Why the US educational system sucks ass (638 hits)
Category: PoliticsRating: 1.57 on 9 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Mentor (View user info) at 2004-06-28 12:58:29 EDT
This one is different from my usual slight giggle posts. People who don't slightly giggle at them should gargle battery acid because they are obviously of a completely different dimension not explained by string theory for me to care for them.
This one is very serious, because it makes my blood boil. It is also one of the reasons why I am a raving communist who believes the United States is in the same position as the Roman Empire at the beginning of its collapse. But that's beside the point. Today, I'm going to tell you of a story about a high school in central Ohio that will fuck you over until the day you die.
The United States government has made education up until High School pretty much mandatory. I know some people don't go and some drop out at 16, but the US government wants everyone to go. So, for the sake of argument, we say it's completely compulsory to go to school up until High School graduation.
The US also constantly cuts back on educational budgets causing school fees to rise. We, the students, must pay the fees or else we don't get our report cards, and they cannot send out our High School transcripts to colleges until they get their money. Problem? Yes. What if a very bright and intelligent student was also very poor and would rather spend money on food than spend it on school fees? Suddenly, this very bright and intelligent student can't get into college where he/she would probably get enough scholarships to pay for this college, but is barred because their transcript is locked up in a filing cabinet in the guidance office of his/her High School.
This bright and intelligent individual ends up working at a place where they are not working at their full potential and don't make enough to pay all their kids' fees, and the cycle endures. This is a worst-case scenario, yes, but it happens. I know people that it is happening to right now.
Are we a society of equal opportunity? Or are we slowly dividing the masses back into a class system? The last I heard, the class system went out with the British in 1789.
Perhaps it's time for all those billions of dollars spent making politicians' wallets fatter and fatter could go to subsidizing education. Hm??? Or are the politicians too attached to their Lexus' and swimming pools? What about the $7,000,000 toilet seats?
-----------------------------
Another thing that I feel is a major problem is integration. I'm not saying integration of race. I'm all for black people studying beside hispanic and asians and whites and all that. Yay! Go racial integration! But I do not support the integration of the mentally retarded into our public schools. At my High School, they teach the mentally retarded people in separate classes, but there are a number of blatantly stupid people in my regular classes. The teachers teach to these idiots, and my intelligence is forgotten. Just like the example above, I cannot work to my full potential.
The teachers are forced to teach to the absolute lowest common denominator in the schools to make everyone happy and make sure "no child is left behind". Yeah...that's working REAL good...
-----------------------------
So, what is the solution here? Subsidize the educational system? That'll help some, but it won't solve the problem. The first step is to take a cue from Germany, where they are testing you from the moment you're born. When you reach High School, you go to the intellectually-superior school, the normal "top of the bell curve" school, or the school for those who have trouble learning, or are just plain stupid...like those potheads who disrupt my learning in EVERY class...
This is not a panacea for the problem. But it will get us moving in the right direction. Fuck political correctness and making everyone feel better. You can't prepare people for life if they are babied all the time. When you die, who's going to baby the new generation? The people who've been babied their whole lives won't know how and the country will go to hell in a hand basket.
I would, of course, attend a private school. But I'm a member of a working-class, live from paycheck to paycheck family. I've had to fight for everything I own my entire life. In a country where the government is supposedly "Of the people, By the people, and For the people", why doesn't the government give a shit about anyone with less than a million dollars?
There are better things to worry about than making everyone stop smoking. Where's the special interest groups dedicated to ending the horrors of the public school system? Where's the special interest groups dedicated to actually giving our children a future? Where's the fucking education budget? In every politician's pockets, that's where.
And fuck everyone who likes things the way they are.
User Reviews
Submitted by Mentor (user info) at 2004-08-10 02:56:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Link to the Internetti!
http://home.indy.rr.com/sterile/index.htm
Submitted by Pyle (user info) at 2004-06-28 18:08:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This post didn't piss me off like I thought, but as far as the private school thing goes its a terrible idea. They education is just as poor(No child with rich parents is left behind there)you don't interact with normal people and its based around sports. Ex. the school I go to is intergrated well (racialy)but the private school in the area something like 90% of the black people start on the football team. Yea it gives them oppurtunities but it says something when for the most part they will only tolerate them because they bring in money(at private schools good football teams make lots of money for the school). Plus aside from the football field, physically the school is absolute crap and falling apart.
Submitted by Slapshot99 (user info) at 2004-06-28 16:33:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
School vouchers.......make the schools compete for the money
Submitted by cuberat (user info) at 2004-06-28 15:51:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are 100% correct. The only way it is going to change? The only way the old class system was abolished - revolution.
It seems too many people are resigned to just sit back and not challenge the system. This is to the point where it has gotten so bad that only an old bloody revolution will solve things.
Poor people need to stand up, take to the streets and throw out the politicians and rich people.
Submitted by Parker (user info) at 2004-06-28 15:23:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You've got a point...but a part of me just says "suck it up." Life's not fair, no one ever said it would be. Rich kids get better treatment...what do you expect?
would be +2, except this - "Yeah...that's working REAL good... " - came right after talking about your "full potential" (REAL well).
Submitted by NetProphet (user info) at 2004-06-28 13:44:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You're talking about a worldwide problem that is as old as government and just as dangerous.
Yes, you are right... no, it won't change. Humans are dumb. It will be another millenia before they figure that out, let alone fix it.
Submitted by Mentor (user info) at 2004-06-28 13:31:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I don't have to wait because my sister is already there paying $36,000 a year. She's also part of an active student group trying to get the state of Ohio to give like...$1,000 to every student who graduates High School. But when the state is bankrupt and the mayor of Columbus (the capital of Ohio) spends a non-existent $10 billion on 7 dinky arches of lights, you know your state is going to the crapper.
Submitted by BillsSBChamps (user info) at 2004-06-28 13:27:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wait until you are paying $25,000 a year at college and those same fuckers are acting the same way.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2004-06-28 13:17:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I knew some exchange students coming from Belgium, Denmark, France and even South Africa in High School and they were usually the top of our classes, if not near. They had been to the US too and they said it was also a joke.
North Americans need a reform.