American Public Education

[suchuwato]

Its a well known fact that the United States education system is pathetic (well at least the basic curriculum), I for one never took World Social Studies (basically geography) because it wasn't a required course.

 

I knew it was crap, but not that bad... I mean we got taught world geography from about Year 3

[Waco]

Its a well known fact that the United States education system is pathetic (well at least the basic curriculum), I for one never took World Social Studies (basically geography) because it wasn't a required course.

So you know what that means, in my entire school history the only thing I ever learned was the History of the USA and very basic wold geography...

I'm talking like BASIC stuff and my schools budget was horrible so we essentially had early 1980's text books in the late 1990's... (no I'm not kidding)

 

Even since I've been out of school there has been major curriculum changes and a lot of what used to be advanced classes are now considered basic courses...

Dude...your school system sucks!

[ClayMeow]

I knew it was crap, but not that bad... I mean we got taught world geography from about Year 3

I think the real issue is that education varies by state and isn't fully standardized by the federal government. I for one am with you...I learned World Geography extremely early on, and then in even greater detail in high school. All of my schooling was also in NY...the "real" NY...not the boondocks. And I'm not here to knock anyone in the boondocks, but it's just the way it is. NY has these standardized tests in Middle/High School called "Regents Exams"... Everyone has to pass certain ones. For example, if you take high school chemistry, you must pass the Chemistry Regents. Passing (as far as the Regents goes) is something pitiful like a 55/100. But the reason I always preferred classes with Regents over classes where the Final Exam was written by my teacher was because Regents were CAKE! Why? Because they had to cater towards the whole state...including the boondocks where they had 1 teacher that couldn't get thru the same curriculum my teacher could, nor as thoroughly.

 

So the real issue is the disparity in the U.S. Education System. I for one feel I was very well taught from elementary to middle to high to college. I'm sure people in other states may feel otherwise.

 

EDIT:

 

PS. If the older people didn't know there was a country named Georgia, I wouldn't be as shocked because when they were younger there was the Soviet Union. Now someone my age or younger, however, should know a little better. Yeah, during elementary school it was the Soviet Union for me too, but I still learned about world geography/history in high school too

Edited August 15, 2008 by ClayMeow

[Kash]

And you guys gotta think about it for a minute, the majority of Americans never leave the USA let alone even go to Canada or Mexico.

 

It's true, only 20% of Americans have passports, and I wouldn't find it hard to believe if a good portion of those were either naturalized or non-white citizens.

 

One of the guys with us at Computex was from West Virginia and it was the first time he had been out of the country. He had a brand new passport, which looked funny compared to my worn and very stamped one He literally showcased what it means to be "a fish out of water" with his reluctance to absorb the local culture and would actually not eat anything until he could find a Subway or a McDonald's <_<

[ClayMeow]

You don't have to LEAVE the country to know about other ones!

 

Yes, I've been to a few countries, but I certainly knew about the world before then!

 

Don't make excuses for people's ignorance

[suchuwato]

I think the real issue is that education varies by state and isn't fully standardized by the federal government. I for one am with you...I learned World Geography extremely early on, and then in even greater detail in high school. All of my schooling was also in NY...the "real" NY...not the boondocks. And I'm not here to knock anyone in the boondocks, but it's just the way it is. NY has these standardized tests in Middle/High School called "Regents Exams"... Everyone has to pass certain ones. For example, if you take high school chemistry, you must pass the Chemistry Regents. Passing (as far as the Regents goes) is something pitiful like a 55/100. But the reason I always preferred classes with Regents over classes where the Final Exam was written by my teacher was because Regents were CAKE! Why? Because they had to cater towards the whole state...including the boondocks where they had 1 teacher that couldn't get thru the same curriculum my teacher could, nor as thoroughly.

 

So the real issue is the disparity in the U.S. Education System. I for one feel I was very well taught from elementary to middle to high to college. I'm sure people in other states may feel otherwise.

 

EDIT:

 

PS. If the older people didn't know there was a country named Georgia, I wouldn't be as shocked because when they were younger there was the Soviet Union. Now someone my age or younger, however, should know a little better. Yeah, during elementary school it was the Soviet Union for me too, but I still learned about world geography/history in high school too

 

 

Yeah, I suppose I forgot about that. Each countly here has an Education Authority that controls the schools, I suppose in a similar way, but they're broadly the same, and most rules are set by cental government. Different schools can set different 'extra' subjects, but stuff like Geography until Year 10 is pretty much uniform.

 

Edit: I didn't leave Britian until I was 16...

[ClayMeow]

Yeah, I suppose I forgot about that. Each countly here has an Education Authority that controls the schools, I suppose in a similar way, but they're broadly the same, and most rules are set by cental government. Different schools can set different 'extra' subjects, but stuff like Geography until Year 10 is pretty much uniform.

We have some central standards (which have increased over the past few years IIRC), but it's still very loose as far as actual curriculum goes.

[romeo55]

We have some central standards (which have increased over the past few years IIRC), but it's still very loose as far as actual curriculum goes.

 

State individuality FTL I'm a military prat and I've lived in 3 countries before I actually came to the US for the first time (I was 5 by the time I actually moved to the US). In fact, I was born outside of the states in the Philippines...

 

Then I've lived in about 4 states and I can tell you that they ALL differ in so many stupid ways when it comes to education. For example, in Arizona, you only need 22 credits to graduate... NC, 28 (which is why I'm so screwed right now). Arizona is on a 10 point scale, NC is on a 7. Then the course requirements are way way different.

[Andrewr05]

Dude...your school system sucks!

No crap!

*palm forehead*

Edited August 15, 2008 by Andrewr05

[Kash]

You don't have to LEAVE the country to know about other ones!

 

Yes, I've been to a few countries, but I certainly knew about the world before then!

 

Don't make excuses for people's ignorance

 

Not making excuses, just pointing out some statistics and personal experience that further reinforces the fact that there are lots of stupid people in this country

[ClayMeow]

Not making excuses, just pointing out some statistics and personal experience that further reinforces the fact that there are lots of stupid people in this country

Sadly...I can't argue with that.

[LoArmistead]

American public education? What's that?