of Philosophy (Logic, logical fallacy, what constitutes a valid argument and so on).

Without the most basic tools to wade through the daily cacophony of fallacy and bad arguments thrust on folks by politicians and the mass media, there is no such thing as a functional democracy.

It is just mostly a bunch of sheep who, while they are starting to figure out "Something is wrong", are far to ignorant of the basics to figure out what that something is.

Click to expand...

Most - if not all of those things on your list were taught by me in my Government class.... . especially when it was a Senior level course and we used the excellent text AMERICAN GOVERNMENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES by Turner, Swtizer & Redden. When we changed it to a 10th grade level class and brought in a book of much greater simplicity and the course ws pared down accordingly, things like historical background and how to spot fallacies was often not found room for.

haymarket said:

Most - if not all of those things on your list were taught by me in my Government class.... . especially when it was a Senior level course and we used the excellent text AMERICAN GOVERNMENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES by Turner, Swtizer & Redden. When we changed it to a 10th grade level class and brought in a book of much greater simplicity and the course ws pared down accordingly, things like historical background and how to spot fallacies was often not found room for.

Click to expand...

You must have gone to a very special school because the vast majority of schools do not teach this.

If kids were taught how separation of Church and state was a fundamental part of the principles on which this nation was founded, we would not have politicians getting away with claiming otherwise.

If you learned about the concept of "Legitimacy of Authority" the topic of "limited Gov't" must have come up. (most people have heard of the idea of "limited gov't")

Limited to what ? What in general are the powers of Gov't limited to ?

Education has failed because systemic racism deprives people of color adequately funded schools. That's why our test scores lag behind the rest of the world. It's BS that republicans use it as an excuse to push drill and kill testing BS and complain about the "lib'rals" and their diversity agenda are messing things up.

Chomsky said:

i honestly can't decide if they're being practical, or lackadaisical?

Click to expand...

The failed educational system may be the result of a failed government, or the government may be deliberately sabotaging the kids. In either case the students need to figure out how to educate themselves.

Curious how there are so many complaints but no suggestions for the students.

The Tyranny of Words by Stuart Chase.

psik