Gooblah
Heh...
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2007
- Messages
- 4,282
This extends somewhat to other nations, but will be a more Amero-centric thread considering that most European education systems are doing fine relative to us.
After the Revolution, statesmen and politicians told the American mother that her role was to raise a model citizen, and she took it to heart. When true industrialization and the mass immigration of the 1800s began, and IQ testing became prevalent in schools, lower- and middle-class parenting and education shifted towards the nonexistent, focusing more on giving children jobs (and accompanying skills) to provide income for the family. When the Progressive Era reforms were put in place, and education became a public necessity and social norm, children went to school with the purpose of learning the skills necessary to do work in the future. The New Deal and Great Society put in place the culture and legal ethics of education. Schools shifted more to the 'shopping mall', offering many classes in junior and high school to, theoretically, let children find out what they were good at, preparing them for a college life, which in turn would prepare them for a job. Now, we're seeing a shift back towards government-mandated curriculums: ALL 9th graders take Algebra I, ALL 10th graders take Geometry I, ALL 11th graders take Algebra II, ALL Seniors take Precalculus, with 10% being either in special-education or on a more advanced track.
However, the current system is clearly not working.
In Russia, for example, ALL 9th graders take Calculus. As a result, they've seen a jump in the number of scientists and engineers being produced. Don't get me wrong, the United States is still producing great minds. Our universities are the best in the world; our top 10% ranks amongst the best students and minds in the world. But the other 90%? In my district alone, the gap between the top 20% scorers and bottom 20% scorers on the ACT is 50%.
I'm fortunate enough to be in that top 10%, so I can take advantage of the shopping mall style of classes, which my school epitomizes (over 200 courses at the last count, ranging from photo to cad to foreign language to aps to dance). But again, the other 90% of my school is weak. 25% of freshmen fail their initial math course.
What are the reasons for this? How do we fix this? What is the true purpose of education? Should it be the production of the model citizen, the model worker, or the model intellectual?
After the Revolution, statesmen and politicians told the American mother that her role was to raise a model citizen, and she took it to heart. When true industrialization and the mass immigration of the 1800s began, and IQ testing became prevalent in schools, lower- and middle-class parenting and education shifted towards the nonexistent, focusing more on giving children jobs (and accompanying skills) to provide income for the family. When the Progressive Era reforms were put in place, and education became a public necessity and social norm, children went to school with the purpose of learning the skills necessary to do work in the future. The New Deal and Great Society put in place the culture and legal ethics of education. Schools shifted more to the 'shopping mall', offering many classes in junior and high school to, theoretically, let children find out what they were good at, preparing them for a college life, which in turn would prepare them for a job. Now, we're seeing a shift back towards government-mandated curriculums: ALL 9th graders take Algebra I, ALL 10th graders take Geometry I, ALL 11th graders take Algebra II, ALL Seniors take Precalculus, with 10% being either in special-education or on a more advanced track.
However, the current system is clearly not working.
In Russia, for example, ALL 9th graders take Calculus. As a result, they've seen a jump in the number of scientists and engineers being produced. Don't get me wrong, the United States is still producing great minds. Our universities are the best in the world; our top 10% ranks amongst the best students and minds in the world. But the other 90%? In my district alone, the gap between the top 20% scorers and bottom 20% scorers on the ACT is 50%.
I'm fortunate enough to be in that top 10%, so I can take advantage of the shopping mall style of classes, which my school epitomizes (over 200 courses at the last count, ranging from photo to cad to foreign language to aps to dance). But again, the other 90% of my school is weak. 25% of freshmen fail their initial math course.
What are the reasons for this? How do we fix this? What is the true purpose of education? Should it be the production of the model citizen, the model worker, or the model intellectual?
