The U.S. is ranked #25, read why.

Originally posted by Aether
Memorization of equations vs knowledge of what those equations are actually doing. I used to walk around high school with a button on my shirt that said 'Why am I learning this?" Sure, its arrogant, whatever, but it does provoke a powerful question that most teachers just dont care to answer.

If I were you, I'd hold onto that button.
Many colleges are little better than high school. You need to take certain classes, jumping through hoops to get your degree. "Learning" things that have little bearing on your future job or real-liife experiences.

Phaethor, while I applaud you for your successes, do take heed that MANY (American) children shift gears after the elementary level. It isn't uncommon that children strive to succeed in elementary.

However, I've had friends back in high school that admitted they were honor roll students and such; however, when they reached middle/high school, their work quality and ethic declined.

And yes, I do admit that the American education system is horrible. Kozmo brought up a very interesting point, and I would strongly support such an educational reform.

I've met students that find it rewarding to be an underachiever. Furthermore, I've met students that speak and write in such a way that it compels you to believe that they're five years behind academically and mentally.

I will be teaching soon (in America), but I plan to move elsewhere across the globe and find a country with qualified and competent individuals that I would actually enjoy teaching.

I personally find the American Education system in dire need of a revolution... or something, really. There's nothing wrong with video games, I play a few on my spare time, but kids seem to rather do these activities than expand their level of knoladge. Look at kids in 3rd world countries. They'd absolutly die to get an education, though we have it at our fingertips, and we despise it. Americans are spoiled, I know I am. Children find it funny to disrespect teachers, who actually are willing to teach us (yes, I know, a few do ask for it, but who hasn't come across atleast one crummy teacher in their lives?). I'm not sure what has gotten into the mentality of this generation, but it's actually scaring me a little...

_df

Originally posted by Blackout
Phaethor, while I applaud you for your successes, do take heed that MANY (American) children shift gears after the elementary level. It isn't uncommon that children strive to succeed in elementary.

However, I've had friends back in high school that admitted they were honor roll students and such; however, when they reached middle/high school, their work quality and ethic declined.

And yes, I do admit that the American education system is horrible. Kozmo brought up a very interesting point, and I would strongly support such an educational reform.

I've met students that find it rewarding to be an underachiever. Furthermore, I've met students that speak and write in such a way that it compels you to believe that they're five years behind academically and mentally.

I will be teaching soon (in America), but I plan to move elsewhere across the globe and find a country with qualified and competent individuals that I would actually enjoy teaching.

Thank you for the applause.

One thing to note, While I do agree that many teenagers do not tend to like school, I feel that it has alot to do with their parents involvement in their lives when they are younger, the time I am referring to.

My wife is a Therapist she works at a Youth correctional facility, where they get everything from A.D.D. kids, behavioral problems, to near thugs with criminal records. Not a one of them has had any real parental positive influence in their lives. Not a single one. They all claim the lack of parents involvement as the reason they are the way they are today, and they all worked hard to get just a little bit of attention from their parents when they were younger, but gave up after years of failing to get any. Some have other reasons like moving around from home to home in foster system to drug addict parents etc..

I also have two sister-in-laws that are teachers, elementary school level. They see it everyday. The lack of desire in parents to have any relationship with their children. Yet those parents are the first to demand that their children are discriminated against when they are being sent to remedial reading and math courses. When they are asked how much time they spend with their children after school in the subjects their children have problems with, they make excuses, lie and claim that its the teachers responsibility not theirs.

I challenge these parents to do their part in raising our children today. Its tough. I won't deny it. But nothing worth anything is dropped in your lap without hard work and dedication. If American parents took the time to show just a small interest in their childrens' education we would see a vast improvment in the level of education coming from our next generation and maybe even the teenage generation.

Phae

America's education system is pretty messed up. Most teachers don't really understand what they are teaching, and/or come to not really care all that much. School isn't about any real education; school is about teaching obedience and socialization.

School doesn't usually teach the actual important stuff. Everyone should learn the Dialectic, Logic, and Rhetoric. The Dialectic is about how to uncover truth from opposing points. Logic is how to formalize arguments. Rhetoric is about how the emotions work, and how to convince people, or how not get fooled by fake arguments.

Writing comes out of Rhetoric, but it is never really taught in school. Mathematics comes out of logic, but most schools somehow never really teach logic. They teach mathematics as if it is just a bunch of formulae, and rhetoric as if it is just a bunch of text.

Every academic subject relies on these things, and without sufficiently understanding them, it makes everything else harder. The problem is that the teachers don't fundamentally understand these things. How are they supposed to teach them?