101 Things Wrong with Education in the United States
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Where 101 is equal to 10 or so.
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• Not competitive enough
Competition is healthy, and there is not enough in American schools. Students should compete more, whether it be in appearance, in conversation, in gym, in grades. Ask students, they perform better while anxious and stressed! Many students, in fact, will willingly and cheerfully procrastinate on work to create anxiety and pressure, or to simulate a "competition" against time. Once the work is done, a great feeling of relief is felt, counteracting any temporary stress. Could any student be more productive or happy?
• Classrooms are too pretty
The decor of many classrooms leaves much to be desired. Bright colors, posters, projects, artwork, bookshelves, large windows--what is all this? DISTRACTIONS. Distractions from what the students SHOULD be paying attention to, the teacher and the teacher only. When you remove all distractions, there is nothing to keep the student from sitting up straight and doing what they are supposed to be doing. It is the most productive and efficient environment possible. It is additionally more economic.
• Too many "practical" exercises
Listen, I don't know about you, but the exercises I learned the most from are things like the repetitive grammar lessons, reading assignments like Madame Bovary, making pamphlets on the history of soccer for gym, and math write-ups. I loathed our dissection of advertisement techniques, freewrites, contemporary literature, and class discussions. Once, my math teacher had our entire class--the entire class--choose cars, financing options, and then work out how much interest would be paid on the car by the time it was paid off!
Seriously!
• Too much time spent studying other nations
We spent an awful lot of time studying foreign nations such as Canadia, North Africa, and Pervistan. Surely, my classmates and I would have been better off studying our homeland? If I, like most red-blooded Americans, intend to never set foot outside my country, however can another country hold importance for me?
• Not enough peer review
There can never be enough peer review in the classroom--the insightful and thoughtful comments of my classmates have helped me with my writing more than I can tell you. Peer review provides skilled critique from the point-of-view of those the same age and with the same interests of a student, and in my experience, my classmates alway putting forth that extra effort to let me know what I can do to improve. I'm amazed that they were such an able substitute for the experience and knowledge of a trained English teacher! The best part is that the teacher can kick back and not do anything at all!
• Too accepting of students who are different
Schools are too accepting of students who are different. Schools even encourage their differences! This is, frankly, shameful and completely counter-productive to school's goal to prepare students to function in society.
• Faculty cares too much
Quite frankly, the faculty cares too much about the students. They offer counseling. They educate about bullying. They teach about the "uh-oh feeling."
My first high school was horrible. Did I want to take extra classes? Sure, you meet the prerequisites for the class, you can take it. Are you feeling alright? Oh, you're only 40 seconds late, that's no problem.
Frankly, this is sick and perverted. How was I to be prepared for the real world in such an unreal environment? Naturally, I promptly found a better school, where the faculty was infinitely better suited to their role as cruel, harsh wardens.
• Too much time spent in leisure activities
Too much time in school is wasted in leisure activities such as homeroom, recess, lunch, and art. These need to be slimmed down, or gotten rid of completely.
• Too much religion and morality
You can never, ever split hairs too finely. Quite frankly, I don't see what religion has to do with any subjects your typical student should study to be a well-rounded individual, such as history, science, philosophy, or sociology. When I read about monks puttering around in vegetable gardens in biology, quite frankly I was shocked, and the section about creationism left a terrible black scar forever upon my soul. Oh please, do not make me reminisce on the horrors of Buddha found within my history books.
Allowing open discussion of religions is a gateway to having religious doctrine and immorality shoved upon innocent children who have not the will to understand the Right Belief and stand firm in their beliefs. Nor, once they are deceived, are they able to change back to the Right Belief. Any mention--let alone open discussion--of religion in school encourages discrimination, ignorance, and close-mindedness. If parents want that, they may choose an alternate form of educating their children...like sending them to a nunnery, or something.
• Miseducation
Finally, these supposed "educators" and "professionals" aren't teaching us correctly! Why, my social studies teacher taught me to mispronounce several words!
"Yama," indeed! <p>
<div style="text-align:center">"Pants are bad!!! We should wear pants only on our head you conformist bastard!!! Pants are the devils work!! Run freee!! And pantless!!!" -- Vulture</div>
</p>Edited by: pd Rydia at: 3/21/05 23:43