Posted on 08/20/2004 7:44:54 AM PDT by DeathTaxesNoles
That exam is an urban legend. Not true, sorry
I think that's called "learning at the foot of the master".
I had to re-learn all my science in College. IIRC (25 years ago now) I could have skipped it all - especially the labs - and not have been harmed at all. All I needed was the math that was the foundation.
Shalom.
It is important to remember that 100 years ago only a few percent of the population ever graduated from high school. Today, the graduation rate is around 80 %.
It's not all the parents' fault, even though school officials would love you to believe that. Several years ago, they whined that it was all the fault of TV. Now they are blaming the parents and kids.
What about poor curriculum? What about reading programs that don't emphasize phonics and contribute to dyslexia, or math programs that don't teach math skills? Are you saying that some students learn in spite of lousy curriculum and pedagogy?
In my town, we have dozens of tutorial services such as Sylvan. Parents spend good money to send their kids to these places. I wonder why parents don't wake up and investigate why they have to spend their hard-earned money and taxes on schools that don't deliver.
Basically, the weren't. Back in the days before public education going to school was a priviledge of the aristocracy. A modern, civil society without public basic education doesn't exist.
The Libertarians are slow today. Only one responding and it took almost two minutes!
If I may butt in......
If you're going to rip someone for not capitalizing their sentences, you should at least spell "capitalization" correctly. Just a thought.
Not that I think that all public schools are wonderful, but could you back that claim up with an example of just ONE school system where there are more administrators than teachers?
Unless you are engaging in hyperbole, which is fine, but please give the reader a 'heads up' for that type of speech usage.
"Public schools were fine until the 70s."
Which means it took John Dewey and his ilk about 40 years for the evidence of their destructive policies to appear.
http://www.infed.org/archives/e-texts/e-dew-pc.htm
A link to his creed
The early rationale for public schools was to educate good little citizens and to teach American values. When the US public schools ceased to do that (which they have) that rationale ended.
The other actual reason was to avoid the Roman Catholic Church having total control over the education of new immigrants to this country. That reason is much less important today than it was in the past.
It is true that most children got little to no (formal) education up until this century. Back then the education you did get was from the church or your parents.
As far as I know most kids in any sort of small town or larger got, by today's dumbed down standard, a pretty EFFECTIVE education. Mark Twain's autobiography springs to mind--that was a pretty dirt-poor little town at the time. I don't think attendence was mandatory though but most people appear to have known that education was important.
I think EXTENDED education was rare, certainly college was, and "extended" back then may heve been highschool, but again; what kids had to learn in the past taught them more and left them better knowing HOW to think than today's kids. And by 'today's' kids I include myself. I graduated HS in 1976.
You're a fan of public schools. Eeeewwwww.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic are all that a young person needs to access the wisdom of the ages.
The public schools are focussed on socialization goals, and professional satisfaction for teachers. Screw the 3Rs.
Competence in reading, writing, and arithmetic ought to be achievable for 90%+ of students by age 14 or so without any massive capital investments or bureaucracies, but that would not satisfy the lust for power of the educrats and the politicians they are in cahoots with.
The public schools are waging war against American ideals and American children.
Right. Our children must not be taught about our founding fathers, the constitution, how we fought communism. It will corrupt their innocent minds.
I see you have been spending too much time with McGreevey.
There is no time in the public schools to teach the history you outline.
Instead, they prepare the children for life under a socialist regime.
If a child can read, he can read the Declaration of Independence without the 'guidance' of NEA capos.
YOU may trust all authorities, but most folks here are a little more sceptical of government motives than you. Everybody, actually.
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