Education is bad!

[popeyespappy]

The problem with the us education system, other than the repugnantcunts, isn't the amount of funding the schools receive. The problem is the poverty a large percentage of the children are afflicted with. If you only count the scores from the schools with less than 10% of the kids under the poverty line the us goes from 29th overall in education all the way to second.

I always wonder why no one ever puts any blame on the fucking students?

I've seen studies that up to 4th grade US students are the equivalent of any students anywhere. It is after that, call it age 11 or so, that they begin to fall by the wayside. Could it be that the problem is more cultural than we would like to believe?

Oh it's the students alright, but the fault isn't theirs alone. It's hard to learn when you are hungry. Plus as the kids get older many of them become disruptive which makes it hard on everyone involved. I put most of the blame on the parents, but once again it isn't all their fault. You can't help your kid with their math homework if you don't understand the math yourself. They could however contribute to making the kids behave.

A few years ago they started a community involvement program at one of the local poorly performing elementary schools. Parents and other interested adults started interacting with the kids after school helping with homework and other extracurricular activities. Some of the local large businesses were even giving employees paid time off to participate in the program. Test scores improved right away. In just a few years the school went from one of the lowest performing to one of the highest.

[Faith No More]

It's also hard to find motivation to learn when you're surrounded by abject poverty that appears to be inescapable. When you don't have hope for a better life, it's hard to find a reason to better yourself. We have to give kids a reason to want to be educated and show them that it can make a difference.

[Rahul]

You know, sometimes kids are just not motivated at all even if they aren't surrounded by poverty and have involved parents.

My step-daughter is horrendous in school. And it's not because she's not smart. She is smart. We just can't get her to take school seriously. We'll get her report card and her grades will be 90, 100, 100, 95, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0, 88, 0.

It drives us nuts. We've even dug fully completed homework out of her backpack that she just never turned it in. I've talked to her over and over about how important education is and sometimes she gets all motivated and determined to do well in school.

That lasts about a day. Then she goes back into her malaise and just says fuck it.

And you can't tell her anything because she's 17 so she thinks she already knows everything. Typical dumb teenager mindset. I've about given up on her. Hopefully she can find some half-way successful husband to carry her ass through life.

I didn't take high school all that seriously but I was still on the honor roll every time. A's and B's all the way through. But she just doesn't give a fuck.

[Whateverist]

Teenagers can be so frustrating for parents. As a teacher I never take for granted that a call home is a magic button. It always helps in general to some degree if students know there is direct communication between parents and teachers. (Keeping a daily classroom blog has been helpful for involved parents.) But the kids with the least impulse control are only rarely any more responsive to their parents than they are the adults at school. So I put most of my effort into creating direct relationships with the kids. But the middle-schoolers I teach are not as settled in their attitudes toward learning and what they are and aren't good at as kids in high school.

[Rahul]

Teenagers can be so frustrating for parents.

Yeah, this kid takes the cake. Last year she made out with some boy because he told her he was going to break up with his girlfriend (yeah right). Then her dumb ass goes and tells the girlfriend that she did it.

So the next day at school the girl and a friend start going off on her. It gets heated and the girl pushes her. So what does she do? She hauls off and punches her in the face.

So the cops get involved (the school here calls the cops over everything. This never happened when I was in school.) she gets charges placed against her and expelled for three days. I come home and start giving her a lecture and she starts yelling at me!

I've never yelled at my parents in my life. I'm damn near 40 and if my dad today bitched me out I would stand there and meekly take it. Not her. She talks to her mother and me like you wouldn't believe.

I'll be glad when she's like 30 or something and isn't a dumb teenager.

[Faith No More]

(the school here calls the cops over everything. This never happened when I was in school.)

Yeah, but I'd bet that kids weren't taking semi-automatic weapons and shooting up the schoolyard on a frequent basis when you were in school, either. No one wants to be the person that didn't call the police and let a simple altercation blow up into a violent calamity. That and the school has to cover its ass.

[Whateverist]

I'll be glad when she's like 30 or something and isn't a dumb teenager.

Look forward to the day her own kids become teenagers. Your day will come .. if you both live that long and if she has kids.

[Faith No More]

Look forward to the day her own kids become teenagers. Your day will come .. if you both live that long and if she has kids.

Hehe...becoming a parent myself has almost made me a believer in karma.

[Rahul]

Yeah, but I'd bet that kids weren't taking semi-automatic weapons and shooting up the schoolyard on a frequent basis when you were in school, either. No one wants to be the person that didn't call the police and let a simple altercation blow up into a violent calamity. That and the school has to cover its ass.

How many 16 year old girls have shot up their school?

I can't think of a single girl of any age that has shot up her school.

[Faith No More]

The school is going to cover its ass every time, regardless.