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Great, valid points. The reason why I rarely encourage my son to associate reading with poppy computer games. What bothers me is that the school itself encourages K students to do all sorts of reading activities on the computer.
The only way anyone can become a good reader is to get in the habit of immersing oneself in printed text and nothing else for long periods of time.
No other distractions around.
I TOTALLY disagree, reading is reading, no matter where it is done and if a child would rather read on the computer vs an actual book, who cares. Now with the e-readers on the market, there is another avenue for kids to read. ANY reading kids do whether it be the cereal box at breakfast, comic books, etc. ALL have a purpose. Reading easy books helps increase reading speed and comprehension, reading more difficult books helps teach extrapolation and increases vocabulary. Kids need BOTH. Online textbooks are becoming the norm in the schools around here, which is fantastic. Many colleges also have online textbook options. Just because we "have always done it that way" doesn't mean it is better or worse. People I have talked to, and myself personally, read MORE with e-readers simply because of the convenience of having books at your fingertips.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28
Wonder how longe before we read this headline---
BREAKING NEWS, school has ONLY one valedictorian, TEACHERS FAILING the majority of student body.
And as it should be really...schools that have 40 valedictorians are NOT good schools and are NOT pushing kids .
Yes we do. In case you have not noticed, our country is going to hell.
In order for a Democracy to function, it requires an educated population. The schools have failed us miserably in this regard, as one look at the people we place in political office will confirm.
We have a population now that is incapable of critical thinking due to years of social engineering.
We have to import our engineers and doctors because our educational system is incapable of producing them.
We are involved in wars for profit because the general population is too ignorant to understand what is going on.
We are having our Constitution and our rights eviscerated by politicians and judges paid for by corporations.
Therefore, to answer your question yes we do have to keep talking about this until we begin to see the results that will begin to turn this country in the right direction instead of the downward spiral we find ourselves in today.
But your OP is not about discussing how we can all work to fix our schools, it's titled, "Teachers continue to do poor job".
BTW, this is NOT the politics and other controversy forum and we will not be discussing politics on this forum.
But your OP is not about discussing how we can all work to fix our schools, it's titled, "Teachers continue to do poor job".
BTW, this is NOT the politics and other controversy forum and we will not be discussing politics on this forum.
a key component of this issue are founded o the politically motivated laws which effect it's performance.
Quote:
ABC News’ Sarah Amos and Jennifer Parker Report: While stumping for his wife at an Arkansas high school Friday, former President Bill Clinton seemed to blame Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., along with President Bush for the failure of the No Child Left Behind Act to live up to its promises. (SOURCE)
Take that with the change in the laws which removed responsibility for kids from parents and gave it to no responsible no one (not even the teachers)
a key component of this issue are founded o the politically motivated laws which effect it's performance.
Take that with the change in the laws which removed responsibility for kids from parents and gave it to no responsible no one (not even the teachers)
I'm guessing that the above sentence is not what you intended to say. Did you mean to say, "Take that with the change in the laws which removed responsibility for kids from parents and gave responsibility to no one, not even the teachers." ?
I'm not sure what that has to do with the OP, which is about how SAT scores are lower then ever. I have no idea how NCLB takes power away from the parents and how that ties into lower SAT scores, which is what THIS discussion is supposed to be about.
I'm guessing that the above sentence is not what you intended to say. Did you mean to say, "Take that with the change in the laws which removed responsibility for kids from parents and gave responsibility to no one, not even the teachers." ?
I'm not sure what that has to do with the OP, which is about how SAT scores are lower then ever. I have no idea how NCLB takes power away from the parents and how that ties into lower SAT scores, which is what THIS discussion is supposed to be about.
NCLB in many areas has created an "uneven" learning environment. In many areas teachers are being forced to only teach what is on the state tests in their area, they no longer give a well rounded education. The SAT/ACT tests expect students to be able to apply what they have learned over the years and by teaching to the test, schools have gone away from teaching kids how to do this. This is a relevant comparison when talking about lower SAT scores--however, I also think that MORE kids are taking the SAT and that accounts for more of the score discrepancy then anything.
I understand how NCLB works, I don't understand how this "takes power away from the parents". I think it actually takes power away from the teachers. Frankly, I haven't met a teacher or a parent who thinks the huge increase and importance of standardized testing is a good thing.
Reading is an elementary skill. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for a person to not be proficient at reading after 12 years of school, and please by all means, provide proof of your assertion that "society does not value reading".
Furthermore, it is not just reading scores that are abysmal. Math and science scores are also poor. The US ranks below many countries with much lower per student spending and such as Slovenia and Singapore.
Tests showed U.S. fourth-graders performing poorly, middle school student’s worse, and high school students are unable to compete. By the same criteria used to say we were "average" in elementary school, "we appear to be "near the bottom" at the high school level.
It appears the longer the school system has our students, the worse their education becomes.
Teachers need to stop whining, trying shifting blame, and do their damn jobs!
You want proof that society doesn't value reading?
Some book statistics (http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html - broken link)
This is also a great, fair article about the issue:
It does mention a gap at the high school level, which is fair, but it also mentions a lot of other factors that come into play that affect reading comprehension. Consequently, I will reiterate that to blame teachers--and *only* teachers--for this gap is completely untenable; that's like saying that police officers aren't doing their jobs b/c crimes are still being commited.
I will also reiterate that, when a teacher is telling a parent what he/she needs to do as a parent to improve his/her child's ability to read, and the parent refuses to do anything about it, then you will end up with this current situation: finger pointing rather than problem solving. Teachers are not the enemy: we are telling parents what they need to do in order to get the results that they want from their kids. Unfortunately, this isn't the answer that parents want to hear.
Moreover, while there are some basics, reading takes good 'ol fashioned concentration and hard work. Like a lot of skills, no one can really teach you, you have to just dedicate yourself to it so that you get stronger. Case in point: I'm currently prepping for the GRE and the teacher has already stated that she can't teach anyone in the class to read quickly; you've either been reading for a long time and have thereby acquired the ability to read accurately and quickly, or you haven't. If you haven't, there is really nothing any teacher can do about it now.
Furthermore, standardized tests are not accurate indicators of a teacher's job performance. There have been too many threads that have already proven this point, so I won't get into it. However, I will point out that just because a teacher teaches doesn't mean that the students are listening and doing the work that they need to do in order to learn. Especially wrt reading, I know a lot of students who have learned how to pass tests without even cracking the book.
Lastly, the reading comprehension portions on the SAT exams are not measuring basic reading skills but, rather, critical reading skills. I am a very strong reader--I can read in three languages fluently--and I did horribly on the SAT in college. But it wasn't because of my teachers--it was b/c I never took a test prep course to teach me how to take the test and do well on it
It does mention a gap at the high school level, which is fair, but it also mentions a lot of other factors that come into play that affect reading comprehension. Consequently, I will reiterate that to blame teachers--and *only* teachers--for this gap is completely untenable; that's like saying that police officers aren't doing their jobs b/c crimes are still being commited.
I will also reiterate that, when a teacher is telling a parent what he/she needs to do as a parent to improve his/her child's ability to read, and the parent refuses to do anything about it, then you will end up with this current situation: finger pointing rather than problem solving. Teachers are not the enemy: we are telling parents what they need to do in order to get the results that they want from their kids. Unfortunately, this isn't the answer that parents want to hear.
Moreover, while there are some basics, reading takes good 'ol fashioned concentration and hard work. Like a lot of skills, no one can really teach you, you have to just dedicate yourself to it so that you get stronger. Case in point: I'm currently prepping for the GRE and the teacher has already stated that she can't teach anyone in the class to read quickly; you've either been reading for a long time and have thereby acquired the ability to read accurately and quickly, or you haven't. If you haven't, there is really nothing any teacher can do about it now.
Furthermore, standardized tests are not accurate indicators of a teacher's job performance. There have been too many threads that have already proven this point, so I won't get into it. However, I will point out that just because a teacher teaches doesn't mean that the students are listening and doing the work that they need to do in order to learn. Especially wrt reading, I know a lot of students who have learned how to pass tests without even cracking the book.
Lastly, the reading comprehension portions on the SAT exams are not measuring basic reading skills but, rather, critical reading skills. I am a very strong reader--I can read in three languages fluently--and I did horribly on the SAT in college. But it wasn't because of my teachers--it was b/c I never took a test prep course to teach me how to take the test and do well on it
BS-there are PLENTY of kids that never take prep classes and do just fine. The prep classes MIGHT give you VERY SLIGHT edge but not enough of a difference to go from "poorly" to getting a top score. Being able to read fluently in 3 languages really has no bearing on doing well on the SAT or not. Like you said, it tests critical reading skills and how you APPLY what you have read. Comprehension is a very different skill from reading.
Of course the scores are going to go down when the people taking the test goes from the top college-bound students (in the past) to practically all students (these days). If anything, it shows what a huge waste of time and money reform efforts (namely NCLB) have been.
This, in a nutshell. is exactly why the scores are lower.
Used to be that kids who had no intention of going to college didn't bother taking the SAT. Now everyone is 'encouraged' to take it, whether needed or not.
I'm not saying that kids shouldn't be able to read, write or do some higher arithmetic, just that this assumption that everyone should or must perform to the same exceptional standards else their teachers are doing a lousy job is hogwash.
BREAKING NEWS, school has ONLY one valedictorian, TEACHERS FAILING the majority of student body.
Excellent
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