Rick's Personal Blog
2002-07-31 - 4:05 p.m.
# 3
Read This
I've talked a little about this before, and I can't help it if I'm right. This country is losing it's technological edge. If we continue with this trend, I estimate that within 50 years people will be immigrating to India or Russia from America.
Our country is being dumbed down. We are placing more emphasis on social issues in public schools than we are the basics.
I'm going to repeat a lot of things I've said before, but it bears repeating. From Kindergarten to 3rd grade my daughter’s grades were not scored as “A’s & B’s”, but rather as “Satisfactory” or “Needs Improvement”. In most cases she scored Satisfactory. When she went into 4th grade the system changed over to the standard Letter grading system we are all familiar with. It was at this point we realized our daughter was in trouble. Occasionally through the year she would get a C, usually in gym, or art, but for the most part she was getting D’s and F’s. This continued throughout the school year. We had made repeated attempts to work with her teacher to get her back up to speed, but he had a hard time doing this and managing the rest of the class. Plus he seemed more concerned with getting the kids to do well on the State proficiency tests. After a while, he didn’t even return calls or emails. At the end of the year, showing several D’s and F’s on her report card, my daughter was “PROMOTED TO FIFTH GRADE”. It was apparent to us that we had to intervene, or our daughter would only get further behind as she grew into adolescence. Our frustration with the Public Schools came full circle. We began to seek alternatives.
But why am I so disatisfied with the public schools? Chew on this:
According to the College Board of the Thomas F. Fordham Foundation, Between 1990 and 2000 the average SAT scores increased by 19 points, but between 1960 and 2000, it had decreased 56 points
According to the US Dept. of Ed., in the most recent international comparison in advanced mathematics, the US ranked 15th out of 16 nations taking the test.
In the same comparison in advanced physics, the US ranked last out of all nations taking the test.
Since 1983 more than 10 million Americans have reached 12th grade without having learned to read at a basic level.
More that 20 million have reached their senior year without being able to do basic math.
Four out of five seniors from the top 55 colleges and universities in the United States received a D or F on a recent standardized American history test. Only 34% of the students surveyed could identify George Washington as an American general at the battle of Yorktown.
More than one-third was unable to identify the U.S. Constitution as establishing the division of power in American government. Less than one-quarter (23%) correctly identified James Madison as the "father of the Constitution.
On the other hand, 99% knew who the cartoon characters Beavis and Butthead are, and 98% could identify the rap singer Snoop Doggy Dogg
And we wonder why 2/3 of engineering students drop, or flunk out.
Later,
Rick
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