I'd like to point out right now that I'm a freshman in HS.
Now, let me tell you something: there *IS* time to be on the Internet to learn stuff, if a teacher cares enough. I wake up at exactly 6:05 a.m. EVERY day and get home at 6:30 p.m. No joke at all. Granted, 2 hours are in there for sports after school, but still. I get more than enough time to search the Internet to learn stuff after school.
Somebody also mentioned that schools should teach HOW to research, not WHAT to research. I couldn't agree more. As early as 5th grade, I wondered the relevance in learning where all 50 states are and knowing their capitals if I could just look it up in a few seconds (I still don't know them all).
This ties in with another topic: schools concentrating on the "extras." Three words: you are right. Why do I have to take Spanish for 3 years and Band for a year? Because the school wants the taxpayers to know their kids are getting a "balanced" education. Now, how balanced is it when our math teacher can NOT multiply two 2x2 matrixes without a calculator (real quote: "I could show you how, but I forgot, and that's why we have graphing calculators.")? I don't really consider myself smart, and I'm in 11th-grade math right now in 9th-grade, and practically falling asleep in it. Learning extras like Spanish is not only completely useless (not like I'm going to need to really use it much), it also takes away funding from IMPORTANT things, like math, science, and CompSci (a note about CompSci: I know a friend that took AP CompSci in C++ and he has no freakin clue what a class is. This was 3/4 through last year).
Finally: about teachers that don't care. Again, you're right. In 8th-grade, I had the best math teacher of my life. He really actually teached BEYOND what he was simply was supposed to. He used a math book that the school STRONGLY recommended him not to use because it was too difficult. Guess what? I covered about 3 years of math in his class. I commonly help out my sister in 11th-grade with her math homework. And 2 years ago I came from base school in Rochester.
Now here's a story of a negative teacher: my current band teacher. He usually doesn't say more than 3 real words in 1.5 hours. He comes in, raises the conductor stick, and says "Piece 5, Measure 148." We play a chord. He then *sighs* VERY loudly, and repeats "Piece 5, Measure 148." He then *SIGHS* again, and repeats "Piece 5, Measure 148." The other day I counted that we played one note a total of 47 times and he did not say anything about what was wrong. (BTW, fsck off, Mr. Simon, teaching from TJHSST).
People, throwing cash at a problem will NOT fix anything! Sadly, the US has reached a stage where schools have to deal with teacher unions and all that crap (my excellent math teacher in 8th-grade proudly exclaims that he is the only teacher in the building not in some stupid teacher union). Did you know in my area education makes up 60%+ of the budget? It is time for new education standards for teachers. Trust me... having 15 students-per-teacher ratio *WON'T* solve jack. There's no good excuse for the US to be so far behind in education compared to countries like Japan. We are literally shooting ourselves in the foot. What to do? I suggest:
1) Demote the paycheck of teachers that receive multiple complaints against. 2) ACTUALLY fire teachers that receive lots of complaints against. 3) Get rid of the crap! I'm planning on applying for a tech college and business school (perhaps). There is *NO* reason for me to have to take band and Spanish to get my diploma! 4) Put saved money from "extras" into important stuff, like math and science.
*Phew.* This took a long time to write. I'd like to hear your responses.
(Sarcasm) geez! It's sure bad reading other peoples' e-mail!(/Sarcasm)...Except at my high school we were taught "U.S. Mail is legally gauranteed private. E-mail isn't" and that there will be "regular e-mail checks" of our mailboxes. I think there should be a slight note at the bottom: "Note: The government can do whatever they want. Rules don't apply to them, because they're special." Personally, though, I wouldn't be too worried about all this. When I started "surfing the Net" (man, I hate overused phrases) six years ago, I didn't give a damn about being a good "Netizen," and I did not look at ANY page like this. I doubt a kid would, either. I could seriously make a better page than that in half an hour. (Sarcasm) But I think that the DOJ should get back to more important things to spend your tax dollars on, like registering offense domain names. (/Sarcasm)
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I'd like to point out right now that I'm a freshman in HS.
Now, let me tell you something: there *IS* time to be on the Internet to learn stuff, if a teacher cares enough. I wake up at exactly 6:05 a.m. EVERY day and get home at 6:30 p.m. No joke at all. Granted, 2 hours are in there for sports after school, but still. I get more than enough time to search the Internet to learn stuff after school.
Somebody also mentioned that schools should teach HOW to research, not WHAT to research. I couldn't agree more. As early as 5th grade, I wondered the relevance in learning where all 50 states are and knowing their capitals if I could just look it up in a few seconds (I still don't know them all).
This ties in with another topic: schools concentrating on the "extras." Three words: you are right. Why do I have to take Spanish for 3 years and Band for a year? Because the school wants the taxpayers to know their kids are getting a "balanced" education. Now, how balanced is it when our math teacher can NOT multiply two 2x2 matrixes without a calculator (real quote: "I could show you how, but I forgot, and that's why we have graphing calculators.")? I don't really consider myself smart, and I'm in 11th-grade math right now in 9th-grade, and practically falling asleep in it. Learning extras like Spanish is not only completely useless (not like I'm going to need to really use it much), it also takes away funding from IMPORTANT things, like math, science, and CompSci (a note about CompSci: I know a friend that took AP CompSci in C++ and he has no freakin clue what a class is. This was 3/4 through last year).
Finally: about teachers that don't care. Again, you're right. In 8th-grade, I had the best math teacher of my life. He really actually teached BEYOND what he was simply was supposed to. He used a math book that the school STRONGLY recommended him not to use because it was too difficult. Guess what? I covered about 3 years of math in his class. I commonly help out my sister in 11th-grade with her math homework. And 2 years ago I came from base school in Rochester.
Now here's a story of a negative teacher: my current band teacher. He usually doesn't say more than 3 real words in 1.5 hours. He comes in, raises the conductor stick, and says "Piece 5, Measure 148." We play a chord. He then *sighs* VERY loudly, and repeats "Piece 5, Measure 148." He then *SIGHS* again, and repeats "Piece 5, Measure 148." The other day I counted that we played one note a total of 47 times and he did not say anything about what was wrong. (BTW, fsck off, Mr. Simon, teaching from TJHSST).
People, throwing cash at a problem will NOT fix anything! Sadly, the US has reached a stage where schools have to deal with teacher unions and all that crap (my excellent math teacher in 8th-grade proudly exclaims that he is the only teacher in the building not in some stupid teacher union). Did you know in my area education makes up 60%+ of the budget? It is time for new education standards for teachers. Trust me... having 15 students-per-teacher ratio *WON'T* solve jack. There's no good excuse for the US to be so far behind in education compared to countries like Japan. We are literally shooting ourselves in the foot. What to do? I suggest:
1) Demote the paycheck of teachers that receive multiple complaints against.
2) ACTUALLY fire teachers that receive lots of complaints against.
3) Get rid of the crap! I'm planning on applying for a tech college and business school (perhaps). There is *NO* reason for me to have to take band and Spanish to get my diploma!
4) Put saved money from "extras" into important stuff, like math and science.
*Phew.* This took a long time to write. I'd like to hear your responses.
(Sarcasm) geez! It's sure bad reading other peoples' e-mail!(/Sarcasm) ...Except at my high school we were taught "U.S. Mail is legally gauranteed private. E-mail isn't" and that there will be "regular e-mail checks" of our mailboxes. I think there should be a slight note at the bottom: "Note: The government can do whatever they want. Rules don't apply to them, because they're special." Personally, though, I wouldn't be too worried about all this. When I started "surfing the Net" (man, I hate overused phrases) six years ago, I didn't give a damn about being a good "Netizen," and I did not look at ANY page like this. I doubt a kid would, either. I could seriously make a better page than that in half an hour. (Sarcasm) But I think that the DOJ should get back to more important things to spend your tax dollars on, like registering offense domain names. (/Sarcasm)