Schools Failing Us?

[Antares]

Okay, so I am surprised I have never made a thread about this before BUT as I have been looking around for the last couple years I have wondered if the school systems are failing us.

This notion is based on the huge amount of misspellings and text speak and stuhf leik diz that you see so much.


I feel like if people actually learned how to correctly spell then they would just type correctly. I am not really sure if its a lazy thing because you can type just as fast while spelling correctly. I do :P

Is America failing to teach kids?

[Sage]

In my opinion, the true problem that needs to be overcome is that children have little to no desire to learn.

[Amnesiac]

In my opinion, the true problem that needs to be overcome is that children have little to no desire to learn.

This.

Schools are failing to get us interested in knowledge. Having kids and teenagers buried in homework every night and forced to take incredibly stressful tests in the most uncomfortable environments is no way to teach. We need to stop making education about TESTS TESTS TESTS and more about flexibility and comprehension.

Schools don't care about how well we understand a subject, only if we can pass the government-mandated tests that they shove down our throats.

Schools also fail to encourage creativity, ESPECIALLY in fields like writing, where we students are forced to write bland "stories" based on vague, completely uninteresting prompts. We should be encouraged to let our thoughts opinions fly. We should be asked to write about what we WANT to write about. When a prompt is so dull that even I don't want to write about it, it SHOULDN'T BE A PROMPT.

Most importantly, schools oppress free thinking. They shun opinions and demand complete and utter compliance with every rule. In real life, politics and government are important, and we should be encouraged to develop our own opinions and express them freely. In the adult world, you don't get detention for having your own thoughts. Hell, you can make a job out of it.

[Disco Jones]

It's it's it's

[Jess]

This.

Schools are failing to get us interested in knowledge. Having kids and teenagers buried in homework every night and forced to take incredibly stressful tests in the most uncomfortable environments is no way to teach. We need to stop making education about TESTS TESTS TESTS and more about flexibility and comprehension.

Schools don't care about how well we understand a subject, only if we can pass the government-mandated tests that they shove down our throats.

Schools also fail to encourage creativity, ESPECIALLY in fields like writing, where we students are forced to write bland "stories" based on vague, completely uninteresting prompts. We should be encouraged to let our thoughts opinions fly. We should be asked to write about what we WANT to write about. When a prompt is so dull that even I don't want to write about it, it SHOULDN'T BE A PROMPT.

Most importantly, schools oppress free thinking. They shun opinions and demand complete and utter compliance with every rule. In real life, politics and government are important, and we should be encouraged to develop our own opinions and express them freely. In the adult world, you don't get detention for having your own thoughts. Hell, you can make a job out of it.

you are so right. However it's like I'm the only one that likes school - for learning. also my English class last year let us write freely, as long as it's appropriate. I guess some schools aren't like what you said

[huginnmuninn]

you are so right. However it's like I'm the only one that likes school - for learning. also my English class last year let us write freely, as long as it's appropriate. I guess some schools aren't like what you said

i like schol for learning but my schools rarely allow creative writing it just depends on if your teacher lets you do it

[CairAndros]

Scottish schools are quite different from American schools then if I am to compare with what I have read here.

We get to write in any way we choose in english; sometimes on a theme like War or Horror and the junior pupils sometimes get prompts or starters because they sometimes need an extra help.

I would agree with the people not wanting to come to school part but it is not the schools fault in my case - our catchment area doesn't really consist of intellects or scholars. But, to give the school and teachers their due, there is a lot of incentives to come to school and do your level best such as; reward trips and events and a shed load of extra curricular activities and clubs.

Personally I enjoy school so it doesn't phase me going to school but I can see where other people - who aren't(and I don't mean to be big headed here) as intelligent or academic as myself - are coming from with not wanting to go to school because they feel that they can't do very much. Our school combats this by providing a lot of support for people who need it and courses at levels everyone can manage and achieve at;they also maintain that it doesn't matter whether you are on a top level course or a bottom level course it is the amount of effort that you put into it that matters.

And, whilst I remember, something was said about slang or colloquial language - this might slip into essays or other work in english or other subjects but one of the criteria for written exams is good english so at the end of the day proper english has to be used :P

I also agree with what is said about the exam situation; they are majorly stressful. Especially if you are considered to be really smart by your peers, teachers and parents and thus feel the need to live up to expectations. I don't know how it works in American schools - but in Scotland; at the exams I sat in May; I had been studying 5 Highers - these are just below University level - so the pressure was immense. This year - 4 Advanced Highers which are the equivalent of first year of university - so there is going to be even more pressure; not just for me but for everyone else that sits them as well.

I would say, however, that the wait for the results are much worse than the exams themselves. Because we sit the exams over May and the start of June but don't get results until the start of August;and the school banks on good results because that is how the Government determines what schools are doing well or not. So the pressure is really on to have provided the school with the results they have been telling you all year that they want, and need, you to give to them.

[Amnesiac]

i like schol for learning but my schools rarely allow creative writing it just depends on if your teacher lets you do it

you are so right. However it's like I'm the only one that likes school - for learning. also my English class last year let us write freely, as long as it's appropriate. I guess some schools aren't like what you said

Creative writing isn't really a major part of the curriculum here, especially when it comes to the Texas state writing test (the TAKS), which has the worst prompts ever. They're so bad it's unbelievable they even put them on the test. "What was an embarrassing moment in your life?" "What is something you regret?"

Why can't it be "Write an essay on the positive or negative impacts of increased immigration to the United States" or "Explain your position on the War on Terrorism"?

[XpopularX]

yes it is.

[Jess]

Creative writing isn't really a major part of the curriculum here, especially when it comes to the Texas state writing test (the TAKS), which has the worst prompts ever. They're so bad it's unbelievable they even put them on the test. "What was an embarrassing moment in your life?" "What is something you regret?"

Why can't it be "Write an essay on the positive or negative impacts of increased immigration to the United States" or "Explain your position on the War on Terrorism"?

oh I see. those essay prompts are stupid. (the What was an embarrassing moment in your life etc ones)

[BOBBY HILL]

u no cuz i rly spell liek this when im writing a essay 4 scool

[Amnesiac]

oh I see. those essay prompts are stupid. (the What was an embarrassing moment in your life etc ones)

Yeah, automatic writers block for me. I don't remember those kind of things.

[CairAndros]

its like when we were issued with an essay task last year; our teacher went to us "I want you to write me a reflective essay based on a time when you were nervous" - kinda pointless as you dont tend to remember the stuff you need for a reflective essay when you feel like that :L

[Amnesiac]

its like when we were issued with an essay task last year; our teacher went to us "I want you to write me a reflective essay based on a time when you were nervous" - kinda pointless as you dont tend to remember the stuff you need for a reflective essay when you feel like that :L

Exactly! I never fail writing tests, but I can't do my best with shit prompts like these. If they REALLY want to grade us on how well we write, they should give us more specific prompts that deal with things we really want to talk about.

[Perseus]

Exactly! I never fail writing tests, but I can't do my best with shit prompts like these. If they REALLY want to grade us on how well we write, they should give us more specific prompts that deal with things we really want to talk about.

Write a letter to the Texan government. :P

[Scooby Dooby Drew]

Creative writing isn't really a major part of the curriculum here, especially when it comes to the Texas state writing test (the TAKS), which has the worst prompts ever. They're so bad it's unbelievable they even put them on the test. "What was an embarrassing moment in your life?" "What is something you regret?"

Why can't it be "Write an essay on the positive or negative impacts of increased immigration to the United States" or "Explain your position on the War on Terrorism"?

:p
Because TAKS isn't about politics or writing a persuasive essay. The writing is suppossed to be creative writing....

Plus, perhaps this is just me, but I find that schools allow for plenty of freedom in learning.

[tinkergenius]

Great thread, and my compliments to its' originator.

Both my parents are teachers, and are appalled with all this "internet speak" and hideous abbreviations and codes.

It's not so much the schools have (are) failed us, as it is the onset of so many instruments of technology, that so many people have become addicted to; i.e., cell phones e.g. Communication on them - typing full words - is looked on as being cumbersome; hence, abbreviations and codes.

Everybody wants responses to be at lightning speed, and well....Now you know....THE REST OF THE STORY (Paul Harvey - RIP)

[Amnesiac]

:p
Because TAKS isn't about politics or writing a persuasive essay. The writing is suppossed to be creative writing....

Plus, perhaps this is just me, but I find that schools allow for plenty of freedom in learning.

Even if it's supposed to be about creative writing, they should at least give us prompts that aren't so incredibly vague and boring. If you go to my website (http://freedomism.weebly.com/) (no, I'm not advertising) you'll see some of my writing, it's MILES better than anything I've written for TAKS. If TAKS is supposed to grade us on our writing abilities, they should let us make our own prompts and write about those.

Part of writing is being able to come up with something to write in the first place.

Write a letter to the Texan government. :P

They'll just call me a communist and reject my letter :P

[Scooby Dooby Drew]

Even if it's supposed to be about creative writing, they should at least give us prompts that aren't so incredibly vague and boring. If you go to my website (http://freedomism.weebly.com/) (no, I'm not advertising) you'll see some of my writing, it's MILES better than anything I've written for TAKS. If TAKS is supposed to grade us on our writing abilities, they should let us make our own prompts and write about those.

Part of writing is being able to come up with something to write in the first place.

:p
Another important part of writing is being able to write about things that are relevent to the topic at hand...
Either way, your opinion is fair enough, I just don't agree with it XD

But "txt tlk" annoys me alot

[Amnesiac]

:p
Another important part of writing is being able to write about things that are relevent to the topic at hand...
Either way, your opinion is fair enough, I just don't agree with it XD

But "txt tlk" annoys me alot

Yes, but when are we ever going to have to write about "a time we were nervous"? They could at least come up with more realistic prompts.

[Scooby Dooby Drew]

Yes, but when are we ever going to have to write about "a time we were nervous"?
for the TAKS test
:p

[Amnesiac]

for the TAKS test
:p

Well played :rolleyes:

I meant IRL

[Scooby Dooby Drew]

*shrug*
You're not exected to...
I think that's part of the test, responding to prompts you may not like, just to exercise different types of writing, and being able to write in positions you may not be comfortable in.

[Church]

The school system is a system where you get what you put in, if you dont try you wont be smart and the system will have failed you, if you do try though you will do well and will be smarter. Its not that school systems are bad or not good enough, its that people arnt trying.

[Amnesiac]

*shrug*
You're not exected to...
I think that's part of the test, responding to prompts you may not like, just to exercise different types of writing, and being able to write in positions you may not be comfortable in.

I understand that, but again, they could at least come up with more realistic and less stupid, made-for-first-graders prompts.

[Icarus7]

This.

Schools are failing to get us interested in knowledge. Having kids and teenagers buried in homework every night and forced to take incredibly stressful tests in the most uncomfortable environments is no way to teach. We need to stop making education about TESTS TESTS TESTS and more about flexibility and comprehension.

Schools don't care about how well we understand a subject, only if we can pass the government-mandated tests that they shove down our throats.

Schools also fail to encourage creativity, ESPECIALLY in fields like writing, where we students are forced to write bland "stories" based on vague, completely uninteresting prompts. We should be encouraged to let our thoughts opinions fly. We should be asked to write about what we WANT to write about. When a prompt is so dull that even I don't want to write about it, it SHOULDN'T BE A PROMPT.

Most importantly, schools oppress free thinking. They shun opinions and demand complete and utter compliance with every rule. In real life, politics and government are important, and we should be encouraged to develop our own opinions and express them freely. In the adult world, you don't get detention for having your own thoughts. Hell, you can make a job out of it.

I like school becasue I learn and i can shre knoledge with my teachers but... I agre with this one. I hear that the best educational system is in Finland :eek: does anyone here knows Finnish?? Suomi? lol

[CairAndros]

Sometimes you do get good prompts that, whilst making you write about a specific thing, leave a very wide margin for deviation from the subject. For example we were issued with a summer essay task - it was a reflective essay to be written about "Your literary career from as far back as you can remember to the present day and any way in which it has shaped or influenced your life or beliefs" - now that is a pretty good prompt I think. Because I normally hate reflective essays due to how bad the prompts are but I enjoyed this one due to the many ways in which I could go with it.

And I agree with Icarus about sharing knowledge; I once taught my history teacher - who has been teaching the course for over a decade - something about the course he didn't know :L

[Jess]

u no cuz i rly spell liek this when im writing a essay 4 scool

If people write like this on essays they're going to fail their essays.

[Bougainvillea]

If people write like this on essays they're going to fail their essays.

No shit, Sherlock.

I think our education system could definitely be improved. The idea of "Uhh... UUHH Okay okay here's the material! Remember it! TEST! Okay. NEXT SUBJECT!" is stupid. I'm not saying everyone doesn't succeed, and you know... learn. :P But, lets face it, society is changing, and a more effective system should be implemented. Not so much cramming it down our throats, but more hands on for everyone. Especially those who fall behind. Instead of looking at their tests and deeming them "Failures".

[Amnesiac]

No shit, Sherlock.

I think our education system could definitely be improved. The idea of "Uhh... UUHH Okay okay here's the material! Remember it! TEST! Okay. NEXT SUBJECT!" is stupid. I'm not saying everyone doesn't succeed, and you know... learn. :P But, lets face it, society is changing, and a more effective system should be implemented. Not so much cramming it down our throats, but more hands on for everyone. Especially those who fall behind. Instead of looking at their tests and deeming them "Failures".

Exactly. Education shouldn't be about tests. Tests shouldn't be treated as an all-out one-time-only FINAL grade on if a student is gonna pass or not, but rather an update on what subjects they're not understanding and other subjects that they're excelling at. Tests shouldn't be so weighty that they automatically fail a student, that's a corrupted system.

[TheFame]

Well, the teaching method is SHIT.

I can say a paragraph as many times as you want me, ill even write it down on paper next week for the text.

But do i understand it? No. Do i care? No. Was it taught interestingly? Nope.

[Sage]

The school system is a system where you get what you put in, if you dont try you wont be smart and the system will have failed you, if you do try though you will do well and will be smarter. Its not that school systems are bad or not good enough, its that people arnt trying.

I don't feel it's fair to imply that students are 100% responsible for their own education. I've had teachers who could give amazing lectures that've made me more interested in the subjects they taught than I normally would've been. You can't entirely blame a student for being poorly when everything taught to them appears to be absolutely arbitrary.