Schools?

[rossmum]

I'm aware we have a youtube thread; however, this is more than deserving of its own.



I'm curious... how would you rate your school, and do you think anything's improved since this was aired? I can tell what's going on, though since I haven't been to the US (aside from airport stopovers) since I was a baby, I'm really not sure as to the true extent of things.

I must say though; it does worry me when I know more about the American Civil War (which is given only a passing mention at best outside of the US) than an American student of my age (5:00 or thereabouts). I also can't really pretend that what I see on the internet in terms of people's attitudes or even basic literacy don't bother me. Clearly there are plenty of smart Americans out there, but where does the school system sit in all of this?

I'd rather this didn't turn into an e-soap, let's get some intelligent discussion happening on these forums. By all means, if you don't live in the US, feel free to assess your own school system too.

[Kornman00]

That first male principle kicked ass.

Yeah, don't you see the pattern here in America? Failing schools, failing politicians, failing owait, America

[Limited]

We kind of have that problem here in UK just on a lower degree. Imo its not funding thats the problem.

I feel the problems are:
Respect
Lazyness
Attitude

Respect for teachers is getting lower and lower every year. In that clip there was a dude running around on the desks, pupils ignoring what the teacher is saying. It happens here in UK, the teachers cant teach if the pupil is going crazy and wont even sit down.

EVeryone is getting lazier and lazier, now with more computers, more tv's and more video games. People would rather do all that than learn. This is also part of the attitude of the students. If you dont want to learn, you wont learn...

Attitude of the students, do they want to learn? are they trying to learn? You can tell from the video that those belguim students wanted to learn, were happy with their learning.

Learning needs to be relevent. I hated learning useless shit that was only useful for me passing a test and thats it, alot of things arent useful in later life, okay addin up is but learning indepth about Shakespeare and why he wrote his stories like he didnt, will NOT help me in later life.

I pulled myself out of a few schools, mainly because I didnt like it/ I got bullied. I went to a school where there were "unteachable" students. People with learning diffiiculties, people who were expelled and other trouble makers.

Did they learn? Yes because this school helped make it relevant and fun to learn.

On that 2003 test list, was UK even on there?? I didnt see UK

[thehoodedsmack]

Hey! Canada's #7? Sweet! Over here, we have some bad schools, but generally, where I live at least, our schools and students are prety well off.

[Stormwing]

my school is one of the better ones...people try to cheat to get here also. but it's far from spectacular.

I think regardless of student attitude or laziness, teachers and faculty are what really make or break the learning experience - regardless of the student in question.

Luckily the teachers I've had are pretty good in my highschool years so far...a few bad apples here and there. However...the bad ones can be pretty bad. They're usually too boring or simply can't teach, and thus the students can't give a crap and just do enough to not face serious consequences. I do the drawing and sleeping...a friend of mine played some GBA...others feign interest...etc.

The teachers who are awesome make learning much more interesting (whether you actually do well or not), but the teachers who aren't are pretty damn bad.

[Atty]

The problem is when you get to schools that are so huge that kids fall through the cracks, where you've got so many students in one school each teacher can't keep track. If you don't come to them with a problem likely she/he won't notice it on their own. That is the way it is at a lot of local schools here, we've had to build a new school and it's already going to be full to capacity when it opens this August.

[rossmum]

[longpost]

That's not how I remember school in the UK

My current school is pretty good by most standards. We did have a few lousy teachers, they were all dealt with accordingly and within 6 months absolute maximum. Our school generally ranks very well in tests, and though we do have some seriously troublesome kids (most of the year 10 "cool group", mainly... bunch of muscleheaded idiots who only got into the school off of ability they've since lost, as my school is selective). The teachers are pretty good for the most part (my Chemistry and Physics teachers in particular), and while we do have our problems, it compares very favourably to anything in that documentary, not to mention most schools here :| The comprehensive high school just down the road is a whole other matter, though even it produces some excellent students.

8.5/10

Also, for those who are wondering why Finland got first: a few friends of mine live there, they have to take 6-hour tests for every major assessment area of every subject. Their education system is insane, but obviously it works

[Roostervier]

My current school is alright in academics, old one sucked D: Though, I am in the smart classes... you wouldn't believe the literacy nor the spelling of the idiots at our school. My class pretty much holds the whole thing together, the rest fails . I am serious in this though, I see all kinds of wrong word usage, words like "ain't," among other things, and serious misspellings in their work. Not only that though, they aren't too bright in math either... I take back what I said about academics. If you aren't in X classes as this school, you are basically a retard; no joke. And a lot of these people aren't lazy, just incapable of learning. I've seen a lot struggle, they couldn't get it at all. On the other hand, there are a lot of lazy ones, and if you are from around here, you know how their parents are. It doesn't make it any better that their own family acts in the same way they do. It only encourages it.

Back when I lived in Indianapolis, there was at least an intermediate class. This is actually the first time I am realizing how huge a gap there is here. I am guessing the gap is also in how much money they make. Typically, never always, the poorer teenagers are less intelligent, and are fatter too. There are even studies proving that. Here, there is a big difference. My friend Sean is rich, he's in my classes. Most in the X classes are middle class, or middle upper class. Most everyone else is lower class :\. Of course, there are a few "out-liers," but for the most part that is the way it is.

[edit] Forgot to rate my school. I rate it a 4/10. There are only 3 cool teachers here though, most others are extremely strict, allow no talking, no fun, nothing. That is part of it. Another thing affecting our schools is the quickly developing feministic society that is America. School rules only allow men to be little pussies. Can't have any fun at school at all: no joking, because it "hurts others feelings." No competition. If there is someone better at something, they desperately try to even out the teams. No pushing around, just having fun, because "it could lead to something serious." Tapping someone's shoulder until they scream about it is apparently bullying now. It is making school completely dull. They say that learning should be fun, but how can it with rule after rule of bullshit?

[Dole]

Everything went downhill after they allowed women to become principals. Period.

[mR_r0b0to]

At first my school was awesome, lots of liberties, no uniform, fun teachers who really care, nice curriculum where you actually learn stuff. And it's really secure, we leave our stuff outside our lockers, and we actually jam our lockers so it's easy to open. Also we were AWESOME academically, we owned at UIL and contests and stuff.

But then during my sophomore year they made in open enrollment, which means anyone can enroll, first come first serve. There used to be an entrance test of some sort. Parents of stupid kids who can't pass it complained that they pay taxes for it even though their kids don't go there.
Now anyone can go here, even if they don't deserve to be. The freshman class when I was a sophomore SUCKED at everything.
Now teachers are leaving ;_; (these teachers have been at the school since its start in 1993)
We get like 5 new teachers next year.

Still I like it. 7/10... would've been 10/10