Little things can signal big changes

[Abbey Marie]

(Not a traditional ethics issue, but I like this discussion here.

The other day driving in my neighborhood, I saw a bumper sticker that said someone's kid was an honor student. It was half worn off and faded, like it was several years old. The bumper sticker that has apparently taken its place in our school district is the following: "I have a child of character at (fill in the blank) School".

So, what's the big deal?

Regarding not publicly recognizing honor students: When you no longer reward academic excellence, you implicitly encourage mediocrity. I wonder where this country is headed when we do this. It can't be good. I think we all know this, but apparently our esteemed educators don't get it. And where you place your value, school dollars are sure to follow. I remember our daughter being stuffed into an English honors class so overcrowded that kids even sat at the teacher's desk. Yet there were whole hallways dedicated to kids who needed counseling and one-on-one babysitting. There were whole classrooms with just 5 kids in them. We need to re-visit the most basic question: What IS the purpose of schooling?

Regarding rewarding publicly "Children of Character": Can we please go back to the days where schools teach academic courses only, and leave the character development to the family? Indeed, who is or is not a "child of character" is subjective in the first place. Is it a child who sits still in class, or one who celebrates diversity? Is it one who is a member of the minority-of-the-month club? Is it a child whom the teacher happens to like? The list can be endless.

[jimnyc]

Just like so many demand the wealth be shared, they want the grades shared too, sort of. If you or they go too far in applauding those who made the honors list, then those who didn't make it will feel left out. You wouldn't want that, now would you?

What do kids have to strive for if they are told they are just as good as the kids who got straight A's?

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

(Not a traditional ethics issue, but I like this discussion here.

The other day driving in my neighborhood, I saw a bumper sticker that said someone's kid was an honor student. It was half worn off and faded, like it was several years old. The bumper sticker that has apparently taken its place in our school district is the following: "I have a child of character at (fill in the blank) School".

So, what's the big deal?

Regarding not publicly recognizing honor students: When you no longer reward academic excellence, you implicitly encourage mediocrity. I wonder where this country is headed when we do this. It can't be good. I think we all know this, but apparently our esteemed educators don't get it. And where you place your value, school dollars are sure to follow. I remember our daughter being stuffed into an English honors class so overcrowded that kids even sat at the teacher's desk. Yet there were whole hallways dedicated to kids who needed counseling and one-on-one babysitting. There were whole classrooms with just 5 kids in them. We need to re-visit the most basic question: What IS the purpose of schooling?

Regarding rewarding publicly "Children of Character": Can we please go back to the days where schools teach academic courses only, and leave the character development to the family? Indeed, who is or is not a "child of character" is subjective in the first place. Is it a child who sits still in class, or one who celebrates diversity? Is it one who is a member of the minority-of-the-month club? Is it a child whom the teacher happens to like? The list can be endless.

^^^ Destructive changes driven by nanny state values. Of course the way to change a nation is by way of its education system, the leftists realized that and acted upon it with almost no opposition by the Republicans or conservatives. Both mistakenly placed too much faith in the sustainability of the (then)existing Education System. Make changes in small enough increments and they go by unnoticed and that was what they did. All the while knowing after a couple decades it would be much like a snowball rolling downhill. That was started in the 1960's and its HAD OVER FIFTY YEARS TO BEAR FRUIT. I graduated in the early 70's and here in the South we stilled recited the Pledge back then. None do so now that I know of, even here. As WE went about our lives trying to better all for future generations --THEY- went about pushing an agenda that would short circuit that by way of propagandizing and misinforming our kids in the Public school system. Plant flowers, all goes well you get flowers. Plant weeds and thorns, all goes well you get more weeds and thorns. First the leftists/libs took the dem party=the media and then they took the education system. WE fought the wrong battle , instead we should have fought to retake the education system. We did not and will reap the extremely bitter harvest for having failed to take the right corrective actions. All parents that failed to se this and did not take it upon themselves to reteach their kids had to endure many trials and tribulations. I retaught mine and none of them took a bad road. I built a huge library and encouraged reading . The answer is still to retake the education system but I fear nothing short of a revolution would make that possible now! The fix is just that far in...Thank God, my daughter has adopted that same method for her son Caleb. She told me how she knew it saved her! -Tyr

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/vanschaack.356/strenghts_and_weaknesses_of_both_systems


Comparing U.S. and Chinese Public School Systems


STRENGTHS AND WEAKENESSES OF BOTH SYSTEMS:

Both U.S. and Chinese school systems have strengths and weaknesses. This website proposes that there are thee core strengths of Chinese schools over American schools:

1.Teachers in China are given more respect than teachers in the U.S. [12]. For example, teachers do not taxes on their salary, and they receive their own national holiday, Teachers Day, on September 29th [12].
2. Chinese schools have a hard work ethic, resulting in student success.
3. Chinese schools do not segregate high achieving students from lower achieving students through tracking levels, like in the U.S. This is mostly due to the belief that all students can succeed if they put in the effort.

The U.S. education system has one core strength over the Chinese education system including U.S. institutions of higher learning. U.S. universities and colleges are the best in the world. Students from all over the world come to receive a high quality education in American universities.


One negative aspect of the Chinese education system is that high stakes testing in order to pass into the next grade results in many students left with no other choice but to drop out of the school system all together.


And lastly, two negative aspects of the U.S. education system include:

1. While American students have the same amount of allocated time as Chinese students, the amount of engaged time spent in school is dramatically less than their Chinese counterparts.
2. State curriculums and state testing does not make sense when standardized tests and textbooks are nationally normed and marked, respectively [12]

If schools in the U.S. public school system were to incorporate the positive aspects that make the Chinese school system so successful, schools in the U.S. would in turn be more successful. It is my personal hope that educators and school administrators will compare schools in the U.S. to the successful schools in other countries, including China.

Sad when a communist country has better schools than we do. Damn sure have better discipline in their schools unlike here where teachers are often scared of their students. -Tyr