k - 12 education

Public schools are basically machines that feed you facts that you have to memorize... Studies have shown that you forget 80% of the factual information you learned in school within 2 years. So... It is very pointless.

 

American education is a joke, there is no way schools are doing a good job in preparing kids for college, anyone that has graduated and moved on to college will tell you the same thing.

 

my parents supported me alot, and that has helped me get ahead in school

 

Well i believe that people who Take the REGULAR classes will get what they pay for: half-ass results. The system is set up to accomadate all those and their learning curve, but the fact is, is that if you pushed yourself from the beginning you wouldn't have problems as a freshman in university. I took as many CORE classes as i could in highschool (i.e. two maths one year or two sciences) and I would always do Advanced or Dual-Enrollment classes (we had Cal 101 as a senior.) I say that when you are in the 8th or 9th grade like i was and they asked you if you wanted regular or honors classes, you have to be basically lazy or mentally challenged to NOT choose them.

And some people say they aren't smart enough but I beg to differ, unless you have it on paper, you are just as capable as everyone else to learn the materail and pass. Hell even a B- in Spanish helps you more than having like a A- a worthless elective class becuase you are learning something challenging and new.

 

In the real world it isn't what you know, it is what helps in life. I am semi-fluent in chinese, but i will probably never use it in life. Chinese for me is a way to get a good grade and go to a good college.

 

Well exactly my point! I GURANTEE you that more employers would respect your Resume a LOT more if they seen you were linguistically and literally fluent in Chinese rather than like something useless.

 

Well, I don't know. A significant portion of kids bust their ass to get those C's, and they carry that same mentality and work ethic with them their whole life. Even if they are in regular classes.

However, there are then kids, like myself, who don't really try, just kind of chill and not do much and get C's and B's. That's where the educational system needs to focus their efforts. When they get to college, they're going to flunk out before they can come up with an excuse as to why they didn't study for the midterms.

If the educational system focuses on the lazy ones who don't care and just skate by and get decent grades, they can turn those kids, eventually, into hard-working students who get phenomenal grades.

So it's not too easy, but the teachers need to step it up and focus more on certain kids instead of assuming everyone is on the same page.

 

It depends where you live. Its pretty stupid because if you go to an old school maybe not in the best part of town, the AP classes there can be just as hard as CP classes at my school. lack of Money/intelligence of parents = lack of intelligence of kid? No
I do agree that when your parents aren't pushing you and don't see the value of the education then perhaps the child wont either...

 

There isn't any motivation or insentive for high school teenagers to achieve at their best. Most people will do the bare minimum in highschool to pass and then realize that they can't do what they want to because of their grades...

 

Public school was a good idea, but it has gone downhill in recent years especially, but it has to do with the individual, while private school offers better teachers, you could still be lazy there and not learn as well as a public school student. Nice thread I like the topic very much