America's High School Graduates Look Like Other Country's Dropouts.

It's not just about federal funding. High schools are funded locally sometimes subsidized by the state. Both get various forms of federal subsidies but the bulk is funded locally. There are multiple issues including mindset, multiculturalism including foreign language issues, many parents complain too hard or too easy so local curriculum winds ups pacifying parents overly worried about their little johnny. And there is a mindset, a false one that one only need worry about their college major or vocational specialty which leads to a less versatile or unrounded individual. Throw in teacher issues like pay, unions, work rules etc many students are SOL.
 

Not a surprise, reading, writing, history, creative arts, music...all fallen by the wayside. The push is for them to pass standardized testing.
 
WhatInThe said:
It's not just about federal funding. High schools are funded locally sometimes subsidized by the state. Both get various forms of federal subsidies but the bulk is funded locally. There are multiple issues including mindset, multiculturalism including foreign language issues, many parents complain too hard or too easy so local curriculum winds ups pacifying parents overly worried about their little johnny. And there is a mindset, a false one that one only need worry about their college major or vocational specialty which leads to a less versatile or unrounded individual. Throw in teacher issues like pay, unions, work rules etc many students are SOL.
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Is this the problem then? The resources allocated to schools are not evenly distributed?
Poor areas have underfunded schools and affluent areas are well provided for?
 
WhatInThe said:
America's high school graduates look like other countries dropouts. The US graduate tends to lack in math & technology along with average literacy skills. Some consider it another confirmation that US is lagging in academics.
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I think our education system began to decline with the advent of the "Great Society", and has continued with things like "No Child Left Behind". Basically, our teachers are having to teach to the lowest level in the classroom, and as a result the brighter students are suffering. "Excellence" has been replaced by "Equality", and "political correctness". When I went through school, we had a 3 tier structure...a general program for most students, a trades oriented program for those who had trouble with math/science, etc, and a college prep system for the students with the best abilities. If that were tried today, the shouts of Discrimination would be heard for miles.
 
Warrigal said:
Is this the problem then? The resources allocated to schools are not evenly distributed?
Poor areas have underfunded schools and affluent areas are well provided for?
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Yes and no. A common complaint among public school teachers is that they can't kick anybody out and/or have to try and teach everyone even though they don't belong in their class or require too much attention. For example the problem children always a discipline problem take away from teaching time. With 'no child left behind' many kids are at a remedial level going into a class so they are always behind along with taking a course they really don't want(tough cookies). Some public high school teachers really don't want to teach only wanting AP(advanced placement) or very smart kids, you need to do very little teaching with extremely smart kids.

Some, not all of the poorest areas actually get more funding because they do need a lot remedial assistance, that could include English lessons. Also there's the baby sitting factor. The only thing some parents want out of the public schools are baby sitting including a free breakfast, lunch and day care at the end of the school day. Many schools actually have to set up day care facilities at the grammar school and middle school level in particular because too many parents say they can't pick their kids up until late afternoon, that means daycare staff is getting money that teachers or suppliers could be getting.

It's not just one thing , that's the problem, no one solution will work in many school systems.
 
A panacea for inner city schools has been sought for many years with dismal results. A hard truth is that education is mainly a middle class value...
 
WhatInThe, Don, Fur, and Ralphy - I agree with all of that. Those issues are the cause of poorly educated students. And I don't believe the solutions under discussion now are going to make it any better. My 8yr old grandson's math homework is the wackiest crap I've ever seen.
 
FazeFour said:
WhatInThe, Don, Fur, and Ralphy - I agree with all of that. Those issues are the cause of poorly educated students. And I don't believe the solutions under discussion now are going to make it any better. My 8yr old grandson's math homework is the wackiest crap I've ever seen.
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Yea, what is that stuff about make 34 - 25 into some big, long complex problem. Do they think kids are too dumb or lazy to learn to 'carry' numbers?
 
Ameriscot said:
Yea, what is that stuff about make 34 - 25 into some big, long complex problem. Do they think kids are too dumb or lazy to learn to 'carry' numbers?
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Could make it any more complicated? Uselessly? They have succeeded at one thing - they've made my grandson hate math. So, there's that.
 
FazeFour said:
Could make it any more complicated? Uselessly? They have succeeded at one thing - they've made my grandson hate math. So, there's that.
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My sister was a 4th grade teacher and she thought it was fine. She showed us how to do it and she claimed it made it easier for kids. My 10 year old granddaughter thinks it's the normal way to do math and likes math. I think it's idiotic.
 
Ameriscot said:
My sister was a 4th grade teacher and she thought it was fine. She showed us how to do it and she claimed it made it easier for kids. My 10 year old granddaughter thinks it's the normal way to do math and likes math. I think it's idiotic.
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Our oldest great granddaughter is in 4th grade, and a couple of months ago, we were visiting while she was doing some of this Common Core math. I looked over her shoulder, and was somewhat disappointed in this attempt to teach basic math skills. It did make some sense, but seems to add several rather silly and confusing steps to basic math. If this concept were to continue, I wonder what it would do to higher levels of math...algebra, trigonometry, etc. Our State is joining with several others in an attempt to get this "charade" thrown out, and return to traditional math teaching.
 
Don M. said:
Our oldest great granddaughter is in 4th grade, and a couple of months ago, we were visiting while she was doing some of this Common Core math. I looked over her shoulder, and was somewhat disappointed in this attempt to teach basic math skills. It did make some sense, but seems to add several rather silly and confusing steps to basic math. If this concept were to continue, I wonder what it would do to higher levels of math...algebra, trigonometry, etc. Our State is joining with several others in an attempt to get this "charade" thrown out, and return to traditional math teaching.
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It does need to go, but what do you do with the kids who have already learned math that way. Would it be hard to reteach them the normal way? I wonder who started this Common Core stuff anyway?
 
Ameriscot said:
It does need to go, but what do you do with the kids who have already learned math that way. Would it be hard to reteach them the normal way? I wonder who started this Common Core stuff anyway?
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I think this Common Core is going to wind up reducing many of our kids Math abilities. Transitioning back to the traditional math might well set them back a year or two...depending upon what actions are taken. This, to me, seems to be another case of "if its not broke, don't try to fix it".

Common Core has been in the works since the mid 1990's, and seems to be the work of a handful of individuals and corporations who are probably profiting from this "experiment".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Core_State_Standards_Initiative
 
Don M. said:
I think this Common Core is going to wind up reducing many of our kids Math abilities. Transitioning back to the traditional math might well set them back a year or two...depending upon what actions are taken. This, to me, seems to be another case of "if its not broke, don't try to fix it".

Common Core has been in the works since the mid 1990's, and seems to be the work of a handful of individuals and corporations who are probably profiting from this "experiment".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Core_State_Standards_Initiative
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As far as I know they don't teach math that way in the UK. My husband who was a headteacher is still scratching his head when he sees it. I don't know when my sister had to start teaching math this way but she retired in 2012.
 
Somethings are pretty cut & dry. They will not read like a comic book or novel. Sometimes one will just have to work through it enduring what ever boredom. That doesn't mean that intermediate steps,no matter how small should not be explained anyway possible.

I had a college calculus teacher give us plain old straight forward fraction problems for review/practice to explain the solutions to the problems/questions. He said most people are weak in fractions which in turn leads to trouble in algebra & trig then calculus. In ability to do or be comfortable with fractions contributes to fiscal illiteracy as well.

It worked by the way.
 
I've had a look at the link and cannot see what the problem is.

Looking at this example for 7 year olds (Grade 2).
I'm assuming that "traditional" methods refer to rote learning of tables and algorithms.
My observations in blue
Examples of mathematical content[edit]
Second grade example: In the second grade there are 26 standards in four domains. The four critical areas of focus for second grade are (1) extending understanding of base-ten notation; (2) building fluency with addition and subtraction; (3) using standard units of measure; and (4) describing and analyzing shapes. Below are the second grade standards for the domain of "operations and algebraic thinking" (Domain 2.OA). This second grade domain contains four standards, organized into three clusters:[SUP][32][/SUP]
Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.1. Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

Teaching students to solve one and two step word problems involving addition and subtraction is standard practice. Teaching them to understand addition and subtraction as a process is very desirable but doesn't always happen using just rote learning.
Add and subtract within 20.2. Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.Mental arithmetic is nothing new but mere rote is not good enough. Mental strategies are even more important.

Work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication.
3. Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members, e.g., by pairing objects or counting them by 2s; write an equation to express an even number as a sum of two equal addends.
The beginning of understanding that multiplication is about groupings. Again, rote learning of tables has some value but understanding how the tables are constructed in the first place is also important. Pairings, groupings of objects, counting by 2s, 3s, 5s etc are all strategies to build up an understanding of the multiplication process.

4. Use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and up to 5 columns; write an equation to express the total as a sum of equal addends.

Pre algebra being introduced here. This should produce students able to deal with generalised arithmetic further down the track.​
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Warrigal said:
I've had a look at the link and cannot see what the problem is.

Looking at this example for 7 year olds (Grade 2).
I'm assuming that "traditional" methods refer to rote learning of tables and algorithms.
My observations in blue
Click to expand...

At 7 or the 2nd grade the children are probably young enough and early enough in the process that it's not much different. Once the students get near middle and high school is where a lot of problems really start on standardized testing and related material(common core). There is an opt out movement of the standardized tests, not the one the teacher gives their students but the ones the district or state gives based on common core.

Some things simply will have to be remembered in life period, so multiplication tables should be included. Some call it walking around knowledge. Yes there should be some explanation and/or different ways shown to achieve the samething. Better yet how it applies in jobs or daily life.

Part of the problem with any subject in the US is that most public schools do too much testing and/or evaluation in grammar school, so most are put on a career path or labeled/funneled by the 7th grade into specific course work. If the student doesn't like it or has trouble this leads to other problems. Not all but too many teachers in US public schools rely on the students natural ability & affinity towards a subject never having to learn to teach it themselves so trouble shooting student issues or finding ways to teach to an entire class and not the two or three that fully understand the subject is a problem as well.
 
There are seven girls in a bus.
Each girl has seven backpacks.
In each backpack, there are seven adult cats.
For each adult cat, there are seven little cats.
How many legs are there in the bus?
(Hint: There is NO bus driver.)

Please--No Cheating and No Google.


 
Figure out the total number of cats then figure out the number of legs adding 14 legs for the 7 girls

number of cats=X

total number of legs=t

(X x 4) + 14 = t
 

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