What exactly do kids learn in school? Being a senior in high school myself, I have a first hand knowledge of what kids are supposedly "learning." I am currently enrolled in a regular senior English class. Having overloaded my schedule with ten classes and working as much as possible in order to save for college, I was unable to fit in AP Literature, therefore I attend the "normal" English class.
The first day of class was spent reading letters of the previous year's students. I believed this would be enlightening, showing me what the course curriculum would consist of and what to expect from our instructor. Instead, I struggled through my reading. Stumbling over legions of misspelled words, improper grammar and various words used incorrectly. My goodness, these were papers written by seniors! They should at least understand the difference in "there, their and theirs," alas, they did not. Words such as "truth" were written as "truthe", "to" was expressed as "2". I mean, the occasional missing comma I can understand, but making such blatant errors should be unheard of! These kids are going to have a dismal time filling out job applications.
"Hi my name is John. I think u shuld hire me becuz im a hard worker and try realy hard at everything i do. i was a realy good student who tryed hard at everything i did. this is why u should hire me."
God, that hurt just to type that, but that's the reality of quite a few high school graduates. How do these kids graduate? How can a teacher, in good conscience, graduate someone who is literally incapable of surviving in the world? By graduating these kids, teachers are condemning them to menial, mindnumbing occupations which they'll have to suffer through for the rest of their lives.
in school kids learn how to take tests. they don't learn how to survive in the real world because teachers don't have time to cover the real stuff.
I myself am a high school senior. Since I am in the IB program at my scool, all I am doing is preparing for those all-imortant exams at the end of the year. I mean lets face it... my situation is a bit radical becuase if I dont pass the exams, I dont get the IB diploma, but I really need to know other concepts than just the ones covered in the exams. I took my math exam last year, and this year I am lost in my next math class becuase so much was to be covered last year that I couldnt cover because of those exams. Now I am screwed!
Life is a journey... Travel smart
This is EXACTLY WHY I left my high school to do Joint Enrollment at a local university. All we learn today in high school is to take these stupid tests that just show how well you can take a test and not whether you have actually learned anything. I forget 80% of what I have to learn from AP tests. Sheesh. I feel sorry for all my other senior friends who still have to deal with the bull they teach in high school. In college, it's not teaching to test; it's teaching to learn. And if you don't learn, you fail. End of story.
The title is just an attention getter. But really, teachers no longer have the right to teach. They must teach to the standardized test that are held in so high of import today. Never can teachers just go off on some tangent lesson, to teach us what we need to learn. Teachers no longer posses the ability to teach the "real world".
Good luck with your course and work load. I'll have to interject, though, that perhaps it would've been wiser to take the AP Literature class instead of some other subject, because (from personal experience) I found it to be a bit more important than my other AP courses in high school, and the exam has fairly high passing rates. On the other hand, I do realize that schedules fill up quickly. Anyway, on the topic of your post, I agree that there is greater need for academic improvement for both personal and societal benefits. As for some of those students in that regular english class, I imagine that if most go on to college they will probably take some sort of remedial english course.
In retrospect, I realize AP Literature would have been a better choice of classes. However, the subject of English has always come relatively easy to me and I need the extra time to focus upon my weaknesses: AP Chem and Physics. Words, those I understand, but equations, chemical compositions and beyond are what I struggle in, that is what I need to devote the majority of my time to.
That's an honorable endeavor that I couldn't fathom putting myself through. I also consider math-related areas as my weakness, but that stems from my lack of interest on the subject in general; if I signed up for these types of courses I would probably do terribly because of that. Good luck, though.
Thanks, I need all the luck I can get. Letters in English are wonderful, letters in the midst of some elongated equation, leads to nothing but migraines and extreme frustration. However, I believe that struggling through these classes will do more for me besides ruining my G.P.A., it will prepare me for college, which in the longrun, is invaluable.
I see this everyday in school. As a senior I'm enrolled in a normal high school and an arts school so I can understand your feelings of the high work load. Personally I wouldn't dwell too much on the fact that you didn't take the AP course. I'm in AP Biology right now and being so busy it's hard!! So maybe that makes you feel better?? haha.
But, back to the topic. One thing I do want to point out is the increasing influence technology has in this issue. How many people IM?? Everyone and their mother. Literally. So when you have people typing: sup? want 2 go 2 the mall l8er??? LOL!! idk if i can get a ride tho....
Those things tend to carry over into one's everyday life! I'll even admit there will be times when I'm typing up a lab report and I see myself using the 2 or @ and I KNOW that's not right. Luckly I can catch it!
Let's not mention the wonderful American slang. Oh yeah. "Yo dawg what it do?" Yeahb I hear that in the work feild everyday. NOT.
So...basically we also have the oh-so influential pop culture to blame for these errors in the everyday person.
Good topic!
Ugh, AP Bio. Good luck...had that last year, let me tell you...the AP test was hard. I wish you happy studying. =)
I agree that technology does influence how people write, which is probably why I've never succumbed to that particular malady. If a person does IM like that, there's a time and place for it, in the Instant Messaging screen preferably. Mistakes like that should also be caught in earlier drafts and corrected.
Don't even get me started on slang nowadays. =)
HAHA!! Yeah, I know how you feel!! Thanks for the luck sounds like I'm going to be needing ALL of it!
Stupid biology! haha.
How do these kids graduate? How can a teacher, in good conscience, graduate someone who is literally incapable of surviving in the world? By graduating these kids, teachers are condemning them to menial, mindnumbing occupations which they'll have to suffer through for the rest of their lives.
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Many don't graduate. Or graduate with few skills and no ability to improve their lot. OTOH, some people find joy in their lives outside of school or work. Not everyone is on the same path.
Nance
It seems that many students are not taking their academics seriously. I feel really bad for some of my teachers. My Biology teacher keeps telling my AP class that the general biology class has learned how to abuse the system. Apparently students have calculated that by obtaining a C in the first grading period of the semester, that student can fail the next two grading periods and the final. That gives them a D for the semester which barely meets graduation requirements. My Biology teacher says she no longer feels that she is teaching her students. She feels like she is babysitting all of her students. It's ridiculous.
Last spring, my high school took the ACT on a state-wide testing date. In my friend's testing room, another student selected A for every single question and then took a nap for the rest of the testing period. My friend was frustrated by this for two reasons. Firstly, the person who opted not to take the test seriously started snoring in the middle of the testing period. This person thereby disrupted all those who were actually trying to take the test. Secondly, our school was on an academic watch list for the past two years. We were just two points from getting off the list last time. It is frustrating that certain students selected the same answer for every question. Our school's reputation is tarnished and our government funding has been reduced because people have stopped trying.
That's ridiculous, but I can easily believe it to be true. Too many kids do the bare minimum, only what's needed to pass classes. This may get them to the next high school class, but what college wants that kind of student? What if the kid has an epiphany senior year and decides they want to go somewhere in life? It's sad to see people just throwing away their future like that and while they're doing that, hindering the advancement of kids around them.
Why do people give up so easily? The United States is already experiencing a problem with an increased number of high school drop outs each year. When so many people are not completing their education, they are becoming a drain on our economy. The United States will not have enough jobs for these unqualified workers.
What can be done to motivate our peers? I really don't want to give up on them but in the back of my mind, I know that it is their lives and I have to let them live it. My school has started programs that motivate students to be in class everyday. This is an important first step, but it doesn't mean that students are learning anything. It means that rather than staying away from school and hanging out, teens are sleeping in their desks at school. Why don't they see what they are doing to their future?
We're 11 weeks into our school year and already we have 18 dropouts. 18. It's horrible. These kids will likely be working minimum wage jobs or riding unemployment for the remainder of their lives. One of those 18 is a friend of mine. I asked him why and he replied: "School's stupid." I wish these kids would realize what they're doing to their future.
I don't see how you can motivate them. You show them stats and they don't read them. You tell them stats and they don't listen. They don't care what they do to their future, that's the sad fact.
I heard that some states are passing laws that penalize students who do not finish high school. I think Indiana was thinking about passing a law that will take a student's driver's license and their work permits for several years if a student drops out of school. I think that measures like this may be a good deterrent. So I guess states have given up on motivating students and have turned to preventing students from dropping out. What is more effective trying to motivate students or trying to deter students
I hate to say it, but maybe it is good that some students drop out of school. It is a waste of our tax dollars to support students who put forth no effort. An education is such a priviledge. I believe that everyone should have an opportunity to recieve a quality education and it is such a shame that some people don't utilize it.
I heard that some states are passing laws that penalize students who do not finish high school. I think Indiana was thinking about passing a law that will take a student's driver's license and their work permits for several years if a student drops out of school. I think that measures like this may be a good deterrent. So I guess states have given up on motivating students and have turned to preventing students from dropping out. What is more effective trying to motivate students or trying to deter students
I hate to say it, but maybe it is good that some students drop out of school. It is a waste of our tax dollars to support students who put forth no effort. An education is such a priviledge. I believe that everyone should have an opportunity to recieve a quality education and it is such a shame that some people don't utilize it.
I'm enrolled in AP Literature and AP European History...heavy reading and essay writing...but thankfully I'm blessed. I've got great teachers who actually try to teach something worth while like character and what's really going on.
My english teacher was telling me a story about one of her past students, and how she went to this really prestigious college, and was enrolled in honors classes due to her AP career. The first day they discussed their past experiences in their english class. One girl said that she had read only one book, "Frankenstein" By Mary Shelley...and that's not the worst part. For a final, she had to draw a picture of it.
Now...I don't know about you all...but I read Frankenstein in my junior year, at the beginning, during the summer. I read at least ten books and more short stories....and took the AP test, as well as a final exam. >_< That's just last year...this year, we've alread read four books...The downward spiral of schooling is nerveracking
These persons are not as incapable as you might think.
I was once a graduation snob that thought similarly to those view points. I went to a great public school with awesome one on one attention, no class bigger than 10-15 students, no violence, no metal detectors, no drugs - it was great. But it also gave me a false sense of what's going on at other high schools. My high school was an exception, not the norm. And, I thought graduating high school was easy - hell, if I could do it, after being kicked out my junior year and losing 7 credits, and still managed to graduate with my class without being held back - anyone can do it.
However, my brother-in-law recently came to stay with us. He's getting a divorce and he needs some help with his five children. I went with him job hunting. We went to normal places at first (Lowes, WalMart, anything that he could get into quickly) and even McDonald's wouldn't hire him because he didn't have his diploma.
McDonald's wouldn't hire him because he didn't have a diploma? How much extensive training do they need. Oh, but right now a week later, he's the foreman at one of the largest construction companies in this city making $27.50 an hour building million dollar homes; he saved his five children from an abusive mother...I'd say he's surviving pretty well.
I'm not saying that high school shouldn't be important - but there are a lot more important things to do with your life, too.
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/fanaile-drupal-org
There are people that drop out of high school that are capable of surviving in the real world, your brother-in-law sounds like one of them. I know that had I dropped out last year; I would still have done relatively well because I know how to read and write effectively. It's the students that don't know how to do these things that I'm talking about. The kids who write like they IM, those that know nothing about forming a proper sentence, those that don't pass the High School Exit Exam yet still graduate (which I still haven't figured out how that works) these are the kids I'm referring to.
Well, I definately know there are drugs at my school, gang violence, and other such things...I wouldn't say I was too sheltered. I think these days you need to go to high school and then on to College. And in order to do so, you have to be well prepared. There are cases which you can succeed without college, but I'm not going to chance it.
Funny that I just finished writing an entry in my blog titled "Why You Should Drop Out of School" (read it here if you want: http://www.progressiveu.org/115152-why-you-should-drop-out-of-school) and then I saw the link to this blog.
You are obviously intelligent, so I am a little surprised that you could actually assume that the kids in the "regular" classes at your high school are to blame for their own lack of grammar skills. It has nothing to do with their abilities. The school system favors teaching to the standardized test, whatever that may be for your state. (Here in Texas it's the TAKS, or Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.) And standardized tests have absolutely nothing to do with learning -- except that by studying for them and taking them, students learn how to fill in little multiple choice circles, and think in terms of five possible answers to every question.
If I were you I wouldn't be so quick to judge your peers simply because they aren't taking AP courses...when I was still in high school, I took AP courses because I thought it would challenge me. When I realized they were all just faster-paced "regular" classes (which went in-depth on a subject occasionally), I stopped thinking I was any smarter than the non-AP students. And when I found out that AP courses also offer another damn standardized test (excuse my French), I decided not to participate in AP testing.
Sorry if I sound overly-critical here. I don't mean to insult you or anybody else, I am just very frustrated with the school system and its lack of respect for students. I hope you see my point though, about it not being the students' fault.
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"Let the world change you, and you will change the world."
Funny that I just finished writing an entry in my blog titled "Why You Should Drop Out of School" (read it here if you want: http://www.progressiveu.org/115152-why-you-should-drop-out-of-school) and then I saw the link to this blog.
You are obviously intelligent, so I am a little surprised that you could actually assume that the kids in the "regular" classes at your high school are to blame for their own lack of grammar skills. It has nothing to do with their abilities. The school system favors teaching to the standardized test, whatever that may be for your state. (Here in Texas it's the TAKS, or Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.) And standardized tests have absolutely nothing to do with learning -- except that by studying for them and taking them, students learn how to fill in little multiple choice circles, and think in terms of five possible answers to every question.
If I were you I wouldn't be so quick to judge your peers simply because they aren't taking AP courses...when I was still in high school, I took AP courses because I thought it would challenge me. When I realized they were all just faster-paced "regular" classes (which went in-depth on a subject occasionally), I stopped thinking I was any smarter than the non-AP students. And when I found out that AP courses also offer another damn standardized test (excuse my French), I decided not to participate in AP testing.
Sorry if I sound overly-critical here. I don't mean to insult you or anybody else, I am just very frustrated with the school system and its lack of respect for students. I hope you see my point though, about it not being the students' fault.
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"Let the world change you, and you will change the world."
I see and agree with your point on students being taught to the test. However, we are taught the basic mechanisms of grammar, we're taught how to read and write properly. It's just a matter of whether you take advantage of your free education. I, as well as many other students have taken advantage of this education and for that very reason I'm able to write an a coherent paper. I'm not saying that I'm amazingly intelligent or anything, because I'm not. My point is I take advantage of opportunities given to me. Many of my fellow students don't and that is what I find absolutely appalling.
Take comfort in the fact that if that's what society of tomorrow looks like, then we can always be assured a job.