Wednesday, October 7, 2009

American Government 10/6/09

In Class - Discuss the United States' education system. Discuss pros/cons, purpose of education, why people drop out, why people choose not to do well, NCLB.

Homework - None.

Question of the Week (due by Saturday, October 10 by 11:59 pm)

Regarding your views on education in this country, rate on a scale of 1-10 (one being low, ten being high) your overall educational experience. What are the positives? Negatives? In your opinion, why do you think so many people drop out? What are your views of No Child Left Behind? Do you think our education system has shifted to teaching to a test? What are your thoughts?

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that the education that we have in California is about a four. One of the reasons why is because of kids dropping out. There are a lot of kids that drop out mostly because they are lazy or they don’t want to come. One reason that kids are lazy and drop out is mostly because of their parents. Parents that don’t care what there kids do and they don’t care about how they raise there kids. That is one of the reasons why kids drop out school. There are more and more kids drop out because they don’t care about there future. I think that some teachers get lazy and give kids tests because they don’t want to teach. I also think that projects and homework is pointless to. Projects don’t really teach us anything in my opinion. Homework is ok to do once in a while but not on a daily basis.

JazZy said...

For my overall educational experience I would rate it a 6. Sometimes the teachers aren't good at explaining things and students sometimes don't understand the lesson that well. Some positive things are that the education is free and parents don't have to pay for their kids to get an education. Students can also play sports if they want or do other activities. some negative things are that sometimes there arent enough supplies for the students and the teachers also might focus too much on the standards and the students can get bored and lose interest. I think many people drop out because they are not interested in what they are learning so they fall behind. Then when they fall really far behind they would rather drop out than make up their credits. I do think that teachers are more focused on teaching us hpw to take tests. All they ever say is "when u take the tests at the end of the year blah blah blah". They should be more focused on making sure we understand the subject instead of making the school look good by putting pressure students to do good on the tests so the school can get a good score.


Jazmine Ramirez
per. 4

MPechatsko said...

In my opinion our educational system in this country is a six out of a ten. Some of my opinions that contributed to this response is first of all we only have to go to school for six to seven hours a day five days a week. Though the negative side to this is that some students work better at school and could use an extra hour to do work, because speaking from experience, for some students it is harder to do work at home. I think so many students drop out because they are just straight out lazy but in other instances that person might get into something that they shouldn't be doing especially in high school. But then again whose job is it to discipline that child? THE PARENT(S)! I think that the no child left be hind act is a waste of time and energy. I believe that most teachers have started or are more so now teaching the test and not the important material that will help us in our future.

VickiNESS said...

I think the education system should be rated about a 5 in a scale to 1 to 10 because the education system isn't great but at least we have the opportunity to go, whether we take full advantage or not. Our schooling, in my opinion is based too much on tests, taking and passing tests, its ridiculous. We need to hire teachers who actually love to teach and care about the students, because in all actuality who wants to see a teacher every day, who could care less whether you pass or not? Some of the positives about school, i think, is that at least in this country we have the opportunity to go to school. In other countries they dont have the choice and they are the ones who want to go and learn. We take everything for granted in this country. Most students arent even motivated to do well partly because their parents and the way they raised them and partly because most teachers today dont give a crap about their students. This is exactly why there are so many students dropping out because they are getting the motivation to do well, some don't even think they are worth it. I think that No Child Left Behind is a load of crap.

khoapaulvo said...

The education system in the United States has lots of dropouts, obviously. The dropouts from U.S. high schools end up being a cost, not a benefit, to society. But one of the problems with the education system that causes the high dropout rate is parental involvement. Not enough parents care about their children's education, and they do not care about what is happening in their children's lives. This causes the student to become lazy. No Child Left Behind, though far from perfect, seems to be the only thing that can currently improve the education system. Though the law focuses far too much on test taking, the law brings makes schools accountable, and tells the teachers what things need to be improved. It also tells much about how well a student is performing because the standards are "summarized." If the student cannot perform well on standards that are "dumbed down" how is it that he or she can perform at a higher level. But that is the problem of NCLB. It focuses so much on test taking that the student does not have time to learn more important things. One example is in chemistry. Chemistry is more than simply atoms and molecules. It is also about nuclear weapons and electromagnetics. Those topics are not covered with NCLB. But again, what other method is offered to show how much a student has learned? And how can the government tell the whole school, in general, how it can improve? Sadly, it is only through NCLB's tests.
Overall, U.S. education deserves a 5 out of 10.

Jessika Caudel said...

I feel that the education that we have today is about a five. I think that it is a five because its not the worst possible thing that we have but it is no where near the best. Our education is based on us. It is not the way that the teachers teach it to us but it is what we do to fullfill what they taught us. It is our job to see to it they we are inproving ourselves each day. We are the ones that it is going to effect in the long run. I think so many people drop out because it is not instilled in them from day one that school is the most important thing. The people that drop out are the people in society that just don't care. I disagree with no child left behind because what is that teaching our children? It teahes them that no one cares how poorly that they are doing and that they can just do what they want in life and keep going without punishment. I think that the education system has shifted to teaching to a test because unless you are a senior all you ever here about is that the subject you are learning is going to be on the tests in March or April. I think that public school give way to much slack and that they should have a curriculum like the private schools. As someone that once was in a private school I know from experience that private schools are way harder then the public. I think that the public schools should be more strict on the rules at let kids know that what they do in school affects what they do the rest of there lives. The schools should not teach students how to take the tests at the end of the year they should be teaching them the valuable things that people need to know to survive for the rest of their life.

mis@3l said...

I personally thimk that the education that we in california is a 5. one of the reason is because we have alot of students that dropout of highschool every year and that in someway hurts the economy.students are dropping out of school because they do not care about their education and about their own future and i think that its theit parents fault to because they do not push them to do well in school.i think that programs like no child left behind does not work and are not helping anyone.our education is not that good but it is not that bad at the same time. we get free education and we can choose for what we want for our future and can decide to do what we want as the type of life we want we can study and become someone in lfe.

RicardoV per 4 said...

i would rate the education level about a 4 maybe even a 3. I think some of the posotives about the education we have now would be that we have a set standard that all kids must pass. The bad part about it would be that the schools that do good get more and the ones that do bad get less. I could see why they would set it up that way, but i don't beleive that is the best possible solution to the problem. I think there is a better way to absolve this problem we just haven't been paying much attention to this subject cause there are many other things going on that are more important. I think the reason people drop out is cause they don't have the incentive to go. What the school does to keep kids in school isn't enough. In my situation the school does the best they can to help the kids stay in school but they don't do enough to help them on what to do in school. If the school guided the kids on the right direction and have the kids have a sense of feeling to know why they go to school would be better and i think it would lower the number of kids dropping out. Most kids I think drop out cause they don't see any use in school. If the school guided them and helped them better understand themeselves i'm sure more kids would wanna stay cause they have an understanding of what they want to be. My views of the no child left behind has flaws but overrall is a good idea. I only do think that now money is involved that we are now being shifted to take a test. I don't think that we should be trained to take a test but more school should help us on choosing our careers.

Esme said...

I think that the education in California is not the highest. On a scale one to ten I give it a four. Education in California is not as high as it is in other countrys. Sometimes like it was mention by someone already the fault is sometimes the parents because they dont push their kids more to high standards, and that is one reason that their kids take things for granted. Other students lets say a foreign country they push themselves hard because they dont take things for granted because they know that by doing good they will succeed. some of those people didnt have cable, cell phones, computers, games box, all types, i was one of those persons, thats why i push myself hard to do good, i dont take things for granted, when people take things for granted they dont work up to it. school dropouts are at its peek, there are so many students that dont care about their grades. they dont care about school, so they dont go, i think that tests are a method that tells us how much the students learn and how teachers can improve. projects as well can tell you have much students care, and sometimes yes they dont teach much but you have to put good effort into it. Here in California the education is free until high school, in other places students dont, students can play any sport that ehy can. many classes a very boring and the teachers sometimes make it even more boring, they dont make the class interesting, no child left behind is not a very good, plan because it teaches student more of how to take tests rather then learn what is on thew test, and aslo the schools get paid on how high they score on the tests rather then rewarding the students like taking them on special field trips and such. the standards for the students are very low, they arent pushed very much, they are given to much freedom. i think that have aleast 25 students in class room wouold be good because the teacher can focus more.

March_Of_Sand said...

Right now I would rate our educational system a 5. The positives of our education system is that its free and it gives everyone a chance to learn. Some of the negatives are that you someone just get taught how to take a test. There are so many benchmarks that you have to take and the CSTs every year. I don’t think that it is an accurate way to show how much they have learned just from that test. For example last year for the CSTs I had to take a chemistry test even though I havent taken chemistry since sophomore year. So how is that supposed to show how much I learned. Do they expect me to still know everything that I did sophomore year? I think so many people drop out because they just don’t care. They are probably lazy and have no motivation to come to school. I think NCLB is a good idea but how are all the schools that have low test scores supposed to raise them if they keep taking money away from them. They wont be able to raise their scores without the proper resources to teach their students. So I don’t know how they expect for everyone to get to proficient. Also, some people are not good test takers so maybe the CSTs arent accurate for those particular students and they wont ever get proficient simply because they arent good at taking tests but they could be extremely bright.

Anonymous said...

I think that our school system deserves a 6 out of 10 becase there is pretty much a class for everything, but students don't understand and take these advantages for granted. I highly doubt that schools 20 years ago would get the same education in ag science or in culinary arts than we do now. Kids should take advantage of the classes surrounding them. Some of the positive benefits from this is the education gives many opprotunities to prepare students for adulthood, i.e. Mechanics classes, cashier, and culinary arts. Some of the negatives is how many teachers don't care about the students education, they just hand them a book and say do page this page, without the teacher actually teaching them what the section is about. For example, my freshman year I had biology and the teacher basically showed us movies everyday and expected us to take notes and turn them in. This is how poor we choose our teachers compared to what it was a LONG time ago. I think that No Child Left Behind is a semi-good idea. If a student is struggling, it gives him/her a chance to catch up rather than getting kicked out. The way things are going now is the teachers are teaching the students about what's going to be on the tests and not everything in the middle. This is why I think the school system deserves a 6 out of 10

Anonymous said...

I would rate the educational system a 6. The reason why is, because i do get good education i just lack the skill of being motivated. Most teachers these days do teach you how to take a test which is ok. To be honest i like when teachers teach their own way. Eventhough, we get tought to take a test we still learn. It just really is not a fun way to learn in opinion. The reason why we have a high amount of drop out rates in California is because kids lack the motivation to go to school. Some of them probebly think why do i even need to go,like it will not help them in the future. I mean drugs could come into play with the drop-out rate i'm just not sure really. No Child Left behind has its up's and down's, but i believe it could be a good thing. If kids are doing poorly on their SAT's maybe they could get help and they could become smarter students.

$D@NNYBOY$ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
$D@NNYBOY$ said...

Well to begin talking about our education in our country, I would have to rate it as a 4. I rate it this low because due to dropouts in the future. When people begin their early age and begin to go to school they really get focused as a start. To me when they are in elementary and middle school the students put more effort in their studies. Now what I've seen as people reach to high school is that they begin to feel a lot of pressure do to more responsibilities and having to keep up with grades which later for the people that can't handle it decide to drop out of school. Now for those people that drop out and feel all that pressure is due to their earlier school experiences. Maybe they weren't getting a heads up on whats ahead for their lives maybe thats why they weren't prepared for the high school standards. So education is to be rated as a 4 in my opinion.

-Daniel Castaneda
-Period 2

socalnick said...

Education in this country seems to be a joke. Teens in general are stupid. The technological age of texting, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter is what the education system is up against.

Students nowadays dont really see the effect of their learing in the longrun. Despite knowing a career they want to do, they do not know what it takes to do it. The education system isn't teaching any of the skills neccesary for their future.

Teaching for tests. It is how it sounds. Teachers usually teach what ever is on the test, nothing more, nothing less. Only, this isn't beneficial to the students, its beneficial to the Admin. personnel. If a school does good on tests, more money for the school. Bad on the tests, less money. So they only thing they are doing, is using as "cows". They are milking us in order to raise scores (Milk) and if we produce better milk, more money will come to us.

It is sad to see the education system fall apart when it is simple to fix. While watching Michael Moore's "Sicko" he had a line in their that went like this: If another country has a better car, we take it. If another country has better wine, we drink it. If another country has a better food, we eat. If another country has a better education system, why dont we use it?

TheDeuce said...

On a scale of 1 to 10 i would rate my educational experience at about a 7. I learned a lot of things that would really help me later in my schooling. I also had fun at school and still do have fun at school. But, on the negative side, most of the things I learned in the class I have forgotten. Right after tests my brain would relax and I feel like I would forget a lot of what I learned. I think that most of the people that drop out do it because school can be boring. Teachers have to be able to entertain in today's society and not too many can do that too well. I think that No Child Left Behind is a good idea. It makes students have to be proficient in school and that is how it should be. But, I dislike the fact that student academic knowledge is based on how well they do in standardized testing. This is because tests like these are not made by people that have had any educating experience at all, but by polticians. To this measure, the education has to be reformed to get things right.

elyana_partida_#55 said...

i think that the postitives and the negatives has to been leaving the school early then other courties because that gives the students time to find a job or work on homework.If school finish around 5:00 pm that would give us no time to work.students would be tired all the time with school,a job, and maybe a sport at school.I would be very tired. However if i had that kind of life style i would be more smarter more wise. because more education make u wiser you look at thing and a different point of view.30% of students are drop outs?? thats alot of students i believe the reason why students do it is because there lazy they dont wanna work hard in life. some think it pointless too but i would never give up in school like that. its stupid why?? my point of view on no child left behind, i reaaly doin t care for it.however yes, i do believe that our education system has shifted to teaching students to take a test. becauseevery like 2 weeks students have to take a test to show what have learned in the past weeks or months. i hate test i believe they dont help you what so ever.

Trever Strand said...

The education system in this country has been on a steady decline in recent history. Unfortunately, we cater to the less then excellent in this system. If I had to give our school system a rating I feel it would earn a 4. While some people may give it a higher ranking claiming that it is better than most I would have to say that we are America and should be second to none. This is especially true considering the amount of money we are spending on education. The United States of America is the global leader in funding for education yet we are ranked lower than Kazakhstan in math scores. There is clearly something wrong with this system. I believe we need to start making children accountable for their performance and actually push students to succeed.

joseleonel said...

I will rate my educational experience will be a 6. The positives will be going to school free, unlike other countries. Also the things I have learned and the fun times. As well as teacher who push me to get a better grade. The negatives will be that repeating classes over summer school, and having to take the CST every year which I don’t I did good in some parts because you have remember all the things you’ve learned and get tested by it.
My opinion in why people dropout is stress and slacking of their last year. Especially seniors get stressed out because they don’t know if they’re going to pass the class or worried the wont get into a good college. Also some slack off because they are to confident in that they’re going to graduate and next thing you know they drop out. I don’t know much of no child left behind but I don’t think it’s really working things are still the same. Also our education system has shifted to teach to a test. There are test not worth taking. Like CST, how are you going to get test by your knowledge in just a test? Some people do bad in the CST but they are smart. They could’ve got a bad score on that subject in the CST test but overall they passed that class in that subject.

Jose Samayoa

scott toreres eg6 said...

I rate the educational system a 5. I say that because they teach you just to take a test. The positives thing that i have learned was to read and write and some math. Those are somewhat important because it depends what do you want to go to college for. I say that because if wanted to be a mechanic you wouldn't need history or know how to read poems and stuff like that. Also the bad things is that teachers don't even get to teach what they know because of the strict standards they have to follow. The reason that i think that students drop out is that most of the work that they get is busy work and they get to lazy to do it. Also another reason could be that there family can be in a financial problem. Also they get tested allot and they might not like that. The educational system is to teach your way up to a test. We need more then just to learn how to take a test!!!

sleven said...

Education in this country i would rate it at about 6. This is because the standards are set to low. This why I believe several students begin to dropout, since they are not being challenged enough. Also, how teachers are suppose to teach the standards. Some teachers are limited on how to teach a subjct, which may make a class setting boring. Then there is the test issue. Eventhough I am a pro at taking test, test taking is so boring that even if you may know the answer to question, you probably might not want to read it, you rather just guess to finish quicker. A Positive thing about our education system is limited hours in school. In my opinion a system is only as good as how the teachers will be. Another is the effort the student will bring to try and learn.

stephany said...

In my opinion, our school system would be a 4. Our school systems don't really care about thier students, all they focus on is on thier funding. When in reality i think that our schools should recive funding if they need the help not if they are doing well, because they obviously dont need help. They teach thier students how to take tests they dont really focus on building a proper charcter that will contribute to our economy. Many people drop out because they feel hopeless. they dont think they need school to survive in our world. Some dont believe what they are being taught will apply in the real world. Other countries have higher standers for thier students unlike our country, that is why i rate our education a 4.
-stephany hernandez
per2

LeLe said...

I would rate my overall educational experience a 5 on a 1-10 scale. I think one of the positive things about the education right now is that we have a set standard that no child is be left behind, that all kids must pass. Some negatives are that if the schools dont do so well they get less then the schools that do better. I think the schools should get the same amount of money, even if they do better. The reason i think teens drop out is because their not really motivated to go to school. Schools spend to much time on preparing to take test instead of teaching lessons that students will need to be successful. If the teachers interested students a little more i think their would be less teens that drop out. in my opinion, no child left behind is a good idea but it could be better. Even though test are needed in school i dont think that should be the main lesson kids prepare for.



Ashlee Hunter
pd. 4

RaygozaP said...

The United States education system is complicated to rate, because there is so much opportunity, yet very little action is seen. In example, The United States is best known for the greatest universities and programs (from science to film to dance, ECT). What makes it better is that there are a lot of scholarships and federal funds that can help students achieve these goals.

However when it comes to high school, the entire spectrum changes. With more than 30 percent of high school drop outs, comes to question why kids end up leaving school? Since most of the drop out percentage comes from minorities, I think that it has to do a lot with their surroundings and lifestyle. For example, a typical minority drop out might be asked to drop out of school for a full-time job that will help out the family. It’s important to realize that not a lot of minority families are informed about how the education system works or the huge benefits of it. Other examples can be teen pregnancies, which require a lot of support. Other reasons for drop outs can be isolation, or social-problems with peers. Again this problem has to do with how our society is shaped and brought up. High school in United States is taken without significance, which ends up being the "best" place to have the most fun at. A lot of students do not realize that there are alternative-programs at the same district that are not the traditional-public school option. Programs such as independent studies, online school, are excellent towards full-time working students because they can complete their classes on their own time, and still receive a diploma by the end of the year.

As for the No child left-behind; in my perspective this has not improved any the education system. Schools have turned to test-taking and standardized testing too much that they have forgotten the actual lectures that create that intellectual and broad-mind thinking. From my experience, an AP course where you must read an entire 4000 pages of us history textbook and pass the test, is an excellent example of this. We did not really discuss any observations of what we read, just mainly study the text and pass the test. Same thing when it comes to CST's, where a test is suppose to determine someone's capacity and knowledge. Not all people are test-takers, and some just guess. That is why schools have turned to set the minimum in requirements to graduate, because they basically have gave up on students who score "low" on these tests, and students who they assume that will drop out. Which in reality, these kids just need the guidance and association with their teachers.

Therefore, education should be rated a 5.

Prisila Santana said...

I would rate my overall educational experience a 6. I've had good teachers, but due to my laziness I have kept myself from reaching my full potential. I do think that parents are a major factor in the type of education that their kids receive. Unless a student has a great drive for success, they probably will need some kind of encouragement and discipline that is obtained in the home. This is probably, in my opinion, the greatest reason why there is such a high dropout rate in high schools. Parents think that the best thing to do is to work hard all day in order to be able to provide their kids with the best material objects in order to keep them happy, that they do not realize that children have to be shown what things are truly most important. When a child is pressured at home to do well in school, the pressure can either build up responsibility or rebellion, and that is decided by the student. In my own situation I feel the habits that I have been accustomed to at home can make me be so careless at times about completing my schoolwork and excelling academically. The education system should go all out emphasizing the importance of parents when it comes to their children’s education. The school staff are factors as well, they should be more understanding of the situations that students might be going through at home. The No Child Left Behind act is a great program, though it needs betterment like everything else. Hopefully in some time it will show visible results of improvement. I don’t think that the school system has shifted education to such a great extent, I’ve only had one or two teachers whose curriculum seems to prove so. I think we should have an equal or better education system than those other countries, taking into consideration the brobdingnagian amount of money invested in it.

shesunlatylike said...

On a scale from one to ten, I rate our educational system a six. I say a six because our educalinal system isn't the worst but, not quit the best. Some of the positives are that we as a nation are able to have a good amount of knoledge. That we are able to work on certain skills at our skools. Skills such as socializing, creativity, and other things of that sort. The negitives about our educational system is that they dont teach us life lessons. The educational system only teaches people how to take test. No Child Left Behind is a great idea, but its not a fair thing. I feel that more children are left behind. Its always good to set goals for our youth. But how can we set goals based on a five day test. Those test start to get boring and people just stop caring because they're just too long. So its not fair that someone who gets good grades in school is labled as a below basic child just becasue the got bored.

Anthony_Zomb said...

I believe that the education system is almost losing its use. Years ago American education was at its peak with so many wanting to come and learn. Now these last few years American education have lowered their standards and have made pointless plans like "no child left behind" in which hurts the education even more. Another finger to point at would be the standardized test of the state given out to each student. With this in progress teachers are less likely to teach and more likely to cover what would be on the test. Studying for one test that will not truly effect your i.q. seems more pointless then funding schools in rich areas then in inner cities where its needed most. The minorities have the worst of this plan thanks to these test that are to be "fair" in which they are not so the rich get richer and the poor get even poorer. Yet with the ones who do take advantage of the education and reach above and beyond will lead to great things. With a high GPA and a amazing degree a simple american can even become president (exclude G.W. Bush). So the equal balance of this I would rate the american education a 6-7 area.

-Anthony Y

aubrianne said...

On a scale of 110 i would rate our country's education system as a 6. We do not have a horrible education system and we have decent teacher however there is room for improvement. A big problem for our system is that too much focus has been put on testing. Because of schools wanting to do well on standardized tests they take a lot of school time to prepare us for these tests. But is this what we should be focusing on? I dont think we should more emphasis needs to be on learning the material and preparing us for the real world and college. Also much of of our class time is taken away by fire drills and assembly's. However our system is not all bad we have good teachers that are dedicated to teaching us and helping us achieve our goals. As well we have nice schooling environments.

ALI said...

I would rate the system between 4-6. The experience you have varies on where you receive your education.

Public high schools seem to be less enthusiastic about education. A great deal of focus is concentrated on the high school itself and "school pride". Charter schools are more focused on education from my experience. Parents and teachers are always urging you on. Teachers after giving the lesson will go to the student and try to help them like an assistant in the classwork/homework if the student accepts the help or the teacher thinks the particular student needs the help.

Also it seems that you wont be "harassed" by asking questions repeatedly in Charter School by other students because the other students want to learn as well generally. In several classes there is generally several opportunitys to do extra credit ranging from small to big encase you missed some homework or were absent. So you could work with several opportunity to reclaim your grade if for some reason it dropped.

Negative sides to Charter Schools are/can be that some of them don't go five days a week and they generally do not have a variety of electives and there isn't much of school sports to participate in let alone a team. For example if you wanted to go into drama they might not offer a drama class that year or if they did the students may act immature and not take the class seriously therefore the overall experience in that particular class might not have been what you were looking for.

Up sides to Public High Schools are at least for me that you go five days a week so lets say if you don't understand something in math at least you wont forget it between the two or three days a week you might be going to a Charter School. Plenty of extra curricular activity and just about every school has several sport teams. Large number of students mean their are plenty of people to "Socialize" with. You get to experience and be around people you might have not talked to or understood before seeing them in class and hearing them talk. If their is someone in the school who is giving you a problem they might not have a class with you or have the same lunch as you so they might have little to no interaction with you therefore causing almost no problems. Teachers MIGHT be less prone to gossip about students hence the teachers do not know all of the students and they spend less time around them.

I think people drop out in this country because thousands know the true value of education. Many young people do not seem to understand that the choices you make in education in your youth will effect you for the rest of your life. The less education you have the less job opportunitys you will have and the more limited you will be. Many parents had their children by "Mistake" so they do not really care about their childrens education and just want to get rid of them at eighteen. A lack of teachers having faith in the students may result in the students being less likely to even want to learn or put an effect in them because what hope is their if the instructor has given up?

I do not completely understand the system "No Child Left Behind" but from what I understand it has not helped the education system. From what I have heard from others it has allowed those who should not have advanced into another grade to pass so that "No child will be left behind". In a sense lowering the standard so others can pass. This makes the country as a whole less effective than its low standard from before.

I think thanks to things like "No Child Left Behind" the education system has shifted to teaching to pass a certain test. Instead of teaching the ins and outs of the topic teachers make sure students know the "answers" to the test or quiz so that the school can receive more funds.

Overall the system has good and bad in it depending on where and how you look at it.

ALI G.

Bryan V. said...

If i had to rate my overall education experiences it would be around a six. The reason for this being would be because we have many bad teachers in this school. A good teacher to me is one who does hands on things and makes learning fun.Most of the techers that I have had in the past just throw work in my face and tell me to do it.As far as no child left behind goes, I personally think its a joke.If this were to actually be serious there wouldnt be such a drop out rate.There also wouldnt be so many kids with bad GPA's.I do think our education system has shifted dramatically through the years.Many teachers now just give lectures in class and give a test and the end of the week. I personally prefer that than doing worthless work that I dont even understand.Overall our education system really needs to change and improve for the better.

Msalas said...

I rate our schools a 6. Our school system is not bad but it could be better. I think that the drop out rate is so high because the teachers don't give the attention that the needy students need to give them the push to succeed. I think that our no child left behind system is useless. If a child needs to flunk a grade to get the concept, they should hold them back. I just think our school system is just ok.

Msalas said...

I rate our schools a 6. Our school system is not bad but it could be better. I think that the drop out rate is so high because the teachers don't give the attention that the needy students need to give them the push to succeed. I think that our no child left behind system is useless. If a child needs to flunk a grade to get the concept, they should hold them back. I just think our school system is just ok.

Sam said...

Its hard to put a rate on education for me because I came from a private school to public. From being in a private school I now see their education being better though some may argue that. I dont see anything wrong with education in this country but I see that it takes the effort from both the teacher and student to make the educational experience worthwile. Overall ill say my educational experience has been a 7. Granted I was raised with discipline and care. I learned that I had to do what I didnt want to. There have been classes that I didnt like at all but that wasn't an excuse to not do the work assigned and get behind. Ive never failed a class in my life. That (discipline and care) I believe and influence of others are the result of high school drop outs. If your friends and other students in your classes were really encouraging about doing your homework, wouldn't you feel more motivated to do it? I think so. I also think the no child left behind act had good intentions behind it but needs to be re thought.
Now about the education system teaching to a test. In my opinion I haven't really had this. Ive always gone through school learning new things everyday but no talk about the tests until like a week before them. Throughout my schooling Ive never had teachers say throughout the year to study this because it'll be on the standardized test. When the tests came I always just took them without preparation.
Commenting on horshack's reply I want to say to him and all those who say "Homework is pointless, we dont need it." theyre wrong. That satement basically says to me that you dont think we need it because you dont wanna do it. And I understand that, I dont want to do homework either! But its part of the experience and its that self discipline that comes in and sometimes saves me when I feel like slacking and falling behind.

Esther said...

I think that the California school system is a joke, if I had to rate it I would give it a four. There isn't just one cause, I believe there are many reasons why our school system is dysfunctional. There is insufficent school funds, unmotivated teachers and students, and outdated teaching methods. There are too many teachers that are underqualified to be teaching, and there are others that hate their job and it shows in the way they teach. I also think that the kids from my generation are too lazy. The schools are dumbing down just so kids can graduate. We complain about everything and so teaches cut us too much slack. We are the future, we need to work hard to secure a good future. We also focus too much on testing, the only reson why we foucs so much is because test scores determine how much money the school gets. We should find a better way to distribute education money. Schools should get money based on how curriculums are structured. I think that would push teachers to put effort into the way they teach. Don't get me wrong though, there are a few teachers that are outstanding.

Esther said...

I also think we should get rid of no child left behind. If a kid had a difficult year he or she would benifit more if they repeated it instead of skip on because if they keep going they will only far farther behind.

Pedro A Maldonado said...

If i had to rate the education we have in this country i would give it a 6-7. The reasons why i rated it that way is because i really think we have a decent system, i know we do not have the best but at least we have something. I have been in school in other place other than the US and even thought there is a lot of difference between the two i do not think education here is that bad. For instance i know we are not worked as much as in other places but personally i like the system better here. If we talk about the positives i would say that the fact that we do not have to pay a single penny for education is a really big one. Since i do not know much about the so called No Child Left Behind policy i just want to say that if we really enforced it as it should be i think it could work.I think it all depends on the teacher some do not care about weather the students get stuff, and it might not be their fault, they might not know that they are not doing a good job but if teachers were really dedicated to what they're doing and in a way had a secret and unique way of getting every student's attention then it all would be a different story. My overall thoughts are neutral, i mean i'm just one of those guys who care about their grades and even if they don't have a good teacher and the class is boring they would do everything necessary to get a good grade.

Pedro A Maldonado.
Per:2

J.Kraft said...
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J.Kraft said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J.Kraft said...

The educational system in california is about a 6. We have the technology to make things easy to teach. Classes our an hour long which gives us enough time to learn each day. The way teachers teach is another important factor. Students do not like boring teachers. That makes kids not want to learn. If every teacher was fun and interesting students would most likely have better grades and want to come to school more often. Also i dont believe we should teach to the test. that just teaches us how to pass a test and not the more important reasons. A lot of people drop out for a couple of different reasons.
they cant handle the stress. its too boring. too much work.

Aaron Beltran said...

after seeing statistically how well other schools are doing, i give our education system a rating of 4. many other countries have thier schools set high standards and give rigorous curriculums to students. the positive perspective on our education system are the breaks and vacation time it gives. some other countries don't even have summer vacation. the negative aspect is that not enough time and care is put into actually teaching students not just about the subjects, but also incorporating real life. many people drop out of school because they don't want to be in school. they support or help support a family. drugs also play a big part into dropouts. the No Child Left Behind Act is a great idea but more detail and initiative should be used. gradually our education system as shifted into teaching how to take tests. because of this No Child Act the school gets funded for good test scores; not academic or personal achievment.

Brett G.p4 said...

ther rating i would give to our education system in the united states would be a 7. i rate it a seven because we have a far good enough education sysytem, ive been to another country that have a far worse education system than ours and the students still try their hardest to stay. the problem we have is the lazyness of the students. we got so much opportunities to be able o succeed but we dont take advantage of that. i know for shure that there is many students that come to united stated for a better education. but there are some negatives about it but they arent as bad that that would couse us to stop learning and getting our education. i wouldnt think the no child left behind thing would work, simply becaouse if they increase the hours , there might even more dropouts its just gonna get more boring and longer than it is. and there is people that gotta work and juss wont have time for that anymore.

Dino Sloan said...

I will rate my educational experience a four. Teachers do not get the chance to teach because they have to teach for the STAR testing. Teachers should be given the freedom to teach anything as long as it is within the standards. NCLB is a load of junk because we have struggling schools in our society and our government is not doing their part to make sure the schools are staying up to par educationally. Students drop out because they get bored in school and feel it has no purpose. I believe if teachers were able to teach the way they really want to teach our drop out rate would be cut in half. The positives about our education is everything is there at our fingertips we just need to grasp it. Another negative thing about our school system is athletes get babied. America's schooling system is not up to par with other nations schooling system. I think that America should raise the bar for our education.

Guda1992 said...

My rating on education in california is a 5, some reasons are alot of students are dropping out, because school is either getting to hard and stressful, or they see no use of coming back if they feel they arent going to get a usage out of it, but then some teens give up on school or just quit. second reasons are teachers, they give out a butt load of homework, notes and test, just for us to get bored or stressed out from it, they need to make it more hands-on that just copying notes from a bored or a hand out, its pointless and a waste of paper. if teachers made more hands-on then students would get better grades and they would seem more interested in that subject, and hands-on would be a small cure for alot of the students who drop out. third and final reason is attitudes, if a student has a question and they dont get it but the teacher thinks its easy, then teachers shouldnt put students down if they dont know a easy question that they know. thats the part of being a teacher, you have to teach, not make the students feel stupid.

_Chenae

Adrian2010 said...

Regarding my views on education in this country, I would rate our education in this country as a six. Some positive things I have experienced are several teachers who are actually there for you and willing to help you. On the other hand, there are teachers who don't even bother to give any good help during class time. Some teachers I have had don't even teach a good lesson and just give us busy work to keep us occupied. Not to forget to mention that few teachers i have had aren't even motivated to teach anything outside the book. In my opinion, I think so many students drop out because they are lazy and unmotivated. I often see that teachers won't even help encourage an unmotivated or troubled student and just ignore them. It shouldnt be the teachers job to be their parent but maybe give them some advice. I believe that "no child left behind" shouldn't exist and those who try and pass should pass. Those who are lazy and cause nothing but trouble for other students and teachers shouldn't always be given more and more chances. Those who deserve to pass, should, and if not qualified, should work labor jobs.

estefania_torres2010 said...

If i were to rate my education on a scale from 1 through 10 i would rate it a 4. I would rate it this simply because i think our education has a lot of improvemnt to go.I think the reson for why students are dropping out is because they lose intrest fast. Students get involved with negative things that arent usefull in there lifes and there isent nothing to make them want to stay. The program no child left behind i think isent working as well as people thought. Simply because they are not giving children enough discipline to want to work harder and be better at being students.So i think that our education needs a lot of work to be done.

Drew.Zeller.31 said...

i think that the education level in this country is a 4 out of 10. Well some reasons why i didn't rate the education level higher is because i think there is many ways teachers could teach better, in making sense to the kids, like more hands on work. the test, test, and test thing just doesn't work that good for me, i think the teachers should be taught hold to handle many different ways of learning. Also the technological blocks that kids have to teachers is just because we have a budget crisis. That is not right, hold back on kids learning because of money. The big reason why i didn't rate the education level lower is because we do have a very wide variety of schools in the U.S. You are to make the choices you want to succeed or fail. Most is on your own shoulders. I also think that so many people drop out of high school because we(as in the educators) give them such an easy chance too. My views on no child left behind is that is so pointless. It gets nothing done. TEACHING TO THE TEST DOES NOT WORK!

L.Mejia said...

In my opinion,the education rate is about a 5.It's because its not as good but its not as bad.One of the postive about it is the california state standards because it motivates many students to meet them.Well thoses that wanna future.Also one of the negative is that teachers need to actually teach whats in important then following thoses standards that they need to taught.Thats a waste of time because when it comes to the benchmarks or whatsome tests are not on it.Well, in my thought students drop out either there lazy,or too COOL(supposely),and there parents aren't encouraging them to even go to school.So its both the parents and kids fault.The education system has to some what change a couple of things to at least change students ways.At least to make education more exciting and worth wanting to learn.!.

:] said...

My rate of education is a seven. It’s not that great and not that bad in my view. I think kids drop out because the lack of interest in the subjects they have to take.i think they should focus on what they want to become in life. not some lame boring classes. Also kids tend to drop out because people stop believing in them and they just give up. I think the drop outs happen because kids want school to be more interesting and want to be hands on in what they find interesting not just tests. I think parents and teachers have some what to do with it. I say they don’t encourage them as much as they should all teachers do is b****. They expect you to be all perfect and get high scores on a test. I think education is somewhat about taking a test and doing good but also about using your brain wisely. The no child left behind, I think is a okay thing to do but it just proves all they care about is that test not how well the students know about that job or specific area in the field they want to join. I just think they should focus on the skills they have not on how well he scored, that’s just me.

torres.P4

leslie said...

i think that the education in the US is a five because one of the main reasons is that kids aren't taking school seriously and are just dropping out, also because prents are not persuading their kids to go to school and take it seriously. in my opinion so many people are dropping out because girls are gettin pregnant at a very young age and their boyfriends have to find a job to take care of their new family. i don't think that we should be learning about how to take a test and past it i think we should be learning stuff that is going to help us in our future.

Leslie Bedoy
Period 4

LordKirby said...

Comrades!!!!!
Let me begin by saying that it's educators like Mr. Palo who's flexible viewpoint on punctuality gives people like me a chance to graduate. Unfortunately despite the luck I've had with great teachers, I have to say that my overall educational experience rates at a 5. Our educational system doesn't provide us with much valuable learning experience other then how to take a test. Any useful information that is obtained is usually from the teacher who doesn't follow the conventional standard of teaching. The reason behind this is going back to the lowest common denominator, money. As long as the test scores are high the school gets more money and as a result, the school will do anything to raise them and their funding. Not to mention that these tests are ridiculous in content and seemingly get more and more oblivious to the information that is taught. Our typical school experience is to look at the material and memorize it to be tested on once, maybe twice if it's on the mid term or final. We don't retain the information because we are taught to regard it as a temporary tool. This leads to failure in classes that build on previous material (for example chemistry). The system doesn't work because you don't need to be as smart as people expect you to be, as long as you can work and have somewhat of a memory then that "A" is handed to you. Our ever increasing sedentary lifestyle and our increasing drop out rates are also not of coincidence. There is a million more things to distract us with just a click of the mouse. But in the end, the real knowledge comes from an individual's determination to learn.

Alan Valenzo
Period 2
Communist