Class,
Read the article Public Schools are Cheating the Children. Afterwards, watch the video Stupid in America. Please comment on this blog about the video (Remember to respond to other posts). Also, on a piece a paper that will be turned in tomorrow, write down 5 problems you see on the video that impact student achievement. Write a suggestion or two about how to change the problem.
WOW I'm very speechless after watching this video. I'm definitely surprised about how the educational system here works. There are so many things that need to be changed and yet they aren't. It seems that many people don't care about a student's education. However, I agree that if parents could choose which school to send their kids, then yes the kids would learn more and get a better education. If they don't then the parents will move their kids to another school and the teachers lose their jobs. Eventually the school will close down, but that means there are better schools out there.
ReplyDeleteI agree that allowing the parents to decide which school to take their children to, because there are people who want to go to a better school, but they are forced to go to a local one, and they do not have the money to move to the school of their choice's zone. This way the parents know that they are giving their children the best education they possibly can.
DeleteI agree that parents should be able to decide what school their children go to, but if the "bad" schools close down, then it will cause other problems.
DeleteWhat other problems, Jorelle?
DeleteOne that I can think of is the amount of money spent on the building and if it closes down it'll become abandoned. Because, ya know, buildings are expensive.
That too Pablo, there would be a huge campus abandoned. I explained in my comment.
DeleteExcaclty, allowing parents to choose the better schools for their kids will force the teachers in the bad school to "pick up their game" or else they'll be out of job. Therefore, picking up the educational level.
DeleteIn my opinion i think the parents choose but with the childs advice and that usually leads to choosing a school where all of your friends are at.
DeleteI agree that parents should choose where their childre go to school because it will push the schools.
DeleteI am shocked and a little disgusted. I got the chills when I saw the part of the teacher who sent a sexual email to a student, admited it, and was not fired. I cannot believe that happens. I was also angry on how education is not a priority at all for the government. People are so afraid of change that they will sacrifice their children's success for things to stay the same. Some of the people on the video did not make any sense. For example, the lady from South Carolina kept insisting that there was nothing wrong with her school even though they were telling her all the evidence that proved the contrary. If schools were competitve, then there would be a huge benefit, but there is still the issue of the teachers that will cheat in order to have successful students. For example, there will be teachers that will give their students the answers to test so that they could get high scores and they could keep their job. My cousins who live in Mexico told me that in their school at the end of the year every class gets tested and which ever class got the highest test score average would get a little party and the teacher would get a raise. She said that when that happened the teachers did not have the answers and there was a time limit, so the teacher would either work out the problems with the class, or the teacher would just do the tests for some students, and she would make the smartest kids do the tests of the least smartest. Therefore, I do not know if making schools competitve will be better, but I am certain there is a much better alternative than the system we have today.
ReplyDeleteYes that was shocking to hear and the government should make it a priority.
DeleteI think competition between schools is a solution, but i think it takes more than that to make a school better, but EVERYONE needs to step it up.
DeleteCompetition is good but only to a certain extent. STAR testing is a bad example of competition. Competition should be held within the school not against other schools.
DeleteI took quite a few notes while watching the entire thing and since it was so long and detailed I found several things that caught my interest, since I've been aware of the whole thing for a while now but never really had the opportunity to go deep on the whole American education system, especially with a class. The comparison of the Belgian kids and the American kids in testing reminded me of an only survey asking questions about the history of America itself, and Europeans scored much higher on it than Americans themselves which is pretty embarrassing if you ask me since they don't even live here. I myself scored a lower percentage than the Europeans but a lot higher than the average American. Anyways, the deal with money caught my attention because of how well the Oakland school did with very little compared to other schools that did much worse with more funding. Like Biggie always said, "Mo Money Mo Problems". However, conservatives and the very teachers in unions opposed more spending on public education claiming it was "unaffordable", despite the fact that more is being spent on defense. Something else that caught my attention was Belgium's school system, how it was set up very much like a large series of small businesses competing for the most customers. By doing that they were able to cut away what didn't work in the student's interest and allowed for better ways for a student to be educated. "Be innovative all the time...new ways of learning/thinking". What angered me a little was the classic case of American stubborness and pride in the status quo, the case where even when you can see that what you're doing is wrong you persist in being right in a kind of Creon fashion that does more harm than good. I would say more, but I feel like I've said enough for now.
ReplyDeleteWhen they said they were opposed to spending on education I forgot to mention that they were specifically focused on vouchers not public education in general.
Deleteinb4 tl;dr
DeleteI also think that those in charge of the school system were being very stuborn and they have no reason to do that. Isn't the purpose of the government to better our lives instead of poison and eventually drain our creativity? There needs to definately be some major change.
DeleteI agree that there were some people in the video that said some very naive, stupid things.
Delete"COMPETITION MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER!"
There were some really important points in the video that revealed the many flaws of our education system. However, some of the suggested solutions would not work. They say that "competition makes everything better," but if we look at our school, it really does not. We have low STAR test scores, and since last year, our ONLY goal was to raise the score, to do better than rival schools, and avoid Program Improvement. Not once did the administrators mention actually LEARNING so that we may do well on the test, or that the test is a reflection of our effort to learn and show our understanding. They merely wanted the grade, not the actual value behind it. Some also said that closing down the bad schools is a good thing. Maybe it is effective in Belgium, but it would raise problems elsewhere, including here. If SMHS were to close, imagine how many teachers and other staff members would be jobless. All the students would most likely be relocated to either Righetti or PV, resulting in overcrowding. Students on a good track would lose touch with their friends, teachers, guidance techs, counselors, and wouldn't be able to take the classes they may have wanted which were only availabe at SMHS. the end.
ReplyDeleteI like how you project the suggestions in the video to our own environment, such as the Belgian system with the competition. MOAR COMPETITION OMG
DeleteBut also the deal with our own priciple's proposition with the STAR testing, it seems as though their only concern is that as new officials at Santa Maria they merely want to impress their business buddies with their statistics rather than actually caring if we learned anything or not. They claim to care about the students and the school but at the same time they heavily support things that the majority dislikes, such at the tardy sweep, hat, and lanyard policies. And whenever you try to discuss with them, they always pull a Bill O'Reilly by talking over us and assuring us that they're 100% right on everything and there's nothing we can do to "shift their paradigms".
I agree that competition doesn't really make everything better. I liked the example you used, you're right about it.
DeleteI think that competition is ok as long as it is fair and their isn't any boosting or cheating.
DeleteThis is such a good video! Before watching this I wasn't ware of how bad our education was. What really impressed me was the endless steps they have to take to fire a teacher. Also, how is it possible that teachers who have been fired still get paid. I think that is just absurd. Why waste $20 million on teachers that have caused harm to students? I agree with school competition because this will make them look for better ways to teach the students and therefore, we will get a better education.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree that it's a waste that teachers are payed, and they only cause harm to students.
DeleteWhat if competition gets taken out of hand and then it becomes solely based on "we want to be a better school!". It may take away from really teaching students kind of how Jorelle said about last year at SMHS. The principals seemed to only be worried about getting "700" but did we really learn anything?
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DeleteI see your point and agree that too much competition is not good, but there is competition in everything we do.
DeleteAfter watching this video, I was so overwhelmed. There are many issues in our educational system that I don't know where to begin.
ReplyDeleteThe things that bugged me was the pride in some of those people who insisted there wasn't anything wrong with their school, and the the firing system thing for teachers. I think that needs to be changed because why would you pay an employee that's not doing the right thing and talk about needing and/or wanting more money for schools. I think money is still an issue but in a different way such as how the schools use and spend the money.
Oh my goodness I know the rules for the teachers is just sickening because how can you tell me that it isn't fair to fire teachers! It's fair if they act out of line and their actions regarding school are inappropriate. That teacher who was sending sexual emails should have been fired instantly.
DeleteThat really bugged me too. Those teachers were setting a really bad example. I also agree about how money is a problem, but not how they said "the more, the better".
DeleteI actually thought the education in the US was great, but watching the video changed my paradigm on the education that is provided by schools in the US. It revealed the truth about public education. According to the teachers money is what is needed to increase education. Money for what? Money is not needed to increase the education level in the US, what is needed is the desire in ALL teachers to teach. I think that many teachers want to get paid, and they don't mind if the students learn or not. The TEACHER UNION and AREA CODE DISTRICT are one of the main problems that are holding the U.S back from improving education. First of all, teachers should be competing anually against each other in order to improve. As stated in the video, in every school teachers should try to get the highest scores from their students and the lowest should be either suspended or fired. But the TEACHER UNION does not allow low preformance in teachers to be the reason they are fired.
ReplyDeleteI agree how the teacher union is big problem. It's a problem that there teachers who only care about getting paid and don't care whether or not the students learn.
DeleteI agree, and I agree with you, too, Dave. That reminds me of a teacher that I have who said somewhere among the lines of ... "I don't care if you get an F, i still get paid."
DeleteThe video was very informative and I enjoyed for the simple reason of that I agree with the majority of the problems. Money I do think is one major issue because a lot times I think schools waste their money on things that aren't necessary. Instead the money should be used to provide better supplies and materials needed to succeed. One thing though that I did disagree with was competition. I strongly believe that competition isn't going to solve any problems rather it's going to create more problems. With competition you lose the true value and meaning of getting an education and instead we learn to be competitive which is gonna help what? Overall, I enjoyed the video and the information it provided.
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought up how the money should be spent. Did you see the school where students' classrooms were compared to the offices for the people working for the school. That was a shame. I thought school was about the students, so why were they building those fancier offices while the students were in those box looking classrooms like ours.
DeleteYes I saw that and I couldn't believe my eyes. I mean I was so shocked to know that the school would spend 35 million on remodeling the administration but the students were just left in trashy classrooms. It's appalling.
DeleteI know, right! What a disgrace!
DeleteDo you think that plays a role in how students learn?
I do agree with you that,money is a problem, but also think that is not the major problem. I think that the major problem, was on how it was being spent. I think competition, between schools could help a little, since we know that belguim has proved us that it was working out better then our school system.
DeleteI'm pretty shocked the school's system. The fact that the teachers don't even care about the students' education kind of disgusts me. I didn't like how the teachers don't even teach the students, but they still get payed. I also didn't like how the school's principal kept saying that the school is improving and that it was perfectly fine. She doesn't even admit that she's wrong. There are so many problems and flaws in the school's system that need to be changed. Competition can improve the school, but it can also cause problems such as students being more competitive instead of wanting to learn.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how competition can cause a problem on students because they might focus more on competing than learning. That, also, puts pressure on students, and I, personally, think students don't think well when there's pressure.
DeleteI agree how teachers don't focus on educating the students right. They are just satisfied on getting payed with "supposely" doing their job.
DeleteI thought it was unfair that teachers got paid, but didn't even teach. I also agreed that competition, could be a good thing and a bad thing. Even though some may not agree I think we should try to use that system, since belguim proved to show that it was working out.
DeleteMy first impression on this video, was it was very long.After it was over i felt i gained a great amount of knowledge about our educational system.I found it very funny when there was a lottery going on for placement in a good school. I think that we should have the power too choose what school we go to as long as we have a good reason for it. I remember when i was in third grade i attended Battles Elementary then i moved and was in Adam elemetary territory and could've gone back to battles if I lived two houses to the left,but that wasn't a good enough excuse too argue with my parents. I think that competition in our educational system is good but in a fair manner. Their are many ways to fix our system.
ReplyDeleteI agree the video was very long. I found the lottery thing pretty sad. I think our system does have many ways to be improved, but it seems the U.S. is used to it, and adults are more worried about their paychecks than how low are system is becoming. Eventually we will be like them and forget about the sys. & just worry about our jobs. If they cared, there wouldn't be a whole process to fire a teacher who did something they shouldn't have.
DeleteIt was the opposite for me because I went to Adams first and I liked it there, but then in 2nd grade I took the GATE test then I was moved to Battles. I hated it since I saw no real difference in what I was learning and I didn't get along well with anyone, no one saw eye to eye with me and being a young child at the time it scared me and demotivated me because once I started going to Battles I stopped doing homework and I had a record number of detentions for not doing homework from 3rd to 6th grade.
DeleteThe title fits this video, but I'd change it by taking away "in". This video demonstrates factors involving the system, and I agree with most. Our system includes the "No Child Left Behind" program & this video showed an 18 year old who couldn't read. I do believe some teachers are at fault, but they too went through this school system. I don't believe money will fix anything. It will probably give us some motivation to take pride, but pride won't help with tests scores. I also believe learning should be fun, and money isn't necessary to have fun. If learning was fun then no subject would be hated, and we'd be improving tests scores etc. Lastly, competition should be within teachers, not students. This way teachers have to care about job security and there wouldn't be any ridiculous situations about teachers.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment about the No Child Left Behind. I thik that teachers sometimes allow students to move to the next grade even if they don't know all the material so they can get that student off their backs.
DeleteAfter watching this video I really agreed with some of the problems that are going on with schools and how they can be solved. I agree that money doesn't solve the problems with education because it demonstrated that in the video. However I also agree that the parents of children should get to choose where their children go to school because compition rises between schools and will therefore push schools. I think this is part of the reason why other countries do better.
ReplyDeleteThis is a "WHAT IF question"(Where would the competition be where A HUMONGOUS AMOUNT OF CHILDREN prefers a school where you can swim all day and not study?) Isn't that why they split schools by there address considering that its much closer and more accessible rather than going to school were all the "Fun" is at?
DeleteI was shocked by several issues with our education system that I wasn't aware of such as principles having to go through such a long process to fire a teacher that most won't even try to. I've always heard before that our education system is bad because they needed more money, but after they show us the example of a school in Kansas that got 2 billion dollars and actually performed worse. I do agree that if our education system felt competitive students would perform better.
ReplyDeleteWhy would being "competitive" help create students performance?
DeleteThe video is not really shocking or at least makes me speechless. The video just tries to put me in a place where Santa Maria High school might end up. The system in the U.S. is highly corrupted in other places where they have opportunity and we are just left with no choice. This shows that we are just unmotivated of what we truly want to do/be in life. The "No Child Left Behind" act is not really a good law/principle. Referring to "RSA Animate- Changing Education Paradigms" when Ken Robinson stats we all have manufacturing dates of batches they both are similar to the act, but you can consider that some people aren't as unique as others. The act is like allowing someone to graduate when they didn't do any of the requirements. Learning thoroughly through out the video there are mostly opinions of running a school and developing a better pace of education. As a whole school everyone needs to be cooperative with each others like students being motivated, teachers creating ways of teaching or changing themselves, and the principal be more active with students and teachers spectating how they run the class at a daily basis(SYNERGIZE). The only way to go is to keep calm and synergize.
ReplyDeleteThis video left me speechless.I knew little about our educational system.I disagree on the process a school takes in order to fire a teacher.In my opinion teachers should always represent themselves well to students and if not it shouldn't be thought twice to fire them.I would agree on how some schools use up money on stuff not needed like extra buildings that aren't even used.There's many things to be change to make our educational system way better but each and ever one of us need to put in our part.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video, I feel that the union just makes rules that would benefit the teachers and not the students. Why would they make it so difficult to fire a bad teacher. If a teacher was convicted of being a sex offender, why wouldn't they allow the principle to fire him? I also think that the government also does the same thing so they can get more money for themselves. I think that they are selfish and don't care about our education. There is however another problem that I noticed. Its the students. I think that we are also the reason why we don't learn. We choose not to listen or pay attention. We as students need to be willing to put in the effort so that we can do better and learn.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked on how teachers who would send nasty e-mails to their students, and wouldn't get fired. At the beginning I thought money was the problem, but after the video, I wasn't so sure. I do believe though,that money could help school in some areas, but maybe not all. Also that money should be spent properly, and people should think how it would help the students academically,and not phyisicaly . I thought teachers were also the problem in some cases, and it disgusted me that they didn't even care about their students education. Another thing that I thought was interesting, was competition between schools. I thought that was a good idea, because it made teachers care more about the students, and forced them to be the best on what they could, because if they didn't get their students to learn, then their school would of been shut down. Even though I thought this was a good idea, I had negative views about competition. I thought that competition would put to much pressure on people, and wouldn't that kinda encourage teachers to help students cheat more, in order to pass the class.
ReplyDelete