A comment on the American education system

[Cap'n Hector]

I must agree...all the schools I went to sucked, and I went to the worst one city had to offer, and others that were funded by cities in the top-50 richest list.

I didn't see that much difference...

[Arrow]

I see the following problems with K-12:
1) The material is not interesting. Take math class; they hardly ever tell you what you can use the presented formulas for! And when they do, its some dull, simplistic application. They don't explain why need history, or why you should classic lit.

2) Funding. Most schools can't keep up. They can't afford to hire good teachers, so they have to hire slackers. They can't afford new equipment (I graduated from High School in 1998, and the computers were from 1991 and the AV equipment was from the mid-80s. It truly sucked, especially when your going for a CS/Software Engineering degree in college). They can't afford to expand which, especially when combine with a lack of teachers, results in over crowded classrooms.

3) Parents. Mainly the lazy ones who want the schools to raise their children, the fundies who want to cut half of the courses and restrict knowledge, and the 'my kid can do no wrong' ones who won't let the schools discipline the students.

4) Interest. Because of the above factors, many (and in a lot of places, most) kids have no interest in learning. They treat school as joke, and retard other students.

1. I agree with this in elementary school, and maybe up through middle. A very common complaint among students is that they don't know what they're ever going to use the knowledge for, but in many cases, it's difficult to explain that to a kid. Especially when you're trying to explain to a student that they're learning addition now because they'll use it in every math problem they ever do afterwards, and that those have actual applications. However, the issue is to create an interest in learning in general and an understanding that having a wide range of knowledge is like a mental safety net, the stuff's just good to know, even if you never use a particular part of it. Took me forever to see the point of history, but now I'm glad I've had what little of it I did. Liturature still escapes me in part, in terms of, "of what use is it other than understanding allusions you occasionally hear". But by high school , and maybe middle, a kid shouldn't have to be told why they're learning something, they just need to come in ready to learn, with the general idea in mind that it will help later.
2. Not counting buildings, which are certainly an issue with so many students in trailers and closets, I'm a little uncertain how big an issue funding is. Here in Columbus we've been throwing mass amounts of money at the problem, and are now giving up and cutting back because it just isn't doing any good, and the fraction of government income going to it is getting restrictive. Every building has plenty of recent computers, but they don't get used as much as they might and they certainly aren't a great boon to the education of your average student. I'd wager #3 is a much bigger issue.
3. If someone can find a way to fix this, I'd love to hear it. My mother is a librarian at a local middle school, and she hears from the other teachers these stories of children who do no homework whatsoever. The parents of these children are almost impossible to reach. When it is possible, conferences are arranged. The parent promises to deal with the kid and make him do his homework. Nothing changes. This happens all the time.
4. Sad, but true.

Well, in my high school they rarely told us what we need the information for. I took geometry in 9th grade and never had an use for it until 12th, when I took physics. Trig was rammed down my throat. The teacher taugh all the technical aspects but didn't tell us what we could do with. I learned that in college when I took calc.

As for funding, its a big been a big problem in DC, wtih the schools using outdate textbooks and equipment. Also, the best way to motivate teachers is to pay them more. The higher pay would attract more teachers, increasing competition. The result would that the best teachers end up teaching, not the pissed-off 50 year old lady that has a look of utter hate in her eyes (yeah, we had one like that).

Darth Wong hit it on the head. Sports gets too much money. They can afford to replace the track, but wont fund art or music or get better texts.

Oh, I should also like to add that adminstration is a big problem, at all levels. An example: I took AP European history in 12th grade. The teacher was excellent, and everyone in the class got a 4 or 5 on the exam (the best you can get is a 5). The next year they turn the AP course over to a brand new teacher, and everyone flunks the test. What a waste.