Did you go to public school?

[editec]

I went to a US public school for one semester as a sophomore in high school. I knew more than the teachers in Geography, History and Civics. University (public) was more of a challenge.

I had a US history teacher in 10th grade who could not identify the original 13 colonies.

Football coach, naturally.

 

[Oldguy]

I went to a US public school for one semester as a sophomore in high school. I knew more than the teachers in Geography, History and Civics. University (public) was more of a challenge.

I had a US history teacher in 10th grade who could not identify the original 13 colonies.

Football coach, naturally.

The social studies have always been a problem and that's usually the reason. Coaches have to teach SOMETHING other than sports and history, geography and civics are considered "easy" classes to teach. So is health and driver's ed, if they still have that.

In defense of coaches, though, I must mention one of my junior high coach/history teachers who made history so interesting that it's been a life-long love of mine. We can all probably name one or two teachers who affected the rest of our lives and this man is one of them. He's still alive and I still see him occasionally around town and I don't mind telling you his name: Bill Crenshaw.

For everything you can point out as wrong with public schools, I can show you a Bill Crenshaw as evidence of what's right with it.

 

[LoneLaugher]

I went to a US public school for one semester as a sophomore in high school. I knew more than the teachers in Geography, History and Civics. University (public) was more of a challenge.

I had a US history teacher in 10th grade who could not identify the original 13 colonies.

Football coach, naturally.

Good thing he wasn't a contestant on Jeopardy.

Trivial shit like that does not determine whether or not a teacher is good at the job.

A History teacher asks questions and guides students in answering them. Those questions begin with who, what, when, where or why. Of those, only the last is worth a damn.

My daughter's current US Government teacher is a right-wing nutter......but he allows her to debate the "why's" with him. I couldn't care less if he knows the name of the VP under Truman.

 

[Meathead]

I am grateful that my 14 yo son attends a public school system in which children are free to choose the schools they want, provided they can pass the entrance examination that some schools require. This has the effect of screening less progresed students and advancing the curriculum. I am even more grateful that he has been spared the politically-correct indoctrination that is part and parcel of US public education as is obvious from the self-righteous tone of so many here.

 

[Cowman]

yea, i went to publics schools. back when you could still pray in them and you actually learned something

If you couldn't learn anything in school today, you're an idiot.

 

[Skull Pilot]

If I could do it all over again I would drop out of high school, get a GED and start college 2 years early.

The last 2 years of HS were a colossal waste of time anyway.

 

[High_Gravity]

I went to public school back when public schools taught something. When I talk to a high school kid today it's appalling how poorly educated they are. I asked an honor student if she knew who Hitler was. She said he was a bad man who hated black people.

You can get a real good idea of the jobs that schools do when you see ridiculous interviews of those who think sending the sequester to Portugal is a good idea.

Thats very true, I saw a high school kid ask the Indian guy who works at the gas station if he spoke Muslim. I was like wow.

 

[Meathead]

Schools and teachers are only partly to blame, after all. ignorance begets ignorance.

 

[Katzndogz]

There isn't a question that the level of education today is poor. Just how poor is it really?

It is poor enough to imperil the nation.
How Ignorant Are Americans? - Newsweek and The Daily Beast

Young Americans? ignorance baffling - Columbia Daily Tribune : Opinion

The ignorance about our country is staggering.

According to one survey, only 28 percent of students could identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

Only 26 percent of students knew the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights.

Less than one-quarter of students knew George Washington was the first president of the United States.

It's the age of ignorance.

Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

It took years of indifference and stupidity to make us as ignorant as we are today. Anyone who has taught college over the last forty years, as I have, can tell you how much less students coming out of high school know every year. At first it was shocking, but it no longer surprises any college instructor that the nice and eager young people enrolled in your classes have no ability to grasp most of the material being taught. Teaching American literature, as I have been doing, has become harder and harder in recent years, since the students read little literature before coming to college and often lack the most basic historical information about the period in which the novel or the poem was written, including what important ideas and issues occupied thinking people at the time.

Not that American ignorance is limited to literature and history. They are equally ignorant of science.
Poll Finds Americans Are Ignorant Of Science - NYTimes.com

Many Americans also mistakenly say that laser beams are focused sound waves and that atoms are smaller than electrons, said Jon Miller, director of the Public Opinion Laboratory at Northern Illinois University, who conducted a nationwide survey for the National Science Foundation.

In a July telephone survey, 2,041 adults 18 or older were asked more than 70 questions on basic science. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Asked whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun around the Earth, 21 percent replied incorrectly; 7 percent said they did not know.

But, every single dolt can regurgitate the last thing they were told about global warming!

Unfortunately for Americans, the rest of the world is not so hampered by liberalism. When American students go out into the world, they will be competing with job-candidates from India, China, Japan, all over the world and they aren't ignorant.

 

[High_Gravity]

If I could do it all over again I would drop out of high school, get a GED and start college 2 years early.

The last 2 years of HS were a colossal waste of time anyway.

I spent my last 2 years of high school fighting, messing around with girls and drinking. Yeah, looking back it was a waste.

 

[rightwinger]

There isn't a question that the level of education today is poor. Just how poor is it really?

It is poor enough to imperil the nation.
How Ignorant Are Americans? - Newsweek and The Daily Beast

Young Americans? ignorance baffling - Columbia Daily Tribune : Opinion

The ignorance about our country is staggering.

According to one survey, only 28 percent of students could identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

Only 26 percent of students knew the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights.

Less than one-quarter of students knew George Washington was the first president of the United States.

It's the age of ignorance.

Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

It took years of indifference and stupidity to make us as ignorant as we are today. Anyone who has taught college over the last forty years, as I have, can tell you how much less students coming out of high school know every year. At first it was shocking, but it no longer surprises any college instructor that the nice and eager young people enrolled in your classes have no ability to grasp most of the material being taught. Teaching American literature, as I have been doing, has become harder and harder in recent years, since the students read little literature before coming to college and often lack the most basic historical information about the period in which the novel or the poem was written, including what important ideas and issues occupied thinking people at the time.

Not that American ignorance is limited to literature and history. They are equally ignorant of science.
Poll Finds Americans Are Ignorant Of Science - NYTimes.com

Many Americans also mistakenly say that laser beams are focused sound waves and that atoms are smaller than electrons, said Jon Miller, director of the Public Opinion Laboratory at Northern Illinois University, who conducted a nationwide survey for the National Science Foundation.

In a July telephone survey, 2,041 adults 18 or older were asked more than 70 questions on basic science. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Asked whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun around the Earth, 21 percent replied incorrectly; 7 percent said they did not know.

But, every single dolt can regurgitate the last thing they were told about global warming!

Unfortunately for Americans, the rest of the world is not so hampered by liberalism. When American students go out into the world, they will be competing with job-candidates from India, China, Japan, all over the world and they aren't ignorant.

90% of Americans believe that a magical creature created the earth and watches over what we do

 

[Esmeralda]

This thread, just the most recent bashing public education, led me to ask this question of all the respondents here.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...-public-school-is-borderline-child-abuse.html

Did you go to public school?

I did, for all 12 years in Texas and Oklahoma. And, a public university too.

I don't think I missed very much and, in fact, believe I got a fine education.

What about y'all?

Yes and I got a damn good education as did my children and grand children and all led to a college education for all of them. Education is not about the school at all. It's about the student's will to learn. And a college education does not always lead to success either. Stop blaming schools and teachers for your children's stupidity.
Head start should be a parent's responsibility. Children of illegal aliens send their children to school and they cannot even speak English, taking away from teachers ability to teach effectively. Schools did not began to fail until we had a massive influx of illegal aliens children. Some just taking up space until they can drop out and join gangs and deal is a lucrative business of drug dealing and other crimes.

Yes, I went to public schools, for 12 years. Then to state universities for 6 years. Have a career that fulfills my life long dreams. I came from a family in which no one before me had been to college. Education is what you make of it.

"Education is not about the school at all. It's about the student's will to learn."

This needs to be said again. ^^

My family did not support me financially or in any other way, not even encouragement, to get a higher education. They didn't even support or encourage me to get good grades in high school; they were happy as long as I didn't fail or drop out. It's a cliche, I know, but true: life is what you make it, including getting what you can out of the public school experience.

 

[Katzndogz]

There isn't a question that the level of education today is poor. Just how poor is it really?

It is poor enough to imperil the nation.
How Ignorant Are Americans? - Newsweek and The Daily Beast

Young Americans? ignorance baffling - Columbia Daily Tribune : Opinion

The ignorance about our country is staggering.

According to one survey, only 28 percent of students could identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

Only 26 percent of students knew the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights.

Less than one-quarter of students knew George Washington was the first president of the United States.

It's the age of ignorance.

Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

It took years of indifference and stupidity to make us as ignorant as we are today. Anyone who has taught college over the last forty years, as I have, can tell you how much less students coming out of high school know every year. At first it was shocking, but it no longer surprises any college instructor that the nice and eager young people enrolled in your classes have no ability to grasp most of the material being taught. Teaching American literature, as I have been doing, has become harder and harder in recent years, since the students read little literature before coming to college and often lack the most basic historical information about the period in which the novel or the poem was written, including what important ideas and issues occupied thinking people at the time.

Not that American ignorance is limited to literature and history. They are equally ignorant of science.
Poll Finds Americans Are Ignorant Of Science - NYTimes.com

Many Americans also mistakenly say that laser beams are focused sound waves and that atoms are smaller than electrons, said Jon Miller, director of the Public Opinion Laboratory at Northern Illinois University, who conducted a nationwide survey for the National Science Foundation.

In a July telephone survey, 2,041 adults 18 or older were asked more than 70 questions on basic science. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Asked whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun around the Earth, 21 percent replied incorrectly; 7 percent said they did not know.

But, every single dolt can regurgitate the last thing they were told about global warming!

Unfortunately for Americans, the rest of the world is not so hampered by liberalism. When American students go out into the world, they will be competing with job-candidates from India, China, Japan, all over the world and they aren't ignorant.

90% of Americans believe that a magical creature created the earth and watches over what we do

Unfortunately for Americans, 90% of the people they will have to compete with have some sort of religious belief in a magical creature or creatures and they will STILL have a better education than Americans.

 

[Meathead]

90% of Americans believe that a magical creature created the earth and watches over what we do

That's nothing. Fifty one percent of Americans voted for Barak Obama!

 

[Freewill]

There isn't a question that the level of education today is poor. Just how poor is it really?

It is poor enough to imperil the nation.
How Ignorant Are Americans? - Newsweek and The Daily Beast

Young Americans? ignorance baffling - Columbia Daily Tribune : Opinion

The ignorance about our country is staggering.

According to one survey, only 28 percent of students could identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

Only 26 percent of students knew the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights.

Less than one-quarter of students knew George Washington was the first president of the United States.

It's the age of ignorance.

Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

It took years of indifference and stupidity to make us as ignorant as we are today. Anyone who has taught college over the last forty years, as I have, can tell you how much less students coming out of high school know every year. At first it was shocking, but it no longer surprises any college instructor that the nice and eager young people enrolled in your classes have no ability to grasp most of the material being taught. Teaching American literature, as I have been doing, has become harder and harder in recent years, since the students read little literature before coming to college and often lack the most basic historical information about the period in which the novel or the poem was written, including what important ideas and issues occupied thinking people at the time.

Not that American ignorance is limited to literature and history. They are equally ignorant of science.
Poll Finds Americans Are Ignorant Of Science - NYTimes.com

Many Americans also mistakenly say that laser beams are focused sound waves and that atoms are smaller than electrons, said Jon Miller, director of the Public Opinion Laboratory at Northern Illinois University, who conducted a nationwide survey for the National Science Foundation.

In a July telephone survey, 2,041 adults 18 or older were asked more than 70 questions on basic science. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Asked whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun around the Earth, 21 percent replied incorrectly; 7 percent said they did not know.

But, every single dolt can regurgitate the last thing they were told about global warming!

Unfortunately for Americans, the rest of the world is not so hampered by liberalism. When American students go out into the world, they will be competing with job-candidates from India, China, Japan, all over the world and they aren't ignorant.

90% of Americans believe that a magical creature created the earth and watches over what we do

10% of Americans believe in the magical concept that the most complex of machines arose from a "primordial soup." How rediculas is that?

 

[Esmeralda]

There isn't a question that the level of education today is poor. Just how poor is it really?

It is poor enough to imperil the nation.
How Ignorant Are Americans? - Newsweek and The Daily Beast

Young Americans? ignorance baffling - Columbia Daily Tribune : Opinion

The ignorance about our country is staggering.

According to one survey, only 28 percent of students could identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

Only 26 percent of students knew the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights.

Less than one-quarter of students knew George Washington was the first president of the United States.

It's the age of ignorance.

Age of Ignorance by Charles Simic | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

It took years of indifference and stupidity to make us as ignorant as we are today. Anyone who has taught college over the last forty years, as I have, can tell you how much less students coming out of high school know every year. At first it was shocking, but it no longer surprises any college instructor that the nice and eager young people enrolled in your classes have no ability to grasp most of the material being taught. Teaching American literature, as I have been doing, has become harder and harder in recent years, since the students read little literature before coming to college and often lack the most basic historical information about the period in which the novel or the poem was written, including what important ideas and issues occupied thinking people at the time.

Not that American ignorance is limited to literature and history. They are equally ignorant of science.
Poll Finds Americans Are Ignorant Of Science - NYTimes.com

Many Americans also mistakenly say that laser beams are focused sound waves and that atoms are smaller than electrons, said Jon Miller, director of the Public Opinion Laboratory at Northern Illinois University, who conducted a nationwide survey for the National Science Foundation.

In a July telephone survey, 2,041 adults 18 or older were asked more than 70 questions on basic science. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Asked whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the Sun around the Earth, 21 percent replied incorrectly; 7 percent said they did not know.

But, every single dolt can regurgitate the last thing they were told about global warming!

Unfortunately for Americans, the rest of the world is not so hampered by liberalism. When American students go out into the world, they will be competing with job-candidates from India, China, Japan, all over the world and they aren't ignorant.

90% of Americans believe that a magical creature created the earth and watches over what we do

10% of Americans believe in the magical concept that the most complex of machines arose from a "primordial soup." How rediculas is that?

"rediculas"?


Colin Powell grew up in a housing project in the Bronx, and look where he ended up. It's all about making the best of what you are given.

 

[bucs90]

Yes. I went to a public high school and a public college. And I was lucky enough to play for the football team at both places. I not only recieved a good education, but, I was able to be on the football team where I learned things not taught in a classroom: Discipline, pushing through adversity, not quitting, physical and mental toughness, following directions, teamwork, leadership, etc, etc.

Millions of others had the same experience. A great investment with our tax dollars to provide a publicly accessable system to teach our children how to function in society, to give them a small foundation.

 

[Katzndogz]

One of the worst failures of our public school system is that after graduating from that system, the ones who attended believe they have a good education. After all, they went!

School is NOT supposed to teach children how to function in society. That's the function of parents, churches and communities.

Millions of others have the same experience, which is why millions of others are both ignorant and illiterate.

 

[Esmeralda]

One of the worst failures of our public school system is that after graduating from that system, the ones who attended believe they have a good education. After all, they went!

School is NOT supposed to teach children how to function in society. That's the function of parents, churches and communities.

Millions of others have the same experience, which is why millions of others are both ignorant and illiterate.

Most of those who are 'ignorant and illiterate' are so because they expected to be given an education rather than earning it. You get out of your school experience what you put into it. That's the bottom line. You can blame all of life's failures on someone or something else; or you can take responibility for yourself. Gosh, don't I sound like a conservative so and so. Yet here are all the right wingers in this thread bitching, moaning, whining and complaining about what the public school system isn't giving them or didn't give them.

 

[Meathead]

Most of those who are 'ignorant and illiterate' are so because they expected to be given an education rather than earning it. You get out of your school experience what you put into it. That's the bottom line. You can blame all of life's failures on someone or something else; or you can take responibility for yourself.

And here I thought you were a liberal.