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I think it's very school dependent. The top students in some schools may be better prepared than others. But that doesn't mean all students are better prepared. Having more science credits does mean they actually learned science. This is an area that many science professional societies and employers (including mine -- mine will actually pay employees some hours to donate to STEM) have become concerned about. Kids are taking more chemistry and physics but graduating without actually knowing chemistry or physics the high school level. They enter college chem labs without knowing how to make basic measurements or do basic experiments. In too many schools science classes are like the one my kids graduated from -- window dressing. Sure, they had the class and filled the square/checked that box. There's also staring to be a reluctance to accept AP for core because they are finding it's not actually preparing students for college level work. How well the student is prepared for college level work is more dependent on the teacher than the score on the AP test.
I expressed this up-thread as "it depends on your zip code". The high cost of living professional bedroom towns I'm familiar with wouldn't stand for "window dressing". The tiger parents are programming their kids for success and that means admission to a top university with a strong foundation to be successful there. I'm from a part of the country where public schools are entirely local and the towns are extremely socioeconomically segregated. The top-25 towns have outstanding school systems. You go one town over to a working class town and it's that "window dressing" thing.
The other thing I spoke to is that highly selective universities educate at a far different level than a run-of-the-mill 3rd tier state school. When you have a classroom of the best and the brightest, you teach critical thought and you're covering the material at a far different level. At a community college, you largely have High School 'C' students who are ill-prepared, not motivated, and not all that bright. If you're a CC prof, you have no option but to teach to that level. They attend remedial high school and graduate with a meaningless Associate degree. They then go on to that 3rd tier state school which also has to teach to that level of student. I've spent my career in high tech. There are a few people with that kind of background who went that path because of life circumstances or it's all they could afford who are strong. It's a huge amount of effort to screen the wheat from the huge amount of chaff. Most employers won't bother. You're not even going to get a response if you apply to a FAANG-level company for a tech job with those academic credentials. They need people capable of critical thought.
It was supposed to be funny and it was. You have not noticed that Discovery, Nat Geo and all the educational channels are just full on stupid now ? Remember when Discovery first came out and you actually discovered-learned things ?
I think the answer to the original post is yes and no.
I would defy anyone to go to Longfellow Middle School or McLean High School in Fairfax County in Virginia and show me a dumbed down curriculum.
However, this reminds me of a time that I was traveling in Southeast Asia and visited several schools. I was asked what the American national education policy consisted of, and my response is "there is no American national educational policy". You have 50 states largely deciding on their own laws in regard to education, and within those states dozens or hundreds of local school boards refining those state policies. As a result, we're (literally) all over the map.
I think the answer to the original post is yes and no.
I would defy anyone to go to Longfellow Middle School or McLean High School in Fairfax County in Virginia and show me a dumbed down curriculum.
However, this reminds me of a time that I was traveling in Southeast Asia and visited several schools. I was asked what the American national education policy consisted of, and my response is "there is no American national educational policy". You have 50 states largely deciding on their own laws in regard to education, and within those states dozens or hundreds of local school boards refining those state policies. As a result, we're (literally) all over the map.
Do they teach about fractional reserve banking, the federal reserve act of 1913, debt standard etc??
I doubt, because if people were taught about finance and how to invest they wont fall into debt and credit card traps.
I didnt study in USA but all I was taught was about the narrative what we were supposed to know&Believe than what actually happened . So basically just get good grades, get a degree and get a job.
I have seen the difference in the American school system and the one in Ireland with nieces and nephews in both countries.
American schools have very low standards compared to Ireland. One troubled niece here in the states was giving chance after chance that she kept blowing and her parents let her. The girl has basically a 7th grade education and she was handed a diploma after barely completing a special in school program to get rid of her.
Meanwhile in Ireland the nieces and nephew had to really challenge themselves with languages and higher learning.
I feel that the kids abroad having graduated high school are more capable than many American kids after 4 years of college.
The emphasis on education just seems so much more important in Ireland than it does here but of course an education does come down to the individual student and how much they challenge themselves.
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