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High School Students Forced To Declare A Major
i_like_spam writes "As reported in the NYTimes, high school freshmen at many high schools across the nation are now being forced to pick a major. Starting this Fall, 9th graders in Florida will have to choose to major from among a set of state-approved subjects, while some students in Mississippi will have to follow one of nine designated career paths. High school administrators hope that having students declare majors will lead to greater student interest in school until graduation. College administrators think otherwise: 'youngsters should instead concentrate on developing a broad range of critical thinking and communication skills,' says Debra Humphreys from the Association of American Colleges and Universities."
This is not only useless, but potentially damaging to the children's careers.
As Paul Graham says,
[blockquote]If I were back in high school and someone asked about my plans, I'd say that my first priority was to learn what the options were... there are other jobs you can't learn about, because no one is doing them yet. Most of the work I've done in the last ten years didn't exist when I was in high school... In such a world it's not a good idea to have fixed plans.[/blockquote]
Fourteen.
Copy/paste troll, complete with spelling errors.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
I agree that simply throwing money at a problem is rarely a solution. But just to back up that "Some places with relatively high spending per child have the crappiest schools" idea with some data...
a rchives/education/010125.html
_ level_Middle_CountyID_0.html (2003 data - Middle Schools only!) the overall rankings for the above top-10 spenders are, in order of spending: New York (#21), New Jersey (#16), DC (#51 - bottom of the barrel, folks!), Vermont (#5), Connecticut (#10), Massachusetts (#1), Delaware (#29), Arkansas (#43), Pennsylvania (#28), Rhode Island (#37)
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/
Or, a few clicks from that page is the actual report (2005 data, released April 2007):
http://ftp2.census.gov/govs/school/05f33pub.pdf
Page 12 ranks each state spending per pupil per year for primary and secondary education. Top 10 spenders are, in order: New York, New Jersey, DC, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island.
From this page: http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeRsphp/STATE_US
Clearly there is no strong correlation between money spent and education quality. Here is a list of the top 10 states by education rank (again, middle schools only!) with their spending rank in parenthesis: Massachusetts (#5), Minnesota (#23), New Hampshire (#15), North Dakota (#25), Vermont (#4), Montana (#28), South Dakota (#41), Iowa (#30), Colorado (#31), Connecticut (#5)
Interesting that South Dakota is apparently 7th in the nation for education quality and 41st in the nation for education spending... And DC is #3 in spending but dead last in results... By a huge margin, too! The difference between #50 and #15 (33 points) is more than two thirds the distance between #1 and #50 (45 points)! Smells like corruption to me.
=Smidge=
* Dwight Morrow High School, the subject of the article, shares its campus with the (separate) Academies@Englewood.
* Academies@Englewood is a "four-year comprehensive magnet public high school program [...] to raise the standard of public education for Englewood residents, and to attract white residents of Englewood and Englewood Cliffs back to the public school system.
* Academies@Englewood already has 'major'-like academies: Finance, Information Systems, Law and Public Safety, Pre-Engineering and Biomedicine.
* "The academy has highly-qualified teachers as well better resources." "longer school day, rigorous and engaging core academic curriculum, technology, upgraded classroom materials and equipment not available to Dwight Morrow students, climate reflecting high expectations, inviting classrooms. Students are spirited and proud of their school and opportunities."
A@E produces better results, surprising no-one - after all, it has better facilities, highly qualified teachers, and is specially designed by the district to attract children who would otherwise be in private education.
So, seeing these better results, Dwight Morrow High School wants to emulate them. This seems logical enough. But of all the things they choose to copy, they don't choose the longer day, the upgraded classroom materials or the highly-qualified teachers - they copy the 'academy' structure. Hence, majors are invented.
I suspect that majors will not bring Dwight Morrow High School up to the same standards as A@E because an academy structure is only part of A@E's success. To do that would require the upgraded facilities A@E offers, and that costs cash money.
I agree that there are situations where throwing money at a problem doesn't help, but in getting a poorly-equipped school to perform as well as a well-equipped school, I can see how money would be a key ingredient.
Just my $0.02.
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
We have/had something similar here, except more broad. There were 3 tracks:
1) Advanced - Going to University
2) General - Going to community college
3) Basic - I like soup
That was in the mid/late 90s and they've since made the names a little more "PC". Each was geared to get the student what they needed for after highschool, without pigeonholing them into a specific field. Also, it was on a course by course basis so that people weak in certain areas but strong in others could tailor their classes along those lines.
It's a good system, except that because students who should have been in basic math wanted to be in general and general in advanced they would dumb down classes. All because teachers/councilors didn't have the balls to tell students, "You really should be in general/basic." So the students who should be there suffer from the progress being held back. This has rolled over into the community colleges where we have students entering Journalism who don't have a basic grasp of the English language and students entering Computer Programming who've never turned on a computer. Again they lower the bar so that people's feelings don't get hurt, and the people who really should be there suffer for it.
Sorry for the slight tangent. It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
NCLB is designed obscure the truth about education in America with gimmicks. I was a statistical analyst in charge of producing NCLB reports for the state of CT. The NCLB regulations and reporting were the reason I left the education field altogether. The statistics are both unsound and completely incorrect given the sample base and intent.
i ew/fl.doc Link to the doc quoted above, from the US Department of Education. Every state has to submit hundreds of narrative documents like this every year in order to qualify for funding.
Here are the major issues with education right now in Florida (and most states):
1. There is a significant achievement gap between high/low poverty schools and white/minority schools. That gap has increased due to NCLB.
2. Highly Qalified Teachers: There aren't enough. Another component of NCLB requires schools to move toward 100% highly qualified staff. The gap here is the same as the achievement gap. The rich/white schools get better teachers.
To quote a report by the Florida Department of Education to the feds regarding their progress toward "HQT = 100%":
"The percentage of classes taught by HQTs is above 90 percent in all categories except high-poverty secondary schools. At the secondary level, there is a six percentage point gap between high- and low-poverty schools."
http://www.ed.gov/programs/teacherqual/hqtltr/rev
Teach teachers how to teach. Make parents responsible for their children.
--Always, I mean never..., No I mean always check your references.--
Actually, High school would be closer to what's called "Gymnasiet" in Sweden.
Grundskolan is all compulsory and almost all students go on to gymnasiet. After gymnasiet you go to college (högskola)/university or join the workforce. In gymnasiet you get to choose between a large number of college-preparatory or vocational paths, none of which completely disqualify you from going to college although to be able to take certain college classes/majors you need to have taken certain classes in gymnasiet. Most engineering majors require that you've taken Math A through D (sometimes E), Chemical engineering requires Chemistry B and so on..
/Mikael
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
"But regarding your other mechanical skills: did you not learn tool-skills in college? We had to learn all sorts of tools (bandsaw, lathes, milling machines, torque-wrench, drill press, CNC machining, injection molding) various design projects and I figured the curricula at other engineering schools would be similar."
I just finished my aerospace engineering degree at Georgia Tech. The only time we ever used tools was during a single fluids lab, to change out the test articles. The program is heavily geared towards preparing you for graduate school, in controls, fluids/thermodynamics, or structures. There is very little focus on real-world engineering; it's almost all theoretical. People go the entire program and still don't understand anything about airplanes or spacecraft; all they know is a bunch of formulae and equations. The department has a machine shop, but it's forbidden except to a very special few working on things like autonomous UAVs.
I don't think this attitude is as prevalent in other departments; for example, the ME program has a few classes where they actually have to build things. It's still pretty sad, though, considering how the school used to be; shop and manufacturing were major parts of the curriculum back then. For example, part of the electrical engineering course was designing and building an electric motor from scratch.
Most of my tool experience comes from my dad; I started helping him fix cars and household stuff from a young age, built model airplanes, and later on built a real one. Later, during one of my internships, I had the opportunity to work in a machine shop. I didn't get to use the mill or lathe, but I did try my hand at MIG welding and some other stuff, and was teaching the other interns and one of the electricians how to use the radial and band saws. One of the other interns didn't even know how to read a tape measure when he started... and his dad was a senior mechanic! That was probably the best summer I've had; there's something real satisfying about coming home all filthy after a good day's work. It was a special treat on the days I got so dirty that I needed to go home and take a shower during lunch, like the day we were welding outside in 110+ degree heat indices. Driving Catia all day just doesn't compare.
Hell, if it paid better, I'd say "the hell with engineering" and be a mechanic. Really, I'd like to fly corporate or flight test for NASA or a manufacturer, but I don't want to take on tens of thousands in loans and live in poverty for years to do it. I'll just build my own airplane.
The meek may inherit the earth, but the strong shall take the stars.
Politically he'd never get anywhere and be corned off by the fat cat's, I have several family members who teach and it's all the about time served and who you know. We're talking about a system where gym teachers who do almost nothing make the same as the AP Physics/Chem/Math teachers make, sometime more, bc with all their free time not grading anything tangible they can coach multiple sports... it's very unfortunate our system. First thing that needs to happen is to break the teachers union...
My children will be going to the best private school my wife and I can finance for this very reason... F no child left behind too.
Oh, you are allowed, no worries. Actually, you may take any class you choose (I took a few chemistry classes, just for kicks) as soon as you're on the university, whatever you want to hear, read and learn is yours. Provided you get a seat, granted, since some courses are of course chronically overpopulated (well, that's the downside of such a system), but technically, nothing keeps you from hearing a lecture about ancient babylonian history either (provided your university offers it).
What bothers me is that the degree gets diluted. It does no longer matter that you at least heard of certain things that are essential to the fundamental understanding of computers. After all, that's what the degree should tell a prospective employer, that the one who earned it does know CS, and that includes theory. He doesn't only know how to manage a software project (that's essentially what the "software branch" is about), he also knows why certain limits exist due to hardware and that there is no such thing as immediate information transfer, that there is a reason for a clockcycle and how it affects his programs. Example: In a project, we had to increase the length of a data cord by a few inches that was clocked synchronously with the ALU. Of course, the program didn't work correctly anymore. Reason: With the clock speed, a few inches of data line means a few clock cycles that you have to wait for the data to arrive.
Even after explaining it to Mr. doctorate in CS he didn't get it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Personally, if you are going to get 1 welder, and have a car hobby, the first one to get is a MIG. pure 'arc' welding usually refers to stick welding, which is troublesome to use on sheet metal. Pure argon is usually only used in TIG welding, and is costly. Course nice TIG welders are big bux too! Typically one uses CO2 or argon/co2 mix, in MIG (like the mix myself). gas is cheap, tanks are pricey, but get bigger than you need, running out of gas halfway through a marathon welding night will rob you of momentum. Flux core welding is the devil. Avoid it, it makes too much work in grinding especially on sheet metal. I've bought some stuff from these guys (welding rods, new tips, etc) good prices, VERY FAST SHIPMENT http://store.cyberweld.com/migwelders.html as far as howto links... start with the instructions that come with your welder, different types of welding equipment requires different technique, also, different materials need different technique.
You know, I've seen some pretty good instructional DVDs around, but I don't remember the name. You might try visiting a welding supply--one of those places where where people who weld for a living go--if they're not ecstatic at the prospect of selling you equipment and supplies, at the expense of giving you some Q/A time and some help, they're not motivated enough--find their competition. You also might find something interesting online. One thing, pure Argon is not used for ferrous materials. You'll want an 80/20 or 75/25 Argon/CO2 mixture, and keep the self-shielding wire away from sheet metal; it's too uncontrollable, use it on thicker stuff.
Also, I don't know what processes you're ultimately interested in doing, but there are machines that support multiprocess welding, but the price goes up, and you'll have to get an external wire feeder. For car stuff one of the basic MIG machines can be had for around $800, it'll plug into a 20A 110V circuit and do sheet metal beautifully--plus it's good that you can take it about anywhere you want. I have a Millermatic 140 that's basically always setup to do sheetmetal, even if it can do some bigger stuff. I think the HomeDepot/Lowes machines are less enabled versions of the basic Miller/Lincoln machines, so they're probably okay if less versitile. Do get yourself a decent helmet, though. You don't want to skimp out on a helmet if you go the auto-darken lens route. Having burned eyes is not a fun thing.
It's not so hard. Get some scrap material and practice, practice, practice. You'll learn how it's supposed to feel, look, sound, smell quick enough. If I can do it, just about anyone can.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
Actually, Ventura wanted to spend more on education. He refused to fund a new roof for the dome stating that he had schools that had older roofs that should be taken care of first. What really screwed him over was the fact that Republicans and Democrats united against him so they could keep their system in place until they got one of their own elected again.
Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
I work at a small company that has a few serviceable circuit boards in our equipment, but the only time I had to solder was when my boss wanted me to fix a blown relay in his gate opener. All the other times I relied on my technician to do any soldering that needed to be done. We used to send the boards to the inventor, and he had his undergrad EE students fix them, but those days are gone. (I had actually learned soldering by working with stained glass, but that's a different story altogether.)
So you talk to the instructor and your advisor, explain why you really want to take the course, and they give you an exemption to let you register. Unless you have a terrible GPA, you can always negotiate your way around those kinds of restrictions.