Public Schools fail our children
35 2018-03-14 by gigi_gadget
I am well aware of the elite’s agenda of dumbing down our children through the ridiculousness that is the US public school system, but I am now seeing it firsthand as I am new to being a step-parent full time. In the Baltimore County Public School system, which is different (but not much anymore) than Baltimore City Public Schools, there are no textbooks, or ebooks for that matter. They no longer have homework. And when students don’t do graded class work on dittos, the lowest score that can be awarded is a 50%. This is for both middle school, and I’m hearing high school as well.
There are dittos, but that work is done in class, so even if parents want to help their children at home, there are no references to the material taught in class. The state has full control and parents have no part in it. I don’t even understand how kids are supposed to study for tests when all they have are dittos with fill in the blanks.
So kids are supposed to somehow ingest the material in class only and be tested on it. They test the hell out of them too. This is even for Spanish class. How can you learn a foreign language without practicing it at home?
I don’t get it, but then again I’m an old school learner B. I. Before Internet. Can someone try to explain a real reason for this? I can clearly see the conspiracy in this, but is there a logical explanation for this?
28 comments
1 wile_e_chicken 2018-03-14
The state wants your children's souls.
1 standard_armadillo 2018-03-14
That's sad, tragic.
You're going to need to intellectually motivate that kid at home. Clearly the school system is nothing but a babysitting agency. As a parent you're going to have to take up the lack.
1 bathandredwine 2018-03-14
One problem is that the parents are doing such a poor job preparing kids for school in the 5 years of life before kindergarten. I teach kindergarten and many students don’t know how to self regulate and are not taught situational awareness or basic respect. They are five years old and have never held a pencil or scissors, don’t know colors, have no number sense, etc. They come to school late every day, are not well rested, not ready to learn. It’s a shitshow.
1 BoneQueen 2018-03-14
As a child of the 90s, my parent didnt teach me shit. Sitcoms taught me about respect, relationships, and all other sorts of common sense every day sort of things. Now that I'm an adult I've had to go out of my way to FINALLY learn how to actually handle those every day things
1 metalreflectslime 2018-03-14
Dittos = ?
1 _oooo-oO-OO_ 2018-03-14
An old-timey word for photocopy. I'm old lol.
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
Sorry lol. I’m old.
1 Icytentacles 2018-03-14
What grade is the child in? I have noticed a lack of material for the new common core curriculum. It's very difficult for parents to teach their kids at home. I agree with you on that.
1 daysOFdelusion 2018-03-14
There no common core curriculm. That is a system of standards.
Standards that are expected to met at each grade level for reading and math.
http://www.corestandards.org/
1 Icytentacles 2018-03-14
That'll do it then. I don't have kids myself, I just hear my friends complaining.
1 daysOFdelusion 2018-03-14
What is really odd about this program is that it is Republican and conservative in orgins and the purpose was from a few years back, "make teachrs ac countable." It seems to be working, and now the
Republicans & Consvataives want it ended, kind of like Betsy DeVos's program to redirect school tax money, most of which originates at the state level, to private and charter schools.
In other words a federal law that "mandates," that the state school funds be handed over to private and private for profit schools.
Seems just the opposite of all that "local control," Republicans and conservatives have spent the last 40 years demanding.
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
8th grade
1 elcad 2018-03-14
My kid just graduated from Baltimore County in 2017. Kid had plenty of homework through out all the years in school. Are you using the teacher parent web tool for checking the kid is really doing the assignments?
I know a few teachers in the city and used to visit schools there for work and they are a completely different level of messed up than the county.
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
BCPS recently got rid of homework.
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
And yes, we are on BCPS1. Most teachers are not timely in uploading grades, if there are any. They don’t have homework to grade so I can’t imagine that they don’t have time.
1 pharaoh-mones 2018-03-14
My fiancée’s school gives all the kids and teachers iPads for works and special messaging apps between parents, kids and teacher. She teaches 7th/8th, her local high school does the same but the teachers get iMacs as well.
I think it depends on the districts in terms of things like that, but I will agree that the content is super easy and it’s a shame that most 7th graders can barely formulate sentences.
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
And they don’t have reading skills because there is nothing to read!
1 Dr_Hemlock125 2018-03-14
I can speak on the 50% piece. The idea is that giving a 0 for not completing the work is statistically skewed as 70 - 100 percent is "passing" while 0-69 is "failing." So, you only have a 30% window pass, with a mich wider window in which to fail. Along with this is the idea that to give a 0 in the gradebook is really grading "responsibility" and not "ability" or acquisition of material. So, it's an attempt at providing grades that match a student's knowledge and not her responsibility.
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
I understand but how my stepson looks at it is that he can do mostly nothing while getting a 50%, and then he will do the bare minimum to get it up to a D or C. In our day, we tried to complete everything knowing that just a few 0’s would hurt our grades in a big way. It encourages bare minimal performance.
1 feynmaniac 2018-03-14
The state wants your kid to be happy, but just smart enough so they can work in one of its many cubicles/ factories/ retail outlets.
1 candacebernhard 2018-03-14
This is a good thing
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
I agree to a point. The amount of homework should be moderate, not hours and hours long. My homework in the 80’s was an appropriate amount. Everyone who studies anything needs to sit down with the material the same day it is taught and practice it, especially in Math and foreign languages. How can you simply absorb that by sitting in class?
1 josepets 2018-03-14
I can't speak for all cases, but the most part is lazy teachers who don't want to fully teach in one day/class period. So they give homework to make you semi-teach yourself
1 ConfusedCreator 2018-03-14
Public schools without funding fail our children*
Go to a public school in San Diego.
You have New texts books, Macbooks, and iPads even in elementary.
Algebra 1 is a 5-6th grade class here.
Just move.
1 gigi_gadget 2018-03-14
I have to add that I am an adult educator, and I can see the results of this system already, especially in the younger adults. They want all of the answers handed to them and they do not put in much effort outside of class studying. They don’t know how to study. My students from other countries kick the American students’ asses.
1 sea011235 2018-03-14
Uhhh I graduated HS fairly recently. They issue a home set and a class set of textbooks. Problem solved…
1 kgncpro 2018-03-14
The are designed to weed certain people out... It's about regurgitation and doing as you are told....
1 wwwwho 2018-03-14
Schools are testing grounds for unproven educational programs. People writing educational policy (serving the parents of precious snowflakes and the suppliers of educational and testing materials) develop systems based on what they "feel" is good for students (and how they can cash in). Most sensible parents would not raise their own children in the manner public education serves them. Thus is not an attack on public education (which I fully support), but on policy and the destruction of standards.