Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If one needs a computer to identify the Pacific Ocean on a map, it's not being 'ahead of the game'; it's being far behind it (as evidenced by our country's high-school students in direct comparison to other countries). No worries; utilizing 'math skills to calculate flight' is not a proposed requirement (nor is it a relevant comparison, lol).
I'm stunned by the (offensively) defensive stance which is (ultimately) against (a basic) education? How do people expect America to be great again (pun intended) if we're lacking in education, as a whole?
I agree with your post.
The idea that modern technology gives us everything we need at our fingertips is pretty much true. The problem is that those same people who don't have an interest in geography and history aren't going to educate themselves using all that technology. For all too many young people, computers and the internet are merely about gaming.
Almost everyone in this thread has proceeded from a false premise:
That it has ever been any different. It hasn't been, it's just more noticeable now because of media and the fact that people, whom in the past would have had 8th Grade be their Senior year, are now graduating from high school and, in some cases, going to at least community college.
One thing I noticed with almost all new teachers throughout my career is that they were stunned at how many of their students couldn't read at anything approaching grade level. That's because, for most of those teachers, they had spent their school years in Honors/College Prep classes and only were around the General Ed kids in non-academic classes like PE or Art.
That used to be a stunt on Leno, to ask simple questions and then show on air the dumbest people. It would be interesting to do a real study.
I think the results would be about the same unfortunately. If young students don't know then there isn't much hope for their parents either.
I observe that the USA is insular in many facets and one of them is world geography. The idea that there is no reason to look beyond USA because they claim they are the "best country in the world" but don't realize the truth that their allies have the same thing and probably more except for military might and nuclear weapons, and a propensity to categorize themselves as aligned with one of two political parties as part of their personal character and daily life.
May I suggest you parents having a large globe on hand while kids are growing up? While we had encyclopedias we regularly went to during dinner discussions or other times---looking back, I really wish we had a globe. My husband had a lighted one growing up, and as a result, was more geographically informed than I was.
I didn't know where Ecuador was until I planned to move here, nor it's neighbors---I had just never given it any thought at all before moving here. But if we'd had a globe, I'm sure I would have looked it up decades before this as we have relatives here and Peru.
I am embarrassed to say I did not even know the shape or EXACT location of Greece, until I had tickets to visit and was researching the various islands. I really never looked at Europe until I went there. Always interested in it, but I guess geography escaped me.
If you have the world on a globe, then you'd have the countries in your mind after awhile.
I'm still looking for a nice lighted one on a stand...
May I suggest you parents having a large globe on hand while kids are growing up? While we had encyclopedias we regularly went to during dinner discussions or other times---looking back, I really wish we had a globe. My husband had a lighted one growing up, and as a result, was more geographically informed than I was.
......
When I was a kid I had this full size wall map of the earth on my bedroom wall. I think I mother got it for subscribing to National Geographic.
Anyway I grew up in the era of National Geographic specials and Jacques Cousteau on TV. My best friend T.R. and I watched those religiously and plotted them on that map. We also devoured any book we could find on mountain climbing or exploring the Amazon, Africa, and the polar regions. We spent hours planning our "expeditions" by reading up on where we'd go. Amazing how much geography and natural history we accidently learned playing with that big map.
Almost everyone in this thread has proceeded from a false premise:
That it has ever been any different. It hasn't been, it's just more noticeable now because of media and the fact that people, whom in the past would have had 8th Grade be their Senior year, are now graduating from high school and, in some cases, going to at least community college.
One thing I noticed with almost all new teachers throughout my career is that they were stunned at how many of their students couldn't read at anything approaching grade level. That's because, for most of those teachers, they had spent their school years in Honors/College Prep classes and only were around the General Ed kids in non-academic classes like PE or Art.
NBP,
How far back are you going when say, "the fact that people, whom in the past would have had 8th Grade be their Senior year, are now graduating from high school..."? I actually looked up this kind of information once and was surprised. If I remember correctly, this country reached 50% of students graduating from high school around 1947. My father who was born in 1933 dropped out of high school and started working in a factory when he was 17. My mother who was born in 1935, graduated from high school in 1953.
Regarding your last paragraph, I definitely am in that category. I went to a large high school (graduated around 600). We were grouped in classes based on test scores. I never had a class after 6th grade, other than PE and homeroom, with at least 2/3 of my graduating class.
NBP,
How far back are you going when say, "the fact that people, whom in the past would have had 8th Grade be their Senior year, are now graduating from high school..."? I actually looked up this kind of information once and was surprised. If I remember correctly, this country reached 50% of students graduating from high school around 1947. My father who was born in 1933 dropped out of high school and started working in a factory when he was 17. My mother who was born in 1935, graduated from high school in 1953.
Regarding your last paragraph, I definitely am in that category. I went to a large high school (graduated around 600). We were grouped in classes based on test scores. I never had a class after 6th grade, other than PE and homeroom, with at least 2/3 of my graduating class.
You and I are of the age, and geographic area, where a significant percentage of kids didn't graduate. Maybe 8th Grade wasn't their Senior year but 10th or 11th were.
My class started out at about 250 (in one of the, at that time, better thought of high schools in the area) and we graduated just over 180 (those numbers come from being bored at the last reunion and doing a yearbook/commencement program count). Now, some of those 70+/- kids moved away but the majority, the vast majority, dropped out. Some girls because they got pregnant, some of both sex because they got sick....of school.
Christ, we had a couple kids who dropped out in May of their Senior year.
I guess Geography, along with Phonics, have hit the cutting room floor.
What exactly is being taught in public schools these days?
Embarrassing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
