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way to fuck up.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100811/od_yblog_upshot/behold-americas-educational-system-captured-in-a-single-photograph


not only is that in my state, its in my county.

Could have been worse.

There are some major problems with the American Educational system...far too many to list, but I'll bring up a few:

1. No Child Left Behind - Or rather, schools teaching to a test, not just teaching. Schools can lose funding if enough students aren't "passing" the test, so teachers have to spend significant amount of time teaching about the test, doing practice tests, etc. This cuts down on other educational endeavors. Additionally, special education students, students with severe learning disabilities, etc...all have to take the test too, which counts towards the public schools overall grade. Yikes.

2. Summer Vacation. Ever wonder why Chinese kids do so much better? One reason is that they are in school way more than Americans. Studies have shown that having 3ish months off in the summer hurts academic progress (students forget many things over their time off..) AND it's compounded because then classes have to spend time re-teaching everyone stuff already taught the previous year.

The history behind this is interesting:

Western Culture - We were a farming society (things like corn, etc). During the summer months, kids were needed in the fields to work them, in the winter, there's no farming, so kids could be in school no problem...hence summer vacation.

In Asian/Eastern culture - They are a rice-farming society. Rice is an all-year-round thing, so there was never a specific season where everyone HAD to work the fields.

I read this in Malcom Gladwell's "Outliers." Pretty interesting stuff.


Ironically, rich-er students are able to out-perform poorer students because of summer vacation too. Rich students get sent to camps, workshops, summer testing classes, etc. by their parents. Poor students have no such luxury, and so they are out and about during the summer months, not learning...when the school year starts back up...they are lagging behind.

I literally only got passed because of standardized testing. From 4th all the way to 9th, I did 0 work other then the FCAT. I always just scored so high they passed me along. It was stupid.

Azelma, very well put.

My daughter has taken the CRCT test every year in school. The schools funding is so closely tied to it that they literally stop teaching for several weeks before and just review for that test like crazy. They send out these insane letters wanting the kids to go to bed extra early, and get a full nights sleep, like we are feeding our kids No-Doz for a bed time snack. She has done well on the test although we do not get exact results we do get a recap of sorts on the end of the year report card.

I graduated school in 1994 (yes, old man, I know) and we had a standardized test our junior year that was similar but only given to juniors.

9 level 90s and 10 85s, Damn I need another hobby.

whatever man, summer vacation is fucking awesome.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

Right around the time I graduated they were strongly considering year round school in Va, or at least eastern Va. The concept was built around 3 week vacations at the end of the grading period. This meant that teachers would work all year long and students would have very little down time. Several majory holidays were built into the vacation time such as Christmas/New Years, Easter/Presidents day, and a few other holidays that were close on the calendar. The major road block was actually power, as in electricity. Schools in warmer areas would have to run up the electric bill all summer cooling buildings that were open all the time. My school actually charged for summer school classes as a way to offset the extra cost incured. It was a great idea and still is. If my children went to school year round I would be much happier and they would get a better education from it in the long run.

9 level 90s and 10 85s, Damn I need another hobby.

Doesn't Florida have year-round school? I'll stick with my Northeast academic standards, we seem to be smarter than everyone else in the country and we've got 3 months of vacation in the summer.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

I'm fairly sure Florida definitely doesn't have year-round school. Especially because Florida is baseball-crazy, so the summer is pretty dedicated to that. Florida actually is one of the worst states in the entire country when it comes to schooling.

One of the biggest causes of this is the fact that there are so many ridiculously old, retired people in Florida. Many measures for increased school funding are voted down (because grandpa doesn't give a crap about kids, he just wants to watch a Matlock marathon and get prescription drug discounts).

might've just been one outlier then. I had a friend in Florida who had a really weird school schedule back when she was in high school, but maybe it was a private thing.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

Yeah that was probably it. Actually in the book Outliers he talks about this Year-Round school in New York City. The students stay longer every day, and have significantly more school days.

Interestingly enough, the school's student body is entirely made up of minorities/poor people. They, however, are able to outperform all public schools across the board, and many private schools. Simply having fewer/shorter breaks etc does it.

The public schools in Fort Worth are all either on true year-round or modified year-round schedules. The teachers are still pressured to teach for "The Test", though. Your lesson plans have to dedicate a massive number of hours for testing prep, and it's also nearly impossible to fail a student-- even if they do no work.

Akiina - Priest - Royal Militia
Leeloo Minai Lekarariba-Laminai-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

All the schools I know of/went to had a normal summer, not year round. I live in Polk County, absolute worst school system. We also bring you
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSLWomyyth0[/youtube]
Aside from the terrible quality and the fact that in the begining the dudes on the phone appear to be in different time zones . . .

POLK COUNTY POLK COUNTY, WHERE YA AT!?

I would have preferred some sort of a school year where you get 3 weeks with 1 week off after. Year round obviously.

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All I'm going to say is I half-assed high school and made A's and B's. Now imagined if I tried? American school systems are completely terrible and I'm afraid for my childrens education.