BF2S Forums How is your education system?

There is too much entertainment in the american society & the family ideal has crumbled away , the schools atleast when I went were a joke with gates & bars & guards with guns not to mention all the gangs & fights going on.

Not exactly the enviroment for learning, throw in hot girls, drugs & partys... its a wonder I ever made it out.
The teachers are underpaid, they should be getting congress salarys to bring out the best in our youth, year in year out though both sides of the government ignore the pleas for help & cut even more funding away.
Why start all these wars with americas interest in place when they dont even care whats going on at home, whats the point , if things continue on this path america will wither away as a dull memory.
Schools are the foundation of a nation , our nation doesn't care.

This is a rather touchy subject, but I feel obligated to ring in on it regardless.  As fun 'n' easy it may be to ridicule the quality or lack thereof in America's public school system, other factors weigh in upon any given student's success or failure in the curriculum.  By no means am I claiming that students packed fifty in a room, studying from decades-old textbooks, learning from underpaid and understaffed faculty, and living hand-to-mouth in the inner city, are on equal ground with upper-middle class private school attendees.  Yet we can't disavow the fact that students in private schools generally come from "old money", i.e., established well-to-do families residing in more privileged neighborhoods where a high school education is perceived as the foundation of a baccalaureate or graduate-level degree.  Contrast this to lower-class public school students, where getting a high-school diploma seems less a requirement than a mere piece of paper--nice, but not necessary.  For these underprivleged families, post-secondary education is out of reach, and no motivation exists to excel in the public school system.  Yes, students with a vision can and do reach great heights, even in inner-city Chicago, Queens or Compton, but it's awfully hard to think and dream big when surrounded by gangland poverty, isn't it?

Bottom line: Yes, I'm ashamed of our decrepit, antiquated and lackadaisical public school system.  Most kids who do succeed from it do so in spite of, not as a result of, it, and certainly the problem is compounded by the self-perpetuation of the ghettos.

My high school (called a college, we use the terms interchangably here) was reasonably big by NZ standards (1200 people) but because it was one of only two in a large farming area, it tended to cater more for the middle-ground of students.  Everyone seems to have ended up with a job (the unemployment rate there is one of the best in the world so its kinda hard not to) but the sort of jobs people ended up with tended to be matched to their academic ability; low academic acheivers either took on low/average jobs or took up trades (which now have good money), average went for anything really, and high acheivers have all done SOMETHING with their lives since; some got PhDs, some seem to spend half their lives going overseas, almost all went to university...

The school population is a mix of half-2/3 townies, half-1/3 farming kids, quite big on sports etc...and being in a prosperous area that was an hours drive from anywhere mean't there was never any real trouble, about the worst it got was the odd fist-fight that everyone came to watch.  Being a rugby-loving area mean't that there was a lot of testosterone around, but it rarely came to anything more than staredowns.  I never ever saw a gun there, but then I've yet to see a NZ cop carrying a gun so go figure...

We had massive DARE campaigns, but all it did for me and many others was to delay the inevitable experimentation...of course, if the brain is still developing in high school, thats probably a good thing...and being older before I experimented mean't I was able to think about it more; anything that will bring forth negative personality effects is out (violence/meth, ego/cocaine etc), as is anything that is best delivered via a needle (eg. heroin), and anything that I've determined to have a highly addictive potential (all of these)...so the odd joint/cone/cookie is good, and theres been the odd occasion where I've had something more on VERY special occasions but its always been natural...oh, and its a BIG beer town, everyone drinks the stuff, you only drink wine if you're a woman and you don't drink spirits very often.  And 99.9% of the drugs I've had have been here in Chch

Sex in school I wouldn't of minded (as long as it was with a woman ), but unfortunately the school was quite conservative...sluts were few and far between, and talk of "who rooted who" was BIG news.  I ended up being with someone from that school for 4 & 1/2 years, though we didn't actually meet until after we'd both left that town to go to university!

Last edited by Pubic (2006-03-16 01:27:13)

I cannot comment on the overall state of the Australian Capital Territory's (that's where I live) education system. I go to a private school and I find the education to be of a very high standard.

A lot of my friends have identified one major problem with education systems worldwide.

Four letters.

SOSE.

This mish-mash of subjects is killing student's geography and history. This has gone on so far that about 30% of American high-school students cannot locate the US on the map. (needs verification).

We (at this school. Other schools have SOSE), thankfully, do not have that (we have geography, history separate) , and we're all the better for it (but I picked up a fair few stingy scratches today in the geography trip. Bush scratches seem to hurt a lot more than normal scratches...).

i think that italy's education system is good if you're talking about quantity and quality of teaching. students always have a lot of hours (i used to have 36 hours per week, plus pm hours now and then) and exams are quite difficult (high school final exam: 25 ppl 6 didn't make it, average score about 70 - 75%). i am at university now and it's really hard, lot of stuff to study and always little time. they actually teach you a lot of things.

however teachers and students are upset with the actual government because the minister of instruction tried to make some crazy laws that would have make the school system going to the dogs. and since most of the schools are public, there's always a lack of money so we have old premises, old furnitures, and so on.

When I went to school (graduated hs in'94) school sucked. i was busy getting high a lot, and hooking up with as many females as I could.

My youngster is in 4th grade now, and his school is great. When he gets to High School, I am going to move though. I see the little teenage assholes that run around, and I don't want any youngan of mine growing up around that.

The system is fine you just have to particapate. You have to use it, you have to try, thats all

Horseman 77 wrote:

The system is fine you just have to particapate. You have to use it, you have to try, thats all

Hm. The system could be fine, but I'm going to stand by my previous opinion where it strives too hard to stuff political propaganda down the throats of its students, while allowing them to slide through grades in almost every subject. Of course, students aren't without fault if they don't bother to study on their own, but there is little motivation to do so for any school accolades.

Of course, I've been to a private school one grade out of nine (the other two I did on my own), and they were more interested in converting me to their church than they were in teaching me math.

I would say that the system is not fine.  While there are many opportunities to be found, some students try their hardest but are still academically neglected.  Also, I do not like the idea of having upwards of 40 students stuffed into a class.  My school is falling apart arond the edges, but other schools in wealthier areas (nearby) look like a display of new gadgets and furniture.  I wonder how much school funding effects a school's image, performance, etc.

Do they still teach current events?  That seems to have disappeared from my area.

"It's America." Spark, what do you mean?  That was not very clear to me.
What does SOSE stand for?  I assume it is similar to my school's "social studies" department. (i.e. history, government, economics, etc)

(I have to wonder about my school.  We are required to take 3.5 years of P.E., but only 2 years of history.  Does that make sense?)

Last edited by RAIMIUS (2006-03-18 22:32:01)

My school district is doing a fairly good job when it comes to the academic portion of things.  We are offered tons of different college classes and, last time I checked, the test scores and dropout rate was quite low.  We are in debt at my school, yet we still seem to function quite well and I believe I am getting a fairly good education.  The course requirements seemed to be fairly balanced with 1 year of PE required, 3.5 years history, 3 or 4 years of English (can't remember), 3 years of math, and I believe 3 years of science.  We do have some requirements I think are kind of ridiculous such as our half a year fine art requirement.  I do not like fine arts (like music, or painting and stuff) and I don't think I should be forced to take this class but I guess I have to if I want to graduate.

My school talks on current events in history class (comparing past history to today), yet it's not the main focus.  We do have a required class senior year called Political Issues which is like a debate class thing over issues in the world today, but that can be substituted if desired with something like AP Government or some other history class offered.

In a difference of opinion to your idea RAIMIUS, I think in my school there is a lack of effort in most students when it comes to working hard in school.  Most students in my school will be challenged if that's what they desire.  I know that I am challenged right now, and next year (my senior year) will be even more difficult (Humanities, AP Government, AP Economics, Calculus, 4th year Spanish, Physics, etc.)  Most students at my school don't chose to take these classes though and will most likely take the regular English class, as well as some easy history, math and science class.  Also, since foreign language isn't required for more than 2 years, most people who don't want a challenge when it comes to foreign language don't take 3rd or 4th year language.

Most of my classes seem to still be in the low 30's.  I know that quite a few students in pre-calculus (what I am taking now) drop that class within the first few weeks and bring that class size down to the 20's.  I know it's not a required class, but one of my computer classes had 10 students in it (it started around 20 and dropped when people switched out).

RAIMIUS, you mention that other schools around you have all these new gadgets and such while your's does not.  My school is part of a district of multiple schools (elementary, middle schools and high schools).  I don't really know how many schools are in my district, but I do know it is at least 15.  For us, all our funds are shared equally.  Whenever somebody attends a sporting event at my school (except for students who play a sport, they get into games free) he or she has to pay a fee of like $5 I think.  All that money goes into a pot and gets distributed equally among the schools in the district.  While it sucks for me (I admit I go to probably the wealthiest school in our district) I do realize it benefits the schools in the areas with less income because they are treated equally when it comes to receiving funds.  This has also been a bummer because Nike offered our school a contract, but our district supervisor turned them down because it was only offered to our school and not all the high schools in  the district.

Unnamednewbie13, my classes generally don't try to sway me to a certain view point.  I will admit, most of the teachers I have vote democrat, but they also appreciate my ideas (I have some Republican viewpoints) so it always makes for a good debate, especially in history.  And also, in  my history class, the class where politics come up the most, my teacher will usually argue both ways (although he admits to voting Democrat in elections and he once ran for some county office or something, I forget exactly) and I think he does a good job of letting somebody have their own viewpoints. 

Well, I wish I could respond to more of the responses above mine but I need to get some sleep.  I hope I did provide some insight into my school system (although it really does not matter cause it's one system out of the many).

Something I have noticed in my college classes is that people just don't seem appreciative of the professor.  Its a bunch of crap.  I mean, sometimes people boo a professor or clap when they mess up.  That is so damn rude.  It could be because he teaches a really really had class and everyone is an idiot, so they do that.  But still, have a little respect.  It all leads back to the parents of the child.  If the parents aren't telling them to do good in school and they aren't helping their kids, then the kids won't care.  Education is very important, sure some people make it without an education.  But you never hear people talking about the guy who drives a school bus for a living do you? 

Honestly, even the stuff you learn in college may be a bit pointless at times.  But that stuff is preparing you to multi-task and shows an employer you are ready for the business world.  So really its not pointless, but it may seem like it.

Last edited by Mr.Pieeater (2006-03-19 01:43:10)

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Social studies and civics have been hijacked for liberal re-education camps, at least here in Washington state. I learned more from Google search and my home library than from any one of those particular classes I had taken. It would be nice if they would stop trying to sway students to certain political view points, and just teach what their subject's title suggests.

Yeah, it seems like liberals are taking over a lot of campuses, who knows why...  Just fight those bastards!  As long as it doesn't affect your grade!  Also, if one of them tries to throw liberal propaganda in your class that is irrelevant to your learning, call Shawn Hannity.  He is the host of a very good Fox News radio program.  He has nailed TONS of libs on campuses.