As a European I can assure you that stupidity is universal. Plenty of children struggle with reading. The teachers and education experts are extremely out of touch and the drop out rates are through the roof.Finland was once the most educated among the Europeans, but suffers from serious unemployment. Austria and Germany's school system is racially biased as hell. What I love about Americans is that you openly discuss the shortcomings of your schools while Europeans are so proud of their elitist education that they'll skin you alive if you dare criticise it. I think such brutally honest self reflection will serve America in the long run and serve as a huge advantage over the rest of the world.
Without a doubt we learned to read and write better then the Americans. We never had school violence and young people wanted to learn. Young people today are out of touch with reality and are spoiled.
True, and I feel like this is kinda a problem with American attitudes toward education, we know it sucks yet we still do little to nothing about it. The greatest country in the world will lose its prestigious title with this lazzis fair additude.
My son can't read she says . Did she read to him every night like my wife did with my son for many years ? The number 1 problem is bad parenting . Stupid ,uneducated, lazy people having too many children and expecting the school system to raise them .
tommygirl20247 my wife was a purchasing mgr for a large manufacturing company , not a housewife ...but she lived her son and wasn't lazy . parents that blame teachers should take a long look at themselves . stop blaming teachers and the govt. They didn't give birth to your kid .... Respectfully,Mark
My parents worked full-time, but read and taught my sister and I everyday. The school system seems to be working very well for the 1st and 2nd generation Indians and Asians here in America. The first 5 years are so important, it's infair to expect a teacher to instill the importance of learning and education. It all starts with the family unit
marktuyet It's a variety of problems. Not everything is the education system's fault, but you'd be a fool to think that it is not without faults nor does it require reform. Our system is flawed because it is system in which it sees itself as a primer for societal conformity and the way it perceives the teacher-student relationship is atrocious. The ambition and creativity that was sparked by the competitive rivalry between the Soviet and US education system from the 50s to 80s has long since died. Teachers are naught but depositors and the students information depositories. Tests in our system are simply measures of information retainment: an ugly assessment that does not properly portray the skills or abilities of any student. The system expects these kids to go through almost 13 years of their lives in these institutions; 180 days each year in most states, 7 hours a day. Oh yes, of course, like I've said and you've said as well, parents can be the issue in many cases as well, but when this system takes up a large portion of young man or woman's life, one cannot help but expect a bit of "good parenting" on the school's part as well. Otherwise, if it does not do this, then it has failed it's role as a system by the "playing fields are leveled". I mean, what the fuck would be the point of a free education if it does not play the proper role as a socio-economic equalizer? The Colleges and Universities in this country are of course a bit of a different story.
this is because we're only teaching kids to pass tests and not actually having them learn. I wanted to be a teacher my whole life but I changed my mind in college once I found out kids aren't taught to read phonetically anymore and instead, just taught to recognize words; they call these "sight words." smh. what a world.
They don't teach kids cursive writing anymore, either. Instead, schools leave teaching handwriting as "optional" and not required, but what teacher has time to address handwriting when so much time is spent teaching "to the test" of all these standardized exams? Can you imagine a generation of adults who can't even sign their own name to anything?!
Am I the only one who feels it's sort of fucked up, that that Belgian principal speaks better English, than several of the American teachers in this documentary?
As someone who graduated high school in 2002, my opinion is that culture is at fault. 90% of the kids thought school was a waste of time and were more interested in disrupting class and acting like an idiot for attention. It's because of pop culture, we're taught everyday on television that school is more about having fun and causing trouble than about learning something. Then my district spent millions on a performing arts center that barely gets used lol.
The US is 36th in Education worldwide. No child left behind? Fail. Head start? Fail. Common core? Will fail. And teachers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Policies in the US education system have gone from bad to worse, with group-think mentality and no nurturing of individualism. You're better off home-schooling. At least then, the child has a chance to develop critical thinking and creativity skills. It seems someone doesn't want that to happen.
When I was growing up the school Principal hung a paddle on the inside of his office door. I don't think anyone got paddled because everyone behaved and we knew the CONSEQUENCES for bad behavior. They changed all that and gave kids too many rights which supported more of a litigious society. I'm not advocating corporal punishment, but the FEAR of being paddled on the backside was a very effective tool in fostering good behavior. Kids lack the respect today that just a couple of generations ago they had. Parents need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their off-spring, otherwise they're going to raise ungrateful disrespectful kids.
Skepti Cat South Korea outlawed corporal punishment, but its still being used. They do score higher on the PISA. LOL! So maybe you're on to something. :)~
Thankfully Wolf-PAC is pushing to get money out of politics, which will hopefully crush Common Core when Bill Gates can't send any more money to Arne Duncan. If that fails, then come to Canada. Not much better in terms of educational value, but at least our inequality divide is much smaller. And we don't have as much standardized testing bullcrap.
jmitterii2 They also have incredibly high suicide rates among young adults. Corporal punishment doesnt foster creativity or individualism, it forces kids into submissive states through the threat of force: at worst, it dulls their individualism and creativity, and at best, it keeps them in line.
I teach in Las Vegas. It's not the teachers. It's not the kids. It's not the parents. It's upper management wasting money and giving too many directives to justify their positions. We have no curriculum. In my school we have to search on the internet for our lessons. It's like reinventing the wheel. (Very time consuming to create these lessons.) Teachers see the whole child's needs, physical, emotional, mental. But our directives are children get no recess, bad lunches, expectations two grade levels above, and no mastery in basics required. They keep giving teachers more data to input and output on the computer, which steals time from teacher preparation for the children's needs. Teacher input is not allowed nor welcomed. Our superintendent's said, "if the teachers are happy, then we're not doing our job." They don't seem to care about doing what's best for the child, only what's best for their budget.
i would point biggest problem to children, unfortunately. its not that children are stupid, but most children actually need to put some effort to understand( and god damn no, there is not too much information given to students, esspecially at younger age it could be much more.). although im not from USA so we have a bit higher level of education, but we still have same problems. there are so many children( i finished school before 5 years) that are unmotivated to study, that doesnt want that, that listen ipod rather than listening lesson. and there is no way that information which is given is boring or too difficult. when whole society devaluate education, education becomes devaluated by children themselves.
At 6:42 I went through the same thing. When my son was in the 3rd grade I went to his school to talk to his teacher and he told me that he was failing in math. I brought him some flash cards and every day after school I thought him basic math for a few weeks, a few months later I went back to his school and the teacher told me that he was doing very well in math. I came to the conclusion that something is very wrong with the public education system here in America. If the Sylvan Learning Center helped that young man to bring his reading up 2-grade levels in 72 hrs, why isn't those same methods of teaching being used in our public schools?
Home school your children. Do some research on it, there are a ton of success stories. Your child will learn more in 3 hours of homeschooling than they would in school. Not only will you and your child grow together in a relationship but your child will have a lot more time focusing on their work and learning. You won't have to worry about interruptions because you'll be there to help them.
Every home-schooled person I have met is very bright and can think for themselves. They're a bit socially awkward, but they're totally stable. It clearly works, IMO
My kids learned more in a couple hours than a whole week at school. People always asked me the same question: what about socializing? Well, at what point are kids allowed to socialize at school? Recess and maybe lunch. That's it. You're not allowed to talk in class, or in the halls and most kids go home for lunch. Sure, there are extracurricular sports, etc, after school, but you can join clubs through other places outside of school. School is only to teach you to conform.
jose B. my neighbor has five daughters and two sons, being home schooled by his wife who is clinically mildly retarded...I've seen the paper work they have on her...not good Yes, lets home school!!!
I send my kid to school to socialize with other students and I teach him at home. I print out worksheets and conduct learning sessions after school. I don't trust the teachers to teach my future Cardiologist.
I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH US COMMENT. they are so set on getting good test scores when the students don't actually learn the material just memorize for the tests.
The story of Dorian touches my heart so badly. I was a tutor in high school for extra cash. One of the girls that came to me had been passed grade after grade through the New York public school system. She was in 9th grade and should have been doing algebra and geometry. She could barely add and subtract, let alone multiply and divide. But she had the hunger. I could see it. For the whole year, I poured everything I could into her twice a week. By the time I graduated, she was almost on grade level. This young lady who thought she couldn't learn because she was too stupid had learned 7 years worth of math in about 7 months. She didn't fail. The school system failed her. Seeing that, and having my own problems at school (namely, that I was an advanced student who got stuck waiting for the rest of the class to catch up because they wouldn't let me learn at my own pace) is why I homeschool my boys now.
The goal of public education isn't to educate children but to make them "productive members of society." It isn't surprising that public education in America exists to serve the public rather than individual good. As America shifted from people learning trades to factory workers, industrialists worried that there woudln't be enough suitable employees to work their factories. Schools exist to reduce individuality, temper aspirations, channel creativity to "productive ends" and to instill a work ethic and obedience to authority. All educational reform since then has been driven by business leaders rather than educators. Now public schools exist to create reliable employees, loyal soldiers, compliant citizens and enthusiastic consumers. All cogs necessary to keep the machinery of business and government functioning. Public schools are pretty good at their real but unstated aims.
18 and not reading? My question is: What has the parent been doing for 18 years? Yes, the public school system in many places are exceptionally bad, but it's not the sole responsibility of the schools to teach our children. Learning starts at home FIRST. So many people have this backwards. I'm not excusing the schools at all because they are failing at a HUGE responsibility, but I just wanted to place a large part of responsibility on the parents, too. It's not just our schools that have failed our kids.
What have the parents been doing for 18 years? Working. Both parents working 8+ hours a day to pay off debts and to barely support their children. In fact, public schools are a daycare service.
Because THEY adhere to the victim philosophy. It is THEIR responsibility to TEACH their children. These parents are beyond irresponsible. Parents are to be INVOLVED w/the school & know what is occurring in the school. If parents aren't involved & participatory, THEY DESERVE inferior schools!!!!
WOW really?? Are you shittin me???? So in order for someone to become a U.S. Citizen they have to know the Bill of Rights ,but your own people BORN there don't know what it means!!!!! Well that's just so unfair and stupid!
Yes and No think about it :) sure its not fair or at least it seems that way. However, they are just arming people with the power to understand and protect themselves, it is a power! Unfortunately, as for the people who don't know their rights, they will be easily trampled to death. So, in a way they are getting special treatment in comparison to those who live in the U.S. because their own citizens can not defend themselves from attack on their freedoms. Immigrants have more power to gain upward mobility in comparison to those who do not learn the bill of rights.
If your child can't read, it's your fault. Where were you when he was seven or eight? Where were you when he was eleven or twelve? it's YOUR JOB TO MAKE SURE HE CAN READ..
Much of my time in high school was spent in the backdrop of one teacher dealing with a couple disruptive students in every single class waisting everyone else's time.
Government controlled compulsory schooling is not failing. It has been doing exactly what it was designed to do for the past 70 years or so. It is training the kids to learn just enough to obey orders and perform simple tasks in dead-end jobs, but not taught enough for them to realize how they are being screwed by the system.
Even in Los Angeles, I attended a grades 1-3, elementary school where I had the same teacher all three years. It was a launching pad for me, but has me concerned about students that recieved no such nurturing. In Jr. High School, however, was extremely violent in the heart of suburbia and I found myself bullied enough to the point my dad did just what they spoke on changing district and falsifying residential paperwork.The reason is that the priniples would do nothing substantive to relieve the bullying. Every now and then I was forced to fight, or take it. I never met any of my promise, alot of dark family crap that held me captivated as a child and decades of denial to blindness of issues of psychological import. For ten years I have worked through much of my past and move forward with alternatives to past coping mechanisns to simply becoming able to look into the Mirror and say what I see without apology or fear. I have come full circle, now I am faced looking into the mirror of our future, and today, how this look at public education is so steeped in burocracy that in seems ready to implode. The agonizing proxy that holds progress in check must be challenged.
It's not about money, not about schools, teachers, government, it's about VALUES. Why would kids prioritize education when modern culture demonstrates that there are PLENTY of stupid people in entertainment, pro sports, even politics and business who are ridiculously wealthy? It seems that kids figure they can just get famous and rich leading a fun and carefree life, and it's not like that, but no one will TELL them that, because there is too much money to be made from materialistic ignorant superficial people.
Let's focus on the behavior of the students (and the parents who have taught that behavior through lack of discipline) - the students' lack of respect for any authority and their disrespect for any structured environment. Let's focus on what parents are NOT teaching at home. If you child graduates from high school and can't read, shame on you, parents.
It might be the parents aren't educated either so they put down education. The child goes to school with a chip on their shoulder and doesn't do well because they have a pack mentality and want to fit in with their uneducated family. Simple. As soon as education is valued, then the kids will want to learn. They will want to do their parents proud.
I was born in 1951. During my days as a student, if I were to be a problem in class I would have been punished by my parents. 99% of the other kids were handled the same way. We were not allowed to get away with anything without being punished. We were brought up to be respectful of our teachers. I, for one, was so proud of myself when I learned how to read and write. Before I could read I was read to by my parents. When I had trouble with math my mother helped me at home and I was able to keep up in class. My mother, back then, did not have to work. My dad made enough as a union laborer to support our household, although things were always tight financially speaking. We were rewarded sometimes with a candy bar or ice cream, though rarely. If I had either one of those treats twice a year I considered myself a lucky kid. My friends households were the same. Yes, we begged for things all the time, but were denied just as often. If I got whiny and insisted on bugging my parents for something that I wanted my dad would say something like, "If you don't quit your whining, I'll give you something to whine about". That was the point at which I knew I had better go find something else to do. My parents didn't put up with BS from their kids and neither did any other parent in my neighborhood except for one that I can remember that lived down the street from me. The mother was a single mother which was rare then. Her little boys were unruly and caused the neighbors many headaches. The oldest was disrespectful of everyone. His mother bought the kids a monkey. Within a month or two the monkey was dead. My friend, that knew the oldest boy, said that "Mike teased the monkey to death." I have seen, in my lifetime, the decline of American society and it's very disturbing to me. In my view, it all starts at home. These days parents should unite and start talking about discipline, and the need to take control of their kids. Teachers, in my time, used to command respect, or else. Parents, almost without exception, would stand behind the teacher 100%. If a kid acted up in school the school would punish them and then when they got home they really got rocked. Unruly kids were almost nonexistent in my school system. Today it seems to be the norm and it is very unfortunate for the kids that want to learn. We've criminalized discipline and that has made it impossible for teachers, as well as parents, to control kids, that are, let's face it, kids. Kids have no experience in life, no nothing about anything and are much like a computer without an operating system. Basically useless. Given a solid foundation they can become a powerful thing and an asset to themselves as well as society in general. As a society, we had better wake up and start raising solutions instead of problems.
I was a public school teacher for 10 years, and Stossel is just bringing up the same old arguments. I quit teaching, and am doing well in the private sector. I was also chosen as my district's best teacher. I have no beef with anyone. I can tell you first of all, kids learn by around 4th and 5th grade that they don't have to work to pass. That is not the teacher's fault. That is society's fault. THAT is why kids drop off in achievement after 4th grade. NOT because the teachers fail them. If a teacher gives a student a fair grade of failure after the kid sleeps in class all year, the teacher is crucified to no end. "Boring class", blah, blah, blah. These kids should be happy as hell to be U.S. citizens with free K-12 education which does not exist in most other countries. The parents should do their job and instill a study and work ethic in the children. But, no. That is declining at an accelerating rate. The system DOES stink. But that is NOT the fault of the individual teachers. It is mostly political and the fact that parents do not expect their children to study, do their homework, and respect their teachers.
Nobody drills anything in their mindset. They don't have to listen to anything. They don't have to do a lick of work and they get passed on. The parents' responsibility to help the kids learn, not the schools.
People don't value education. Americans think they'll always have jobs (any kind of crappy job), their biggest concern is consumption and getting money to consume more. Not education, not growing as human beings either. The most mediocre people who are not really brilliant but a little bit smarter think they are "geniuses". People value being "smartasses" like a lot of these kids in this video. Also, crazy that you give money to kids to come to schools. Shows you what's important in this country. How about the parents of those kids who are almost illiterate? Where were they?
thewrathofbombast yeah I thought that giving students money to come to school and learn was pathetic and subjecting the teachers to be on call during off duty time deplorable and slave-driver attitude.
I can only disagree with a part of this... the giving money to the kids part... the thing about education nowdays and people not giving a shit about it, is getting the kids excited to be there and if they get a bit of an incentive, who cares. at least this alternative school is spending the money they get to retain good teachers and not spending money on new admin buildings. I pulled my son from traditional public school and put him in an internet based public school... when from failing classes to almost straight A's in a year and after 4 years, maintaining a 3.83 GPA. its the interest in the school, the ability to not be so pressured in a traditional classroom setting, having teachers available one on one, and above all, he is held to his own standards, not to those of a classroom. The other thing is, He doesnt have the amount of homework that is required in traditional public school, nor is he just taught to a test. But ultimately, the parents have to get involved with their children's education and people need to stop blaming it on the teachers. Hell, now you cannot even get detention to a child because then you'd be giving them the ability to bring up a discrimination case against you. IMO: the main issue is the lack of discipline now days and the lack of respect by the kids for their peers.
I homeschooled both my children. Luckily, our laws here in Canada allow us to do so. My children did start out in school but I became very dissatisfied with the school system. After the pressure was off my kids, they flourished. If you can homeschool your children, then do it. Look into it.
i think the real problem in america is the culture we have and how we view intellectuals. You'll notice that the man said that 4th graders scored way above the international average but by high school they do much worse and this co-insides with the fact that kids become much more self aware around their teenage years. We tell kids through films and tv that being a "know it all" is a bad thing and this makes kids see clever people as something to be ridiculed and ashamed and i think this is one of the most crucial reasons why our kids are failing. if we want our kids to succeed we need to let them know that it is ok to do so. sincerely, a 14 year old 9th grader
To think, the USA used to be the leader in many fields once upon a time. Now, they have the highest levels of obesity, the highest tuition fees in the world, the highest deficit in the world, the highest level of gun and hate crime in the world, the worst public schools among the Western bloc of nations. The USA once stood on strong principles and was a true world class power. Now.....well now, I think if you visit the country, you'll see for yourself what it has now become. My sister wanted to move to New York when she's older. I helped to talk her out of that and she has her eyes firmly set on Australia. America is not worth any attention now. They're concerned too much with themselves to the point they're spiting their own populous and condemning a whole generation to poverty. China is becoming the new world power. The USA is becoming the old world China.
Lmao they didn't force their way in, they asked and were let in. Just like the police can ask to search your property without a warrant and you can consent to the search. If you say no to the police, then they can go and get a warrant. If you say no to the school inspector, your kid just doesn't get to go to the school you wanted.
Yup in school I learned useful things it’s just I couldn’t comprehend what the teachers where saying sometime I had all As all my life but I didn’t know how to do subtraction if my dad wouldn’t have helped me learn subtraction I would have been lost my whole life
Having taught in inner-city public schools, I can only nod my head in recognition of things I saw on a daily basis. PC culture and general coddling are greatly to blame. There is no incentive to excel if they will pass grade year after year and hardly ever be suspended, expelled or failed no matter how under performing or ill- behaved the students are.in the end , their failures will be attributed to racism and classism.
Parents have take some responsibility for this. If there is no one there to make sure the homework gets done, make sure they are in bed by nine for school the next day, no one asking who the kids friends are, then what the hell can be done ? You can throw Trillions of dollars at this problem and it would not make one bit of a difference.
And I find that disgusting. I had better skills when I was 8 years old than many adults do here in the U.S. I have no respect for people that choose to be ignorant. Their opinions are worthless as well.
Tuula Westra we need to put them in special ed when I left my private school and when came to a public school I am the smartest in class these kids act like they have know common sense it's sad
It's not really their fault. As someone who has been in an American public school, I can say without a doubt that their curriculum is terrible and the way it's taught is even worse. Don't even get me started on the majority of the teachers.. Data backs this up. Either home school your children or send them to private school, if you don't them to be idiots
It is too easy to blame the teachers. The problem lies with each of us. Either we raise our children to value an education, and instill in them some expectations, or we don't. Once they walk through the doors of the school, some students are destined for the education their parents have prepared them to receive.
The problem is in plain sight. They gave the Kansas school more money they built a swimming pool. Gotta be shitting me. What does that have to do with anything.
American culture has always had a persistent thread of anti-intellectualism, as Richard Hofstadter documented brilliantly back in the late 60's. As a culture, America gives lip service to intelligence in limited domains and ridicules it everywhere else. It's fashionable in some circles to throw blame on some kind of ruling elite that maliciously seeks to keep the people ignorant, but that's getting things exactly backward. In fact, Americans have been dreadfully good at keeping themselves ignorant for as long as America has been a nation, and long before any credible "ruling elite" with enough power to enforce ignorance existed. That there is a ruling elite is indisputable in my opinion. But my sense is that its current power is a product of the American tendency toward ignorance rather than a cause of it. It doesn't *have* to keep the people ignorant - the people were doing that job just fine already and still are. It didn't create ignorance in America. It just feeds on it because it's there; ignorance provides it with a rich nutrient medium. Flies thrive where there's a dead animal - but that doesn't mean flies killed the animal, or do anything to keep the supply of dead animals coming. A genuinely intellectual society would have (in the ecological/evolutionary sense) selected for something else instead, and if it were to arise, it could still do so. I don't know what, though I suspect it'd look a lot more like Europe today. That doesn't mean left-ism as it's done today in America; *that* is as riddled with ignorance as anything else, and that's coming from someone who tends to lean heavily to the Left.
It has nothing to do with teachers or schools. Kids is USA lack MOTIVATION and there is no DISCIPLINE!! Kids don't respect teachers and teachers are scared of their students. Only in America students play games and dance, while the teachers is giving a lecture. That is crazy!! I have never seen behavior like that in Poland.
Parenting is the problem. Those kids are exposed to too much violence and sex and can't get it out of their brain. They disrespect teachers and act out in class. Horrible
Money, properly applied in the right places, CAN fix a multitude of problems. If it doesn't - why does the US keep throwing tax money at the energy sector to prop it up? So much for the "free market" they keep crowing about. The US eats itself on a daily basis. Sad.
The main issue: teachers are teaching to the test. The American education system has evolved into nothing more than an institution of nonstop testing. Multiple-choice tests (which are the majority) don't provoke any deep thought. All kids have to do is choose from between 1-5 answers and the answers are given to them. It all revolves around memorization, not actual *learning*. This tendency among students to memorize has been fostered by a system based on testing, and it really is appalling. Why not urge students to think critically by asking them to write about a certain topic, a book, an idea? Why not have a group Socratic discussion rather than a test? And, for God's sake, why not TEST the teachers thoroughly to make sure they are engaging in the best way they can with their students and know their material? And if that's not enough, if these schools don't meet the standard for their state, they get their funds cut. But how can they meet high standards with a useless style of teaching? Also, students are assigned schools based on the location of their homes. How the hell can one hope to succeed in a school that churns out mediocre students? It's not the students who think school doesn't matter. It's the state that sets them up to *believe* school doesn't matter. And, frankly, I agree. I've learned more stuff on my own than in any classroom I've ever been in. Things need to change, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. Needless to say, parents should keep track of their child's education in order to ensure they are learning at an acceptable pace.
+Myathewolfeh1 Well said! It's because the government, or rather the powers controlling it (the oligarchs, big businesses, old powerfull families), want and need their subjects to be stupid, unthinking, controllable, worker zombies. They are needed to man the army, the factories, the police, consume the goods produced all the while believing everything that is spoon fed to them by the lying and manipulating media. It's the ultimate control scheme of which everyone with an ounce of critical thinking skills, ability to understand bigger pictures or think outside the box is an enemy. It'll never change unless people fight back, unless they come up with something even more reppressive. It's time to wake up!
Parents should be allowed to come observe their kids classes any time they want. It would help keep kids in line and parents would know what's really gonig on.
Blame it on the teachers and school system. Yeah. Turn off the TV, people. Be very careful about how much advertising and other marketing manipulation you expose yourself and especially, your kids, to. They need to honor and respect things that aren't a product to be consumed, and parents need to set the example.
my nephew hasn't started going to school but he already knows all numerical, additions and subtractions. Hence school start at home and it depend on parents to monitor his/her progress, not solely depend on school.
it isn't more money. The students that refuse to do their school work, that get into fights, they should be kicked out. Those that want to learn, should be there.
School quality is a matter of social class. That's the way America is programmed in just about all areas of society. Poor neighborhoods have poor schools. It isn't just money. Some students will break out and a lot will not. However, higher education is wide open to all. If you had the misfortune of getting a substandard education YOU have to work to make up the deficiencies. Unfortunately very few have that kind of drive. It's all a matter of how badly one wants something.
Australia spends almost $14b a year on education. The US Spends $59b - Just over 4 times as much. Yet the US Population is almost 13.5 times bigger than Australia's. US Needs to spend more and the money needs to be spent properly. Building gyms and pools won't help kids learn maths and english.
The more that I watch this the more I am getting ANGRY! You know one member says that education starts at home WHICH IS TRUE FOR SURE, however, there has been times where I needed my kids teachers to teach ME how to teach my kids at home when they are NOT in school and they complied with my wishes and IT WORKED! As a result of my teachers working with me and my kids; my kids did VERY WELL and I have a special ed child at home AND both of my children grew up in a major metropolitan school district. Overall, it takes teachers & staff AND parents to be VERY involved and I am speaking from experience!
My son had many difficulties learning, the public schools didn't help him. The fact that he graduated from High School was a minor miracle. When he graduated from technical College with honours I was the world's happiest parent. This came with fighting the Board of Education every year. The individual program designed by the experts was completely useless. He was 17 when I was absolutely positive he could comprehend what he was reading. The strategies that led to my son's successes came from our own home. By asking him to describe what was going on inside and listening to him and then deducing the issue and improvising a fix. For instance: He described that the white on a book page made the letters blend into a line so he couldn't see the black letters: to dampen down the white we decided to try coloured acetate sheets ( for overhead projectors ) cut to the size of the page. Red and green worked best. Understand, my son had to be his own Sherlock Holmes. I was the Watson .
You're an idiot it's not either Republican or Democrat the entire fucking educational system is corrupt from top to bottom it's about putting Revenue in their pockets and the students come last
American schools need more money? What about the schools in South Africa, Jamaica, Haiti, Nepal, and Nigeria that don't have any resources, but their kids learn calculus in the 6th grade. Money? Who's stupid...the kids, or America?
I'm from South Africa and our education system is a bit of a joke. Our teachers union FEDUSA makes it impossible to get rid of bad teachers. Fortunately they recently abandoned the OBE education system and replaced it with the oxford-Cambridge based system that was in place before OBE. Many students who graduate high school find it tough to pass at university simply because there is such a large gap between the two. However I agree money isn't the issue. Dedicated teachers and high standards of education is all it takes. My grandfather was educated on a farm school in Zimbabwe during primary school, where often they were taught under a tree, and despite having lost all their land and possessions during the horrendous land reform act they all went on to become engineers, doctors etc. He claims it was because of the oxford method of education coupled with some dedicated teachers.
* Not knowing something is not stupidity, it is nescience. Saying, "I don't know" when you DON'T know IS intelligent behavior. * Being better at memorizing and regurgitating facts is not a sound measure of intelligence. It is perhaps a better measurement of Belgium's school systems' efficacy in the crippling of children's innate intelligence that they are so well conditioned. * Disobedience to authority is not a symptom of stupidity. If anything, I would argue that it is a symptom of intelligence. It is a recognition, however dimly cognized in youth, of the individual's infinite worth. * Use of slang is not an indicator of low intelligence. It is an indicator of adaptation to one's environment- i.e. intelligence. Words- all words, whether they are deemed "proper" by the intelligentsia or not- are a medium for information, a vehicle for thoughts to move from one mind to another at a (hopefully) high degree of fidelity. If understanding between two people is reached, then it is proper use of language. If slang is better suited to facilitate that understanding, then its usage IS intelligent behavior. (fuckin' a)
Stupid in America is the result of **bad parenting**, period. Education is all about the **parents**. Student behavior is a reflection of a **parents** job. If parents do not teach their children how to behave, how to read, and how to study, then those parents are failing. There is nothing wrong with most teachers or most schools.
Roughly quoting Aristophanes: "Youth ages. Immaturity is outgrown. Ignorance can be educated and drunkenness sobered. But STUPID lasts forever." Demographics determine destiny by virtue of gene pools. The nation which fails to guide reproduction wisely invariably goes to seed.
The problem is unruly, undisciplined, disrespectful students. It's not the teachers, and it's not the funds, it's the parents and communities who give kids a pass for this behavior. Who can learn in a school when there is chaos?
It is also the parents job to teach your children and if you do that your kids will be better than schooled kids just by letting the system teach them.So it is not all the schools problem, it all starts at home!
What has the mom done to teach son to read did she enroll him in library free reading classes did she read a hour a day with him growing up most parents just leave the full responsibility on the one teacher that has 25 kids in the class when they have at home 1 to 3 children
Sometimes it may be the school, but mostly it is just because the American students aren't appreciative of their learning environment. The reason you are not learning anything is because you disrespect the teacher and dance around the room dummy. 2:48
I've been through the public education system and I can tell you I've been taught about past conflicts, war and stuff that have gone on in other parts of the world, but as of today they don't teach you anything about the attitudes and perceptions of people in other countries, they just teach you American views. it's basically teaching you how to think.
Yea not 40 seconds into this video I heard need more money, yes I'm sure the teachers are blamed for the students education but really anybody can pick up a book and start reading, learning, studying then living. A lot of people in America are complete idiots. You can not depend on somebody else to teach to the fullest extent, you yourself have to take it into your own advantage to learn as well. I have no room to talk about why a lot of Americans are dumb as hell, I am one but at least I am continuing my education and learning about the world. I do not depend on my teachers to do it for me, I do it for myself.
That's because you have purpose. You know what you are going to do and how to do it. These kids don't. Their parents are illiterate and maybe even the teachers are. Education is not a priority in the US, although military is.
It's funny how Belgian kids who in their country have three official languages: German, Dutch, and French can speak English so well, while in the USA kids can only speak some sort of bad English.
Unions had a great purpose back in the day when things were un-fair and harsh for workers but it's not fair to play this gambling game with our children's future by taking a chance that they might get a good teacher or a bad one, only because teachers unions make is so difficult to fire the bad ones. It's simple, where there's competition there is success and this is why teachers should compete to keep their jobs, everyone else in their field have to do good to keep their jobs, why not teachers? Are they any different than any other American or above the law? If you're a good teacher then you have nothing to fear, but if you're a lazy just collecting a paycheck type of teacher then you join a union. WAKE UP AMERICA, or our children will become the world's slaves as we are slowly and un-knowingly already becoming.
dis agree my friend. so many teachers get fired and replaced by new teachers that have sex with your kids and dont have any experience in teaching and drive away the good teachers
I went to Campolindo High School in Moraga, CA. It is known to be one of the best schools in the state/country and I can tell you first hand that TEACHERS play a vital role in education. I also believe that culture has a lot to do with education as well. We had auto-shop, wood-shop, engineering, computer science, art class, foreign language courses, introduction to robotics class, architecture class, etc... Having these classes demonstrated the importance of math, science, and history as a foundation and essentially put a PURPOSE towards education. We rarely had "class clowns" and at the end of the day, it was a competition to see who performed the best and got into the best colleges. I feel as though high school students are too focused on "popularity" and social acceptance, so attending high school becomes a joke. School becomes pointless and eventually, unsafe. Far too many times do high school students ask, "When will I ever use this?", or "Why is this important?". It is important for the district to focus on "trade-courses" such as wood-shop and engineering courses, so students can understand firsthand the importance of math/science etc... I am currently a college student attending California State University, Sacramento. Majoring in Computer Science/Information Assurance and Security, with a minor in Physics. I give ALL credit and kudos towards my high school district and high school professors.
The plan: 1. Cut public school funding to the bone. 2. Act like public schools sucks and its not the money or other things. 3. Pay for propaganda for private schools that cost way more AND have a profit motive on top of that. 4. Get private primary schools and so on legal. 5. Increase fees for going to such schools so you create a upper and lower class of Citizen. 6. Cut public schooling more in order to create a sub class of people.
It seems to me that the documentary is saying it's to do with the schools. How do they know it's not something to do with the kids or something else? The question of; who is responsible has yet to be answered.
Its the parents. They expect everyone else to be raising their kids. The teacher is there to teach, not to keep your kid in line. There is only so much a teacher can do to keep order in class. Just like parents whining about their kids having access to violent movies on tv and porn on internet. Its YOUR job to raise your kids and control what information he consumes, not the governments.
ssuuppeerrbbooyy Exactly...when teachers are forced to be prison guards of sorts...no teaching can even possibly take place. Yet this doc chastises the educators/prison guards
I think you're right. I was curious how other nations performed if private or public percentages of schools and enrollments made any difference. It doesn't. You get in many instances where nations with more public schools do better than those with more private schools. Seems to be culturally driven as well as structure on what they teach and the routing structure of what students focus on. Some countries start routing students off to vocational trades, others to one to various professions business, science, medical, and engineering. Its more complicated than just thinking vouchers and private schools would solve the problem. Need more than just that. The entire structure needs to meet our new job needs from our current technology. Heard a report the other day that some are suggesting vocational education. Too many are in esoteric fields where there are too many of them and not enough jobs-- over supply. Our education to worker allocation in this country has always been terrible though. We rely basically, that if can't find someone here for a particular job, we can just import someone, now a days via the H1B visa.
Its clearly just the whole system and culture. It annoyed me when they were interviewing the teachers, because if your not doing your job well in some remedial job you get fired so why would this not apply with something as important as childrens education. I am from Scotland and to be honest I'd say public school here is about 50-50 good and bad, but then again the things I went on to study further were more on the creative side of things (art and design). Some teachers were good some bad. Subjects such as art were very underfunded I felt (they should concentrate more here on creative subjects), some teachers picked favourites who were brown nosers and some teachers seemed to connect with more rebelious children who knew at that age the system was shite. My brother is 10 years younger than me and is at the same school I was, He thinks he knows everything- all be it he is more into politics and drama than I was. He talks to me sometimes as if i'm a spastic even although I'v been to university and have lived far more than he will have by this age I'm sure. The thing that really annoys me about this situation is that I was very rebelious and was always getting in trouble although I got semi decent grades and he never gets in trouble , got much better grades and buys all the shit his teachers tell him. His favourite teacher is infact a teacher that I hated and who hated me ( he was an arsehole bully unless you kissed his arse). He tells us all how by the time hes 25 he will own a big house even although he cannot work a washing machine, wash some dishes or iron his own school clothes. What I'm getting at with this unintended long rant is that in our school system today you are not rewarded for thinking or questioning you are rewarded for regurgitating mindless nonesense that will not help you in the real world at all. The arse kissing brown nosers get the gold stars when the critical thinkers and smarter ones who see through it are marginalised and even ridiculed in some cases by the very people who are there to help them. This on top of a sense of entitlement, bombardment of mindless information and entertainment etc are ruining the western cultures. This is exactly what the goverment wants, either wee compliant robotic organisms who believe in the system, a bunch of 'failures' who wouldnt play ball or just general idiots who know nothing.
Yes it starts at home, but it's ALSO the responsibility of the school. Look at all the good schools around the world, do you think they let the students be so impolite? Heck no. I went to a public school in Canada and no way would the teachers accept this sort of behaviour, at least not back in my time. Here, they don't even raise their voice, really bad education you have there.
The kids in Belgium even speak flawless English...
As a European I can assure you that stupidity is universal. Plenty of children struggle with reading. The teachers and education experts are extremely out of touch and the drop out rates are through the roof.Finland was once the most educated among the Europeans, but suffers from serious unemployment. Austria and Germany's school system is racially biased as hell. What I love about Americans is that you openly discuss the shortcomings of your schools while Europeans are so proud of their elitist education that they'll skin you alive if you dare criticise it. I think such brutally honest self reflection will serve America in the long run and serve as a huge advantage over the rest of the world.
Yes, in Europe they probably have better English than half the children in the states.
Without a doubt we learned to read and write better then the Americans. We never had school violence and young people wanted to learn. Young people today are out of touch with reality and are spoiled.
@@ericme4767 Well it hasn't yet. This exposé is years old.
Parents, don't blame everything on the school. If your kid is 18 and can't read, you are at fault too.
+1, UnbreakableM1nd!
I agree. It amazes me how she lacked any awareness that her son not being able to read makes her look bad.
Then why send your kid to school? If it’s not to teach how to read, why do school at all? Answer that if you can. I’ll wait.
@@tarag7292 Could she read??
True, and I feel like this is kinda a problem with American attitudes toward education, we know it sucks yet we still do little to nothing about it. The greatest country in the world will lose its prestigious title with this lazzis fair additude.
My son can't read she says . Did she read to him every night like my wife did with my son for many years ? The number 1 problem is bad parenting . Stupid ,uneducated, lazy people having too many children and expecting the school system to raise them .
tommygirl20247 my wife was a purchasing mgr for a large manufacturing company , not a housewife ...but she lived her son and wasn't lazy . parents that blame teachers should take a long look at themselves . stop blaming teachers and the govt. They didn't give birth to your kid .... Respectfully,Mark
marktuyet oh, I forgot to mention american parents are also fat and rude . Get out of that big black SUV and take a walk . lol
marktuyet jus becuz sum parint cant or dunt hav times 2 reed 2 der kids don't meen shit so fuck u
My parents worked full-time, but read and taught my sister and I everyday. The school system seems to be working very well for the 1st and 2nd generation Indians and Asians here in America. The first 5 years are so important, it's infair to expect a teacher to instill the importance of learning and education. It all starts with the family unit
marktuyet It's a variety of problems. Not everything is the education system's fault, but you'd be a fool to think that it is not without faults nor does it require reform. Our system is flawed because it is system in which it sees itself as a primer for societal conformity and the way it perceives the teacher-student relationship is atrocious. The ambition and creativity that was sparked by the competitive rivalry between the Soviet and US education system from the 50s to 80s has long since died. Teachers are naught but depositors and the students information depositories. Tests in our system are simply measures of information retainment: an ugly assessment that does not properly portray the skills or abilities of any student. The system expects these kids to go through almost 13 years of their lives in these institutions; 180 days each year in most states, 7 hours a day. Oh yes, of course, like I've said and you've said as well, parents can be the issue in many cases as well, but when this system takes up a large portion of young man or woman's life, one cannot help but expect a bit of "good parenting" on the school's part as well. Otherwise, if it does not do this, then it has failed it's role as a system by the "playing fields are leveled". I mean, what the fuck would be the point of a free education if it does not play the proper role as a socio-economic equalizer?
The Colleges and Universities in this country are of course a bit of a different story.
this is because we're only teaching kids to pass tests and not actually having them learn. I wanted to be a teacher my whole life but I changed my mind in college once I found out kids aren't taught to read phonetically anymore and instead, just taught to recognize words; they call these "sight words." smh. what a world.
Ashley Klug yes that's how they tried to teach my kids to read. We spent a lot of time at the library and I taught them how I learned
lol. only some words are sight words. otherwise whats the point of an alphabet?
At this point, kids are barely taught to read, and that it's good. I'm like the only human being to really read shit.
They don't teach kids cursive writing anymore, either. Instead, schools leave teaching handwriting as "optional" and not required, but what teacher has time to address handwriting when so much time is spent teaching "to the test" of all these standardized exams? Can you imagine a generation of adults who can't even sign their own name to anything?!
did you read what you wrote?
Am I the only one who feels it's sort of fucked up, that that Belgian principal speaks better English, than several of the American teachers in this documentary?
+Hala Madrid i memorized all 51 states and i am malaysian.....!!!!
i have to correct you, there is 50 states and 1 district,
+Hala Madrid 50 states, one federal district, and five inhabited territories.
tq hala madrid for the correction.
+Andrew the Gardenerstudent Yeah but why?
As someone who graduated high school in 2002, my opinion is that culture is at fault. 90% of the kids thought school was a waste of time and were more interested in disrupting class and acting like an idiot for attention. It's because of pop culture, we're taught everyday on television that school is more about having fun and causing trouble than about learning something. Then my district spent millions on a performing arts center that barely gets used lol.
Parents + school system + teachers + student commitment = education
EXACTLY, MR. MORALES BUT THERE ARE TOTAL M*****NS WHO REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THESE COMPONENTS!
"There's nothing money can't fix." More money can't fix inflation.
Money also can't fix morality...
if your kid can't read, it either your fault, or a learning disability. don't blame schools for that.
It's*. Don't*... I blame your parents.
yay grammar nazi :)
Anytime ^_^
Why not blame the school, they're the only ones who teach them.
kids can learn to read at home before they ever step in a school
soft prison for the young masses.
The US is 36th in Education worldwide. No child left behind? Fail. Head start? Fail. Common core? Will fail. And teachers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Policies in the US education system have gone from bad to worse, with group-think mentality and no nurturing of individualism. You're better off home-schooling. At least then, the child has a chance to develop critical thinking and creativity skills. It seems someone doesn't want that to happen.
When I was growing up the school Principal hung a paddle on the inside of his office door. I don't think anyone got paddled because everyone behaved and we knew the CONSEQUENCES for bad behavior. They changed all that and gave kids too many rights which supported more of a litigious society. I'm not advocating corporal punishment, but the FEAR of being paddled on the backside was a very effective tool in fostering good behavior.
Kids lack the respect today that just a couple of generations ago they had.
Parents need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their off-spring, otherwise they're going to raise ungrateful disrespectful kids.
Skepti Cat South Korea outlawed corporal punishment, but its still being used. They do score higher on the PISA. LOL! So maybe you're on to something. :)~
Thankfully Wolf-PAC is pushing to get money out of politics, which will hopefully crush Common Core when Bill Gates can't send any more money to Arne Duncan.
If that fails, then come to Canada. Not much better in terms of educational value, but at least our inequality divide is much smaller.
And we don't have as much standardized testing bullcrap.
Skepti Cat Not at Jenks schools in Oklahoma, I wonder what they do different? lol
jmitterii2 They also have incredibly high suicide rates among young adults. Corporal punishment doesnt foster creativity or individualism, it forces kids into submissive states through the threat of force: at worst, it dulls their individualism and creativity, and at best, it keeps them in line.
I teach in Las Vegas. It's not the teachers. It's not the kids. It's not the parents. It's upper management wasting money and giving too many directives to justify their positions. We have no curriculum. In my school we have to search on the internet for our lessons. It's like reinventing the wheel. (Very time consuming to create these lessons.) Teachers see the whole child's needs, physical, emotional, mental. But our directives are children get no recess, bad lunches, expectations two grade levels above, and no mastery in basics required. They keep giving teachers more data to input and output on the computer, which steals time from teacher preparation for the children's needs. Teacher input is not allowed nor welcomed. Our superintendent's said, "if the teachers are happy, then we're not doing our job." They don't seem to care about doing what's best for the child, only what's best for their budget.
i would point biggest problem to children, unfortunately. its not that children are stupid, but most children actually need to put some effort to understand( and god damn no, there is not too much information given to students, esspecially at younger age it could be much more.). although im not from USA so we have a bit higher level of education, but we still have same problems. there are so many children( i finished school before 5 years) that are unmotivated to study, that doesnt want that, that listen ipod rather than listening lesson. and there is no way that information which is given is boring or too difficult. when whole society devaluate education, education becomes devaluated by children themselves.
This is true too. Only 5% of my class would do homework. And we weren't allowed to give more than 20-30 min of hw in third grade.
Stupid people make better soldiers. The military runs teh schools, they have propaganda and management down to an art.
At 6:42 I went through the same thing. When my son was in the 3rd grade I went to his school to talk to his teacher and he told me that he was failing in math. I brought him some flash cards and every day after school I thought him basic math for a few weeks, a few months later I went back to his school and the teacher told me that he was doing very well in math. I came to the conclusion that something is very wrong with the public education system here in America. If the Sylvan Learning Center helped that young man to bring his reading up 2-grade levels in 72 hrs, why isn't those same methods of teaching being used in our public schools?
YUP!! Too many managers making six figures and the money does not go to the kids.
Home school your children. Do some research on it, there are a ton of success stories. Your child will learn more in 3 hours of homeschooling than they would in school. Not only will you and your child grow together in a relationship but your child will have a lot more time focusing on their work and learning. You won't have to worry about interruptions because you'll be there to help them.
Every home-schooled person I have met is very bright and can think for themselves. They're a bit socially awkward, but they're totally stable. It clearly works, IMO
My kids learned more in a couple hours than a whole week at school. People always asked me the same question: what about socializing? Well, at what point are kids allowed to socialize at school? Recess and maybe lunch. That's it. You're not allowed to talk in class, or in the halls and most kids go home for lunch. Sure, there are extracurricular sports, etc, after school, but you can join clubs through other places outside of school. School is only to teach you to conform.
jose B. my neighbor has five daughters and two sons, being home schooled by his wife who is clinically mildly retarded...I've seen the paper work they have on her...not good
Yes, lets home school!!!
I send my kid to school to socialize with other students and I teach him at home. I print out worksheets and conduct learning sessions after school. I don't trust the teachers to teach my future Cardiologist.
"Future cardiologist " sounds like enough pressure to cause a rebellion towards you in later years.
NO, PEOPLE. IT"S BECAUSE THEY'RE TEACHING TO THE TEST. THAT'S WHY STUDENTS DON'T LEARN ANYTHING.
Ezequiel Aguilar Can you please explain your statement
NO, STUPID PEOPLE. IT'S BECAUSE THEY'RE TEACHING TO THE TEST THAT THEY'RE SO STUPID. THAT'S WHY STUDENTS DON'T LEARN ANYTHING.
+Ezequiel Aguilar Not at all. Read my answer above.
I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH US COMMENT. they are so set on getting good test scores when the students don't actually learn the material just memorize for the tests.
Standardized testing is the worst thing that ever happened to education...
i wents to da pubic skool an i's thinks my edumication is jus fines.
very good for an American lol
toria555 da public skool I Wentz to give me tezt an I fails LMAO
The story of Dorian touches my heart so badly.
I was a tutor in high school for extra cash. One of the girls that came to me had been passed grade after grade through the New York public school system. She was in 9th grade and should have been doing algebra and geometry. She could barely add and subtract, let alone multiply and divide.
But she had the hunger. I could see it. For the whole year, I poured everything I could into her twice a week. By the time I graduated, she was almost on grade level. This young lady who thought she couldn't learn because she was too stupid had learned 7 years worth of math in about 7 months. She didn't fail. The school system failed her.
Seeing that, and having my own problems at school (namely, that I was an advanced student who got stuck waiting for the rest of the class to catch up because they wouldn't let me learn at my own pace) is why I homeschool my boys now.
The goal of public education isn't to educate children but to make them "productive members of society." It isn't surprising that public education in America exists to serve the public rather than individual good. As America shifted from people learning trades to factory workers, industrialists worried that there woudln't be enough suitable employees to work their factories. Schools exist to reduce individuality, temper aspirations, channel creativity to "productive ends" and to instill a work ethic and obedience to authority. All educational reform since then has been driven by business leaders rather than educators. Now public schools exist to create reliable employees, loyal soldiers, compliant citizens and enthusiastic consumers. All cogs necessary to keep the machinery of business and government functioning. Public schools are pretty good at their real but unstated aims.
ding, ding, ding!!! we have a winner!!!
18 and not reading? My question is: What has the parent been doing for 18 years? Yes, the public school system in many places are exceptionally bad, but it's not the sole responsibility of the schools to teach our children. Learning starts at home FIRST. So many people have this backwards. I'm not excusing the schools at all because they are failing at a HUGE responsibility, but I just wanted to place a large part of responsibility on the parents, too. It's not just our schools that have failed our kids.
What have the parents been doing for 18 years? Working. Both parents working 8+ hours a day to pay off debts and to barely support their children. In fact, public schools are a daycare service.
Why do these parents blame everything on the schools. Help your own kids.
Because THEY adhere to the victim philosophy. It is THEIR responsibility to TEACH their children. These parents are beyond irresponsible. Parents are to be INVOLVED w/the school & know what is occurring in the school. If parents aren't involved & participatory, THEY DESERVE inferior schools!!!!
YOU SHUT UP! PARENTS ARE MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CHILDREN THAN THE TEACHERS ARE! YOU ARE A J********S!
The parents themselves cannot read.
Because of Child abuse Laws in U.S.
WOW really?? Are you shittin me???? So in order for someone to become a U.S. Citizen they have to know the Bill of Rights ,but your own people BORN there don't know what it means!!!!! Well that's just so unfair and stupid!
Yes and No think about it :) sure its not fair or at least it seems that way. However, they are just arming people with the power to understand and protect themselves, it is a power! Unfortunately, as for the people who don't know their rights, they will be easily trampled to death. So, in a way they are getting special treatment in comparison to those who live in the U.S. because their own citizens can not defend themselves from attack on their freedoms. Immigrants have more power to gain upward mobility in comparison to those who do not learn the bill of rights.
Kristin Ryans they taught the bill of rights when I was in school. But that was many years ago.
If your child can't read, it's your fault. Where were you when he was seven or eight? Where were you when he was eleven or twelve? it's YOUR JOB TO MAKE SURE HE CAN READ..
James Ritchie ah yes the blame game
Finland: no private schools, free for all, no grades or "competition".... well they are at the top.
And they also have married, stable families, little poverty, no blacks, hispanics, koreans, chinese, cubans, arabs, or diverse immigration issues
In schools they do. I am not sure how it works out for them in universities.
Much of my time in high school was spent in the backdrop of one teacher dealing with a couple disruptive students in every single class waisting everyone else's time.
Pretty much described my own high-school experience lol
Government controlled compulsory schooling is not failing. It has been doing exactly what it was designed to do for the past 70 years or so. It is training the kids to learn just enough to obey orders and perform simple tasks in dead-end jobs, but not taught enough for them to realize how they are being screwed by the system.
If USA was not a corrupt Oligarchy and i could vote, i would deff nonimate you to be its President. :D
one of the smartest comment i have seen in all youtube
Read the Leipzig connection. It explains everything.
A mother complained that her 18 yr old son couldn't read.
So why didn't she teach him?
Parent's are ultimately responsible for their child's learning.
Because its a complex process....thats why we have teachers who are trained.....
Even in Los Angeles, I attended a grades 1-3, elementary school where I had the same teacher all three years. It was a launching pad for me, but has me concerned about students that recieved no such nurturing.
In Jr. High School, however, was extremely violent in the heart of suburbia and I found myself bullied enough to the point my dad did just what they spoke on changing district and falsifying residential paperwork.The reason is that the priniples would do nothing substantive to relieve the bullying. Every now and then I was forced to fight, or take it.
I never met any of my promise, alot of dark family crap that held me captivated as a child and decades of denial to blindness of issues of psychological import. For ten years I have worked through much of my past and move forward with alternatives to past coping mechanisns to simply becoming able to look into the Mirror and say what I see without apology or fear.
I have come full circle, now I am faced looking into the mirror of our future, and today, how this look at public education is so steeped in burocracy that in seems ready to implode. The agonizing proxy that holds progress in check must be challenged.
It's not about money, not about schools, teachers, government, it's about VALUES. Why would kids prioritize education when modern culture demonstrates that there are PLENTY of stupid people in entertainment, pro sports, even politics and business who are ridiculously wealthy?
It seems that kids figure they can just get famous and rich leading a fun and carefree life, and it's not like that, but no one will TELL them that, because there is too much money to be made from materialistic ignorant superficial people.
John Bidochka this guys gets it. Education doesn’t matter to people. The people who succeed in the American education system are the ones who care.
Let's focus on the behavior of the students (and the parents who have taught that behavior through lack of discipline) - the students' lack of respect for any authority and their disrespect for any structured environment. Let's focus on what parents are NOT teaching at home. If you child graduates from high school and can't read, shame on you, parents.
It might be the parents aren't educated either so they put down education. The child goes to school with a chip on their shoulder and doesn't do well because they have a pack mentality and want to fit in with their uneducated family. Simple. As soon as education is valued, then the kids will want to learn. They will want to do their parents proud.
and all of those belgian kids can speak english fluently....
To be fair, nobody's going to talk to them in Flemish if they leave Belgium...
Best documentary title EVER!
I was born in 1951. During my days as a student, if I were to be a problem in class I would have been punished by my parents. 99% of the other kids were handled the same way. We were not allowed to get away with anything without being punished. We were brought up to be respectful of our teachers. I, for one, was so proud of myself when I learned how to read and write. Before I could read I was read to by my parents. When I had trouble with math my mother helped me at home and I was able to keep up in class. My mother, back then, did not have to work. My dad made enough as a union laborer to support our household, although things were always tight financially speaking. We were rewarded sometimes with a candy bar or ice cream, though rarely. If I had either one of those treats twice a year I considered myself a lucky kid. My friends households were the same. Yes, we begged for things all the time, but were denied just as often. If I got whiny and insisted on bugging my parents for something that I wanted my dad would say something like, "If you don't quit your whining, I'll give you something to whine about". That was the point at which I knew I had better go find something else to do. My parents didn't put up with BS from their kids and neither did any other parent in my neighborhood except for one that I can remember that lived down the street from me. The mother was a single mother which was rare then. Her little boys were unruly and caused the neighbors many headaches. The oldest was disrespectful of everyone. His mother bought the kids a monkey. Within a month or two the monkey was dead. My friend, that knew the oldest boy, said that "Mike teased the monkey to death." I have seen, in my lifetime, the decline of American society and it's very disturbing to me. In my view, it all starts at home. These days parents should unite and start talking about discipline, and the need to take control of their kids. Teachers, in my time, used to command respect, or else. Parents, almost without exception, would stand behind the teacher 100%. If a kid acted up in school the school would punish them and then when they got home they really got rocked. Unruly kids were almost nonexistent in my school system. Today it seems to be the norm and it is very unfortunate for the kids that want to learn. We've criminalized discipline and that has made it impossible for teachers, as well as parents, to control kids, that are, let's face it, kids. Kids have no experience in life, no nothing about anything and are much like a computer without an operating system. Basically useless. Given a solid foundation they can become a powerful thing and an asset to themselves as well as society in general. As a society, we had better wake up and start raising solutions instead of problems.
I was a public school teacher for 10 years, and Stossel is just bringing up the same old arguments. I quit teaching, and am doing well in the private sector. I was also chosen as my district's best teacher. I have no beef with anyone. I can tell you first of all, kids learn by around 4th and 5th grade that they don't have to work to pass. That is not the teacher's fault. That is society's fault. THAT is why kids drop off in achievement after 4th grade. NOT because the teachers fail them. If a teacher gives a student a fair grade of failure after the kid sleeps in class all year, the teacher is crucified to no end. "Boring class", blah, blah, blah. These kids should be happy as hell to be U.S. citizens with free K-12 education which does not exist in most other countries. The parents should do their job and instill a study and work ethic in the children. But, no. That is declining at an accelerating rate. The system DOES stink. But that is NOT the fault of the individual teachers. It is mostly political and the fact that parents do not expect their children to study, do their homework, and respect their teachers.
+Bill Brown free education does not mean inferior education...
Thegoatt84 I agree. So kids should start taking advantage of it, and quit complaining about it.
They're kids... if taking advantage of situations is not drilled into their mindset from a younger age, then they wont do it...
Nobody drills anything in their mindset. They don't have to listen to anything. They don't have to do a lick of work and they get passed on. The parents' responsibility to help the kids learn, not the schools.
Then what do you reckon are the schools' responsibility?
I wish we could break up the horrible Teacher's Union.
People don't value education. Americans think they'll always have jobs (any kind of crappy job), their biggest concern is consumption and getting money to consume more. Not education, not growing as human beings either. The most mediocre people who are not really brilliant but a little bit smarter think they are "geniuses". People value being "smartasses" like a lot of these kids in this video. Also, crazy that you give money to kids to come to schools. Shows you what's important in this country. How about the parents of those kids who are almost illiterate? Where were they?
thewrathofbombast yeah I thought that giving students money to come to school and learn was pathetic and subjecting the teachers to be on call during off duty time deplorable and slave-driver attitude.
I can only disagree with a part of this... the giving money to the kids part... the thing about education nowdays and people not giving a shit about it, is getting the kids excited to be there and if they get a bit of an incentive, who cares. at least this alternative school is spending the money they get to retain good teachers and not spending money on new admin buildings. I pulled my son from traditional public school and put him in an internet based public school... when from failing classes to almost straight A's in a year and after 4 years, maintaining a 3.83 GPA. its the interest in the school, the ability to not be so pressured in a traditional classroom setting, having teachers available one on one, and above all, he is held to his own standards, not to those of a classroom. The other thing is, He doesnt have the amount of homework that is required in traditional public school, nor is he just taught to a test. But ultimately, the parents have to get involved with their children's education and people need to stop blaming it on the teachers. Hell, now you cannot even get detention to a child because then you'd be giving them the ability to bring up a discrimination case against you. IMO: the main issue is the lack of discipline now days and the lack of respect by the kids for their peers.
Putting like 987987 kids to a classroom, with a single teacher, probably doesn't help. Very sad results.
I homeschooled both my children. Luckily, our laws here in Canada allow us to do so. My children did start out in school but I became very dissatisfied with the school system. After the pressure was off my kids, they flourished. If you can homeschool your children, then do it. Look into it.
i think the real problem in america is the culture we have and how we view intellectuals. You'll notice that the man said that 4th graders scored way above the international average but by high school they do much worse and this co-insides with the fact that kids become much more self aware around their teenage years. We tell kids through films and tv that being a "know it all" is a bad thing and this makes kids see clever people as something to be ridiculed and ashamed and i think this is one of the most crucial reasons why our kids are failing.
if we want our kids to succeed we need to let them know that it is ok to do so.
sincerely, a 14 year old 9th grader
To think, the USA used to be the leader in many fields once upon a time. Now, they have the highest levels of obesity, the highest tuition fees in the world, the highest deficit in the world, the highest level of gun and hate crime in the world, the worst public schools among the Western bloc of nations. The USA once stood on strong principles and was a true world class power. Now.....well now, I think if you visit the country, you'll see for yourself what it has now become. My sister wanted to move to New York when she's older. I helped to talk her out of that and she has her eyes firmly set on Australia. America is not worth any attention now. They're concerned too much with themselves to the point they're spiting their own populous and condemning a whole generation to poverty. China is becoming the new world power. The USA is becoming the old world China.
americans criticize china but they r ahead of usa
No inspector is getting into my house without a warrant. (16:14)
I agree. If the police need a warrant what makes the inspectors think they are above the law.
The wealthy are that afraid if their children have to mingle in with the "poor" people. It's disgusting.
Lmao they didn't force their way in, they asked and were let in. Just like the police can ask to search your property without a warrant and you can consent to the search.
If you say no to the police, then they can go and get a warrant. If you say no to the school inspector, your kid just doesn't get to go to the school you wanted.
Hey parents teach your kids . Dont just depend on the school
cody peterson but what if the parents where a victim of the same school
Zsaiah Darrington
cuz there parents are stupid too . There parents would've or should've learned from their bad mistakes or their shitty up bringing.
mhm
cody peterson you right
Yup in school I learned useful things it’s just I couldn’t comprehend what the teachers where saying sometime I had all As all my life but I didn’t know how to do subtraction if my dad wouldn’t have helped me learn subtraction I would have been lost my whole life
Having taught in inner-city public schools, I can only nod my head in recognition of things I saw on a daily basis. PC culture and general coddling are greatly to blame. There is no incentive to excel if they will pass grade year after year and hardly ever be suspended, expelled or failed no matter how under performing or ill- behaved the students are.in the end , their failures will be attributed to racism and classism.
Parents have take some responsibility for this. If there is no one there to make sure the homework gets done, make sure they are in bed by nine for school the next day, no one asking who the kids friends are, then what the hell can be done ? You can throw Trillions of dollars at this problem and it would not make one bit of a difference.
I once met an American man who had a gardening business.I asked him if it was lucrative.He replied, no, anybody can do it !
The USA is a geoilliterate country where 7% of the High school grads can't find the USA on a world map.
And I find that disgusting. I had better skills when I was 8 years old than many adults do here in the U.S. I have no respect for people that choose to be ignorant. Their opinions are worthless as well.
Tuula Westra
Really? But they know American Idols, right?
Tuula Westra we need to put them in special ed when I left my private school and when came to a public school I am the smartest in class these kids act like they have know common sense it's sad
It's not really their fault. As someone who has been in an American public school, I can say without a doubt that their curriculum is terrible and the way it's taught is even worse. Don't even get me started on the majority of the teachers.. Data backs this up. Either home school your children or send them to private school, if you don't them to be idiots
33 million people in america are illitirate
It is too easy to blame the teachers. The problem lies with each of us. Either we raise our children to value an education, and instill in them some expectations, or we don't. Once they walk through the doors of the school, some students are destined for the education their parents have prepared them to receive.
dude this country values sports and other activities more then education. rap viodes, booty dancing.
The problem is in plain sight. They gave the Kansas school more money they built a swimming pool. Gotta be shitting me. What does that have to do with anything.
4:32 "I think i did good." That grammar proves otherwise
Education starts at home, so if your kid is stupid then look at the mirror.
American culture has always had a persistent thread of anti-intellectualism, as Richard Hofstadter documented brilliantly back in the late 60's. As a culture, America gives lip service to intelligence in limited domains and ridicules it everywhere else. It's fashionable in some circles to throw blame on some kind of ruling elite that maliciously seeks to keep the people ignorant, but that's getting things exactly backward. In fact, Americans have been dreadfully good at keeping themselves ignorant for as long as America has been a nation, and long before any credible "ruling elite" with enough power to enforce ignorance existed.
That there is a ruling elite is indisputable in my opinion. But my sense is that its current power is a product of the American tendency toward ignorance rather than a cause of it. It doesn't *have* to keep the people ignorant - the people were doing that job just fine already and still are.
It didn't create ignorance in America. It just feeds on it because it's there; ignorance provides it with a rich nutrient medium. Flies thrive where there's a dead animal - but that doesn't mean flies killed the animal, or do anything to keep the supply of dead animals coming.
A genuinely intellectual society would have (in the ecological/evolutionary sense) selected for something else instead, and if it were to arise, it could still do so. I don't know what, though I suspect it'd look a lot more like Europe today.
That doesn't mean left-ism as it's done today in America; *that* is as riddled with ignorance as anything else, and that's coming from someone who tends to lean heavily to the Left.
Well said. Here's to hoping.
I remember watching this in 2007 and nothing have changed
It has nothing to do with teachers or schools. Kids is USA lack MOTIVATION and there is no DISCIPLINE!! Kids don't respect teachers and teachers are scared of their students. Only in America students play games and dance, while the teachers is giving a lecture. That is crazy!! I have never seen behavior like that in Poland.
Parenting is the problem. Those kids are exposed to too much violence and sex and can't get it out of their brain. They disrespect teachers and act out in class. Horrible
There is nothing that money cant fix? Really Sweet mother of mercy no wonder the education in USA is so unbelievably fucked.
Money, properly applied in the right places, CAN fix a multitude of problems. If it doesn't - why does the US keep throwing tax money at the energy sector to prop it up? So much for the "free market" they keep crowing about.
The US eats itself on a daily basis. Sad.
In a word "DISCIPLINE" !
The main issue: teachers are teaching to the test. The American education system has evolved into nothing more than an institution of nonstop testing. Multiple-choice tests (which are the majority) don't provoke any deep thought. All kids have to do is choose from between 1-5 answers and the answers are given to them. It all revolves around memorization, not actual *learning*. This tendency among students to memorize has been fostered by a system based on testing, and it really is appalling. Why not urge students to think critically by asking them to write about a certain topic, a book, an idea? Why not have a group Socratic discussion rather than a test? And, for God's sake, why not TEST the teachers thoroughly to make sure they are engaging in the best way they can with their students and know their material?
And if that's not enough, if these schools don't meet the standard for their state, they get their funds cut. But how can they meet high standards with a useless style of teaching? Also, students are assigned schools based on the location of their homes. How the hell can one hope to succeed in a school that churns out mediocre students?
It's not the students who think school doesn't matter. It's the state that sets them up to *believe* school doesn't matter. And, frankly, I agree. I've learned more stuff on my own than in any classroom I've ever been in. Things need to change, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
Needless to say, parents should keep track of their child's education in order to ensure they are learning at an acceptable pace.
+Myathewolfeh1 Well said! It's because the government, or rather the powers controlling it (the oligarchs, big businesses, old powerfull families), want and need their subjects to be stupid, unthinking, controllable, worker zombies. They are needed to man the army, the factories, the police, consume the goods produced all the while believing everything that is spoon fed to them by the lying and manipulating media. It's the ultimate control scheme of which everyone with an ounce of critical thinking skills, ability to understand bigger pictures or think outside the box is an enemy. It'll never change unless people fight back, unless they come up with something even more reppressive. It's time to wake up!
its not money. it is the culture of being 'cool'. being disinterested. lack of discipline at home because children are having children.
amen
south kore is poor!? dafuq!?
THE fapping legend never said america was poor
THE fapping legend no problem it realy was bad :)
+redwoodbeaver s korea has amazing international scores...
+zeliz I believe they have the highest scores in the world.The Top 5 are all Asian,I believe.
well...i guess it's made by American people...
Parents should be allowed to come observe their kids classes any time they want. It would help keep kids in line and parents would know what's really gonig on.
Its not up to the schools to guide your students. This is the parents responsibility.
Blame it on the teachers and school system. Yeah.
Turn off the TV, people. Be very careful about how much advertising and other marketing manipulation you expose yourself and especially, your kids, to. They need to honor and respect things that aren't a product to be consumed, and parents need to set the example.
my nephew hasn't started going to school but he already knows all numerical, additions and subtractions. Hence school start at home and it depend on parents to monitor his/her progress, not solely depend on school.
I am from Asia and this is pure nonsense..Teacher that were not performing well need to be fired.
it isn't more money. The students that refuse to do their school work, that get into fights, they should be kicked out. Those that want to learn, should be there.
my bio teach used to show this in class all the time for critical thinking
School quality is a matter of social class. That's the way America is programmed in just about all areas of society. Poor neighborhoods have poor schools. It isn't just money. Some students will break out and a lot will not. However, higher education is wide open to all. If you had the misfortune of getting a substandard education YOU have to work to make up the deficiencies. Unfortunately very few have that kind of drive. It's all a matter of how badly one wants something.
If your kid is in kindergarten and can't spell his own name? Lady that's you and your husbands fault!
I doubt she has a husband. Sad.
Australia spends almost $14b a year on education. The US Spends $59b - Just over 4 times as much. Yet the US Population is almost 13.5 times bigger than Australia's. US Needs to spend more and the money needs to be spent properly. Building gyms and pools won't help kids learn maths and english.
"I think I did good." That's not even proper English. You do well, not "good". "I did real good like y'all see?"
The more that I watch this the more I am getting ANGRY! You know one member says that education starts at home WHICH IS TRUE FOR SURE, however, there has been times where I needed my kids teachers to teach ME how to teach my kids at home when they are NOT in school and they complied with my wishes and IT WORKED! As a result of my teachers working with me and my kids; my kids did VERY WELL and I have a special ed child at home AND both of my children grew up in a major metropolitan school district. Overall, it takes teachers & staff AND parents to be VERY involved and I am speaking from experience!
My son had many difficulties learning, the public schools didn't help him. The fact that he graduated from High School was a minor miracle. When he graduated from technical College with honours I was the world's happiest parent. This came with fighting the Board of Education every year. The individual program designed by the experts was completely useless. He was 17 when I was absolutely positive he could comprehend what he was reading. The strategies that led to my son's successes came from our own home. By asking him to describe what was going on inside and listening to him and then deducing the issue and improvising a fix. For instance: He described that the white on a book page made the letters blend into a line so he couldn't see the black letters: to dampen down the white we decided to try coloured acetate sheets ( for overhead projectors ) cut to the size of the page. Red and green worked best. Understand, my son had to be his own Sherlock Holmes. I was the Watson .
Most parents can not afford a private school or even to move to the suburbs to avoid this inner city garbage.
Democrats own this 100%
How would republicans "fix" this? And, I am asking a serious question, not trying to be provoking.
You're an idiot it's not either Republican or Democrat the entire fucking educational system is corrupt from top to bottom it's about putting Revenue in their pockets and the students come last
American schools need more money? What about the schools in South Africa, Jamaica, Haiti, Nepal, and Nigeria that don't have any resources, but their kids learn calculus in the 6th grade. Money? Who's stupid...the kids, or America?
I'm from South Africa and our education system is a bit of a joke. Our teachers union FEDUSA makes it impossible to get rid of bad teachers. Fortunately they recently abandoned the OBE education system and replaced it with the oxford-Cambridge based system that was in place before OBE. Many students who graduate high school find it tough to pass at university simply because there is such a large gap between the two.
However I agree money isn't the issue. Dedicated teachers and high standards of education is all it takes. My grandfather was educated on a farm school in Zimbabwe during primary school, where often they were taught under a tree, and despite having lost all their land and possessions during the horrendous land reform act they all went on to become engineers, doctors etc. He claims it was because of the oxford method of education coupled with some dedicated teachers.
agreed. Instead of teaching kids the value of money, kids should learn value of education and knowleadge.
The bit with Jay Leno asking random people random questions is part of the problem. We've replaced grammar, logic, and rhetoric (trivium) with trivia.
* Not knowing something is not stupidity, it is nescience. Saying, "I don't know" when you DON'T know IS intelligent behavior.
* Being better at memorizing and regurgitating facts is not a sound measure of intelligence. It is perhaps a better measurement of Belgium's school systems' efficacy in the crippling of children's innate intelligence that they are so well conditioned.
* Disobedience to authority is not a symptom of stupidity. If anything, I would argue that it is a symptom of intelligence. It is a recognition, however dimly cognized in youth, of the individual's infinite worth.
* Use of slang is not an indicator of low intelligence. It is an indicator of adaptation to one's environment- i.e. intelligence. Words- all words, whether they are deemed "proper" by the intelligentsia or not- are a medium for information, a vehicle for thoughts to move from one mind to another at a (hopefully) high degree of fidelity. If understanding between two people is reached, then it is proper use of language. If slang is better suited to facilitate that understanding, then its usage IS intelligent behavior. (fuckin' a)
How about the parents? Do they actually care about the kids by setting up standards for their kids? Do they dedicate themselves to help their kids?
Stupid in America is the result of **bad parenting**, period.
Education is all about the **parents**. Student behavior is a reflection of a **parents** job. If parents do not teach their children how to behave, how to read, and how to study, then those parents are failing.
There is nothing wrong with most teachers or most schools.
Roughly quoting Aristophanes: "Youth ages. Immaturity is outgrown. Ignorance can be educated and drunkenness sobered. But STUPID lasts forever." Demographics determine destiny by virtue of gene pools. The nation which fails to guide reproduction wisely invariably goes to seed.
Remembering 1992 zig hael
fucko the fox You, Sir, are a prime example, a microcosm of this reality.
Remembering 1992 oy vey whatever will i do now that i've been insulted by a superior intellect such as yourself? oy vey, mein herr, oy vey.
Remembering 1992 will i ever be able to pick up the pieces of my shattered existence and move on with my life? i shall try, liebchen.
Remembering 1992 danke danke danke for that marvelous putdown. i am still reeling!
The last thing government wants is a healthy and educated electorate. Schools are not broken, they are working perfectly by design
The problem is unruly, undisciplined, disrespectful students. It's not the teachers, and it's not the funds, it's the parents and communities who give kids a pass for this behavior. Who can learn in a school when there is chaos?
The miseducation of our children.
It is also the parents job to teach your children and if you do that your kids will be better than schooled kids just by letting the system teach them.So it is not all the schools problem, it all starts at home!
Its the kids that arent disciplined at home.
People who are illiterate aren't necessarily stupid!
Victor Nthamburi if they were smarter, they would be teaching themselves to read
Yeah I'm just appalled at how many people in the U.S. aren't able to read, write and/or spell properly.
Competition is not only good but also healthy for business, it makes innovation and higher standards a must
What has the mom done to teach son to read did she enroll him in library free reading classes did she read a hour a day with him growing up most parents just leave the full responsibility on the one teacher that has 25 kids in the class when they have at home 1 to 3 children
Sometimes it may be the school, but mostly it is just because the American students aren't appreciative of their learning environment. The reason you are not learning anything is because you disrespect the teacher and dance around the room dummy. 2:48
I have been teaching for 34 years. Students who are not ready should not pass to the next grade!!
I've been through the public education system and I can tell you I've been taught about past conflicts, war and stuff that have gone on in other parts of the world, but as of today they don't teach you anything about the attitudes and perceptions of people in other countries, they just teach you American views. it's basically teaching you how to think.
Yea not 40 seconds into this video I heard need more money, yes I'm sure the teachers are blamed for the students education but really anybody can pick up a book and start reading, learning, studying then living. A lot of people in America are complete idiots. You can not depend on somebody else to teach to the fullest extent, you yourself have to take it into your own advantage to learn as well. I have no room to talk about why a lot of Americans are dumb as hell, I am one but at least I am continuing my education and learning about the world. I do not depend on my teachers to do it for me, I do it for myself.
Any particular websites or recommendations?
No not really, I would recommend to just read books, but everyone has their own way of learning.
That's because you have purpose. You know what you are going to do and how to do it. These kids don't. Their parents are illiterate and maybe even the teachers are. Education is not a priority in the US, although military is.
Josh Morton l
Stop blaming the schools, get your kid to read a book for once!!!
It's funny how Belgian kids who in their country have three official languages: German, Dutch, and French can speak English so well, while in the USA kids can only speak some sort of bad English.
My parents taught me to read by age 5. They were checking my homework daily and dicsiplined me if I didn't behave.
Unions had a great purpose back in the day when things were un-fair and harsh for workers but it's not fair to play this gambling game with our children's future by taking a chance that they might get a good teacher or a bad one, only because teachers unions make is so difficult to fire the bad ones. It's simple, where there's competition there is success and this is why teachers should compete to keep their jobs, everyone else in their field have to do good to keep their jobs, why not teachers? Are they any different than any other American or above the law? If you're a good teacher then you have nothing to fear, but if you're a lazy just collecting a paycheck type of teacher then you join a union. WAKE UP AMERICA, or our children will become the world's slaves as we are slowly and un-knowingly already becoming.
dis agree my friend. so many teachers get fired and replaced by new teachers that have sex with your kids and dont have any experience in teaching and drive away the good teachers
This is why we have Flat earthers
I went to Campolindo High School in Moraga, CA.
It is known to be one of the best schools in the state/country and I can tell you first hand that TEACHERS play a vital role in education. I also believe that culture has a lot to do with education as well.
We had auto-shop, wood-shop, engineering, computer science, art class, foreign language courses, introduction to robotics class, architecture class, etc... Having these classes demonstrated the importance of math, science, and history as a foundation and essentially put a PURPOSE towards education. We rarely had "class clowns" and at the end of the day, it was a competition to see who performed the best and got into the best colleges.
I feel as though high school students are too focused on "popularity" and social acceptance, so attending high school becomes a joke. School becomes pointless and eventually, unsafe.
Far too many times do high school students ask, "When will I ever use this?", or "Why is this important?". It is important for the district to focus on "trade-courses" such as wood-shop and engineering courses, so students can understand firsthand the importance of math/science etc...
I am currently a college student attending California State University, Sacramento. Majoring in Computer Science/Information Assurance and Security, with a minor in Physics. I give ALL credit and kudos towards my high school district and high school professors.
The plan:
1. Cut public school funding to the bone.
2. Act like public schools sucks and its not the money or other things.
3. Pay for propaganda for private schools that cost way more AND have a profit motive on top of that.
4. Get private primary schools and so on legal.
5. Increase fees for going to such schools so you create a upper and lower class of Citizen.
6. Cut public schooling more in order to create a sub class of people.
It seems to me that the documentary is saying it's to do with the schools.
How do they know it's not something to do with the kids or something else? The question of; who is responsible has yet to be answered.
Its the parents. They expect everyone else to be raising their kids. The teacher is there to teach, not to keep your kid in line. There is only so much a teacher can do to keep order in class.
Just like parents whining about their kids having access to violent movies on tv and porn on internet. Its YOUR job to raise your kids and control what information he consumes, not the governments.
ssuuppeerrbbooyy Exactly...when teachers are forced to be prison guards of sorts...no teaching can even possibly take place. Yet this doc chastises the educators/prison guards
I think you're right. I was curious how other nations performed if private or public percentages of schools and enrollments made any difference. It doesn't. You get in many instances where nations with more public schools do better than those with more private schools. Seems to be culturally driven as well as structure on what they teach and the routing structure of what students focus on. Some countries start routing students off to vocational trades, others to one to various professions business, science, medical, and engineering. Its more complicated than just thinking vouchers and private schools would solve the problem. Need more than just that. The entire structure needs to meet our new job needs from our current technology. Heard a report the other day that some are suggesting vocational education. Too many are in esoteric fields where there are too many of them and not enough jobs-- over supply. Our education to worker allocation in this country has always been terrible though. We rely basically, that if can't find someone here for a particular job, we can just import someone, now a days via the H1B visa.
Its clearly just the whole system and culture. It annoyed me when they were interviewing the teachers, because if your not doing your job well in some remedial job you get fired so why would this not apply with something as important as childrens education. I am from Scotland and to be honest I'd say public school here is about 50-50 good and bad, but then again the things I went on to study further were more on the creative side of things (art and design). Some teachers were good some bad. Subjects such as art were very underfunded I felt (they should concentrate more here on creative subjects), some teachers picked favourites who were brown nosers and some teachers seemed to connect with more rebelious children who knew at that age the system was shite. My brother is 10 years younger than me and is at the same school I was, He thinks he knows everything- all be it he is more into politics and drama than I was. He talks to me sometimes as if i'm a spastic even although I'v been to university and have lived far more than he will have by this age I'm sure. The thing that really annoys me about this situation is that I was very rebelious and was always getting in trouble although I got semi decent grades and he never gets in trouble , got much better grades and buys all the shit his teachers tell him. His favourite teacher is infact a teacher that I hated and who hated me ( he was an arsehole bully unless you kissed his arse). He tells us all how by the time hes 25 he will own a big house even although he cannot work a washing machine, wash some dishes or iron his own school clothes. What I'm getting at with this unintended long rant is that in our school system today you are not rewarded for thinking or questioning you are rewarded for regurgitating mindless nonesense that will not help you in the real world at all. The arse kissing brown nosers get the gold stars when the critical thinkers and smarter ones who see through it are marginalised and even ridiculed in some cases by the very people who are there to help them. This on top of a sense of entitlement, bombardment of mindless information and entertainment etc are ruining the western cultures. This is exactly what the goverment wants, either wee compliant robotic organisms who believe in the system, a bunch of 'failures' who wouldnt play ball or just general idiots who know nothing.
Where is the discipline?
canuck21 Discipline starts at home. Not always the teacher's fault...
Yes it starts at home, but it's ALSO the responsibility of the school. Look at all the good schools around the world, do you think they let the students be so impolite? Heck no. I went to a public school in Canada and no way would the teachers accept this sort of behaviour, at least not back in my time. Here, they don't even raise their voice, really bad education you have there.
Paying the School Superintendent $200,000.00 a year is Stupid.
The problem of education in the United States is not about funding the school systems but the accountability behind them.