What do you think of the education system in the USA?

basilmarket.com forums : Chat | 15 posts archived

thread starter Reload Nov 02 2010 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Just wanted to see what you guys think of the school system in the United States. I just took the California Entrance Exam thing since I am new to the country (people take it here in the 10th grade usually, but I am in 11th) and it covers all the stuff we learned in 6th to 8th grade.

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bombinator 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

u shud rly consider moving back to europe

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Reload 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] bombinator : u shud rly consider moving back to europe [/quote] Why? I am a US Citizen.

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IceyArcher + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Can't speak for other states, but Wisconsin is pretty good with schools, they make sure the teachers do their jobs right and etc. Naturally we could be better at math and science; but at the cost of the arts, and P.E. it seems(for most public schools anyway, mine was 'rich' and had 0 problems). Unfortunately at my old H.S. they weren't too good at letting kids know about their current Credits; in my transition from south campus to north (grades 9/10 and 11/12 respectively) and was an 'at-risk' student, along with many others. I know a handful of kids who didn't have time for a lunch period because of this. e: I also find it rather bothersome we don't study too much about other countries, unless we were studying about Wars, or was in a foreign language. I didn't start doing current events for countries outside the US till senior year, and that was in a class exclusive to my school :/

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Ztarfish 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I think we need to replace the students with students that actually care about their education.

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S14Enthusiast 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] Reload : Why? I am a US Citizen. [/quote] You're not new to the country if you're a U.S. citizen. The U.S. offers free education. Can't get better than that. Great school system, but the "students" take it all for granted. =/

Omegathorion + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Don't people come to study at US universities? I don't get the whole education-is-failing thing. My school gives me a great education, but here people are motivated to learn. At my old school, no one cared. I think it's more important to change the way society thinks about learning than to worry about money or resources.

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Reload 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

[quote] S14Enthusiast : You're not new to the country if you're a U.S. citizen. The U.S. offers free education. Can't get better than that. Great school system, but the "students" take it all for granted. =/ [/quote] My parents lived in the United States in their younger days, and I lived in Texas when I was very young, so I acquired citizenship. School is free in pretty much every 1st and 2nd World country. However, Universities are not free in the USA.

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pinksinsftw 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I thought this would be one of your threads. I have become a student that goes to school but does nothing, which is pointless except that it's an excuse to go out and meet new people.

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Crayola555 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I love budget cuts. Ain't school fine? >_>

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xJunKun 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

it depends were you live. why so hateful at a young age

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demunpuncher + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Testing and educational value in the US depends on the students' abilities and what schools offer what classes. Most state-mandated tests are changed every year (including what is covered and overall difficulty) based on the results of the previous years tests. They also tend to include items learned throughout the years. For example, when I took the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the math section covered from basic Algebra (7th grade standard) to basic Trig (11th/12th grade standard), and I took it (early) as a Freshman. Not to mention, unlike most other countries, citizens have until college to decide what career field and invariably course of study they want to take. This results in a broad spectrum of classes taken in Primary Schooling, thus resulting in a difference of overall educational value.

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BabysAreFood + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I think we are overrun by teachers that can't teach e.g. teachers that tell you to read a textbook and expect you to be a genius. Teachers like that are what demotivates many students who see classwork as monotonous labor, causing them not to apply themselves in school or bother to learn. It's hard to care about the Progressive Era or the Sepoy Mutiny when a teacher tells you to read about it. Also, students that do not bother to apply themselves in school should not be forced to seeing as they could better spend their time by contributing to the work force (although I'm sure the job market isn't exactly in the best place right now). Everyone has a niche; that artistic kid is wasting his time learning Spanish (assuming that it is a graduation requirement) when he could be spending more time to better himself. As for the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), it is a complete joke. However, the math skills required to pass that are only what is necessary. The average graduate probably won't bother to use a parabola formula or solve an integral problem. Standardized testing is also an inaccurate way of measuring the skills of students since most of the material covered is beyond simple.

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Darkthief874 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Sigh it really is a debatable topic and I don't want to get deeply into it, but education in the U.S. was very good to start, probably the best in the world. But nowadays it really has plummeted :/ Not only are tuition prices rising to incredible heights making it harder for students to afford going to college, let alone be motivated to, but the learning style overall is in my opinion the worst. In the U.S. we have a learning style that most would call a "banking" learning style, and I'm sure you've had many classes with this learning style without even knowing or caring. To define "banking" just think about how a bank works, you put stuff in, to get stuff out. Under this similar concept, all teachers are doing are jamming and stuffing information into you, and expect you to spit it back out in tests, quizzes and what not. This has been proven to be a weak learning style, because students will tend to forget a majority of what they learned within six months, not only that but if they fall behind, then you're left behind. Teachers couldn't care less about a single student out of the thousands they probably have. Now, what makes other countries learning styles so much greater than ours is this concept of "constructivist" learning. What I mean by constructivist is building a foundation of learning where students help each other succeed through mutual support, not only that but being proactive with their studies( such as asking other students/teachers for help). Now you might think that we already implement this through study groups and other things, but the fact of the matter is very few students, and fewer teachers do this. What I also mean by constructivist is that they don't compete amongst each other to try to be at the top or the best like we do here in the U.S. I mean seriously.... we're so competitive and its disgusting. You have to be the best amongst millions of students to get accepted into the college you want, and how do you do that? Compete amongst each other for better grades, higher SAT scores, ACT scores, etc. In other countries they don't do that. They don't strive to be the best, what they do is support each other so everyone is at the same level and everyone understands whats going on. They apply the "constructivist" learning style instead of the "banking" style. This is also why most companies would rather hire workers that studied elsewhere over people who studied here. The sad truth is, compared to them you are under qualified even if you have the same degree, took the same courses, and had the same grades. Solely because they either covered more, learned more, learned more efficiently or simply know how to support each other in group work. I know most of this is my opinion and my analysis of learning styles so feel free to reply, disagree, say a counter argument, whatever. Just try to keep this mature and no flaming. Just remember, when you share what you have to say you contribute information other people could have used. EDI

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DeleTeh 11/02/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

The gap between the regular track, and the AP/Honors track are too extreme. Not to mention the fact that the teachers unions killed the system.

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