American kids, dumber than dirt

[rareboy]

Im still in high school (senior) and this topic really pisses me off...

Anger is good................

Now you just have to prove the hypothesis is flawed.

 

[RobinGoodfellow]

First off, I'm sort of scared that people blame video games for the "lowered IQ" of today's students; given the sheer amount of thinking involved (even when it comes to figuring out the cheatbooks) I'm thinking more luddite knee-jerk reactions are involved than actual thinking, especially when all of the usual classist arguments are given (using NASCAR fans as an example of "stupid people" pretty much demonstrates that). Also, I'm not sure how valid it is to use electing Bush as another example of stupidity, especially given how much it's been debated if Bush actually won either election, and Bush's current lack of popularity (both of which demonstrate a healthy skepticism, which is most definitely a sign of intelligence).

That said, it seems that you have a lot weird forces beyond the classroom at work and none of them have been accounted for. In the classroom, the biggest foe of education is teaching to the test; with the sheer amount of testing going on and the dependence of funding on that testing, it's unfortunate. However, there are also those things outside the classroom that rather rudely interfere with teaching, some of them ironically due to politically correct measures meant to equalize education levels; they are equalizing levels but at a low level.

As noted already, there is a force that would prefer that students be passed no matter what and not be penalized. This creates students that just aren't up to snuff in the first place. Then there are the numbers of students that are medicated; that doesn't help out the situation. Then there feminists; by not allowing that boys and girls learn differently and focusing solely on helping the girls, boys are starting to fall behind. Then you have various communities (most notably within the black community) that actually do what they can to get kids not interested in learning.

So I definitely think that there is a problem; but I'd like to see more solutions and less whining about it...

RG

 

[gsdx]

I'm guessing that 'Teaching to the test' means that nothing beyond what is asked in testing situations is taught. Am I correct?

If so, who creates the tests and what does it prove beyond kids having a memory? The purpose of a test when I was a kid was to keep the kids guessing what they had to learn. I meant many hours of studying many different topics just in case they were on the test.

 

[darcey]

Kids are "dumber"? Dumber than what? Back in my day (here I must stop to adjust my hearing trumpet & shawl), my PARENTS made certain I was not the "class clown" & was not ignoring the teacher. On "60 Minutes" (Nov 11), they interviewed the "millenium" group [people exiting college starting in 1995 (don't blame me, I didn't generate the name)] who feel that jobs must please Them or else they'll go elsewhere. It's true that rarely does someone work at only one job their entire life, but these "reps" seem to feel that "the world owes me a livin'" (any one else remember that Disney cartoon of Aesop's fable?). Maybe the "adults" need to recognize the we are in control (for the time being) of what is happening & start serving as examples to the younger generation !!

 

[BlueLantern]

If you think that it is bad, don't get anywhere near Brazil

when I started studing architeture, there are several people in my class who din't knew to measure with a ruler, and started the measure counting in the "1" not in the "0", and much more din't knew how to calculate the area of square...

 

[kevbo]

I don't know what to say without sounding arrogant and pretentious, so I'll just say I found it interesting...

 

[Irish Luck]

 

[gabriel1]

Peter is a funny kid

 

[LarsVenice]

If I were the teacher, I would have given credit for that answer ... and then made sure I worded the question more carefully next time! I give credit for creative answers. There are some tests in which I do not do well because my thought process is different from that of most people. In personality tests, I get labeled "eccentric" or "hyper-vigilant", but in a verbal test, I may score rather low, in spite of the fact that I have a degree in German/English and can speak several languages. Still, I don't do well in verbal comprehension tests because I interpret words (or sentences) differently from what a test may expect. I tend to look at things from a different perspective from most people, but I don't consider this wrong. This is one of the reasons that I don't like standardized tests. I think evaluations of one's learning should be more subjective rather than objective. When I was given an IQ test at TRIMS (Texas Research Institute for Mental Sciences), none of it was written - it was verbal, although in parts of it I had to arrange cartoon frames in logical order or blocks with patterns on them to make other patterns. All of this was timed, which I liked because I found it challenging. A person, not a machine, evaluated the results.

I think education needs to become more personalized and less institutionalized. Of course there is the problem of economics...

 

[Shepherd 2]

First of all, this teacher, insists that kids are not dumber than dirt. It is not so. What is so, is that American Education is at a crossroads. It is critical whether we believe like the present administration in Washington, that teaching to standard tests will make good schools and good teachers. In fact, I believe that fundamental practice is one of main reasons our system is in crisis.

Poor curriculum development and management is also a critical factor. Teaching strategies are now more important than teaching content. Good teachers are so busy with minor details that have little to do with improving student competency scores or making our classrooms and teachers any better.

This is also a complex issue in so many other ways. Add in discipline, helicopter parents, technology run amuck, and family eating patterns, as well as family bonding. Stress is written across and through this scene and I am convinced a notorious lack of sleep for students in the nighttime. Add to it our preoccupation with environmental illnesses and labeling of children on a thousand different fronts.

I wish I could be part of a suggestion for a fix here. But at least, I would start by eliminating the standards tests and the temptation to just raise test scores while dumbing down our classrooms. I see the schools from kindergarten through readiness for college or what we call grade 12. We indeed are in a state of crisis.

There are many fine teachers. Sadly there are a lot of really not so good teachers and administrators. I hope we can find our way, but politicians love to get into the mix and mess it up more.
Shep+

 

[Luka]

I live in Maine, USA and I have noticed there are alot of dumb kids, its like for every 3 dumb kids theres 1 smart one.lol

 

[Irish Luck]

My brother frowarded me an email with all of these in it.