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I have believed this for a long time. Not enough emphasis is put into the sciences and mathematics in grade school, which completely messes people up for high school. Too much emphasis on English, which isn't a bad thing but more needs to be placed onto other subjects.
Shoot, I don't even know where to begin on how we could remodel our education system. Maybe it is time the United States starts to take a look at other countries, and model off of them.
I think there is enough math in scool. I took pre algebra, geometry, algebra 1, and algebra 2. That was too much math for me considering I hate it and rarely use any forumulas ever in real life. Math could be consolidated into one class where algebra and geometry are taught together but at separate times.
In my opinion math needs to be toned down. They need more life skills courses, communication classes, business, applied psychology, sociology, etc.
I do think they should tone down on English and focus more on teaching secondary research skills and writing solid essays skills.
Science is alright but again is rarely used unless you plan to go into medical school or be a medical tech.
High school needs to be more like college. You should be able to choose a plan and not be dictated what to learn.
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Originally Posted by AaronK
I have believed this for a long time. Not enough emphasis is put into the sciences and mathematics in grade school, which completely messes people up for high school. Too much emphasis on English, which isn't a bad thing but more needs to be placed onto other subjects.
Shoot, I don't even know where to begin on how we could remodel our education system. Maybe it is time the United States starts to take a look at other countries, and model off of them.
High school needs to be more like college. You should be able to choose a plan and not be dictated what to learn.
High schools in Philadelphia do this. In 8th grade you apply to high school, and can choose 1) your local school, 2) another school in the regular education program, or 3) a specialized program. Regular programs vary in difficulty and quality, so if you don't know what you are particularly interested in you can still try to get into a good general program. As for specialized track, there are programs in air & space, sciences, political science, international affairs, agricultural sciences, veterinary sciences, performing arts, etc. There are certain requirements that every program needs to fulfill, but it's all done with the specialized focus in mind. I always thought it was interesting, and does seem beneficial to those who have an area of interest.
I think there is enough math in scool. I took pre algebra, geometry, algebra 1, and algebra 2. That was too much math for me considering I hate it and rarely use any forumulas ever in real life. Math could be consolidated into one class where algebra and geometry are taught together but at separate times.
In my opinion math needs to be toned down. They need more life skills courses, communication classes, business, applied psychology, sociology, etc.
I do think they should tone down on English and focus more on teaching secondary research skills and writing solid essays skills.
Science is alright but again is rarely used unless you plan to go into medical school or be a medical tech.
High school needs to be more like college. You should be able to choose a plan and not be dictated what to learn.
Artsyguy, your experience with pre-algebra through algebra 2 has nothing to do with the OP's comment (emphasis mine):
Quote:
Not enough emphasis is put into the sciences and mathematics in grade school
As for choice in high school, a common and sensible argument is that a large percentage of high school students have no idea on what they would like to focus, and too little experience (or pre-frontal cortex development) to make wise decisions about their futures.
A book from 25 or so years ago that you might find interesting is The Shopping Mall High School.
Further, a lot of folks complain that their colleges have too many requirements, and college should be more like grad school!
In grade school the math teachers were terrible. All the other subjects were interesting. Psychology needs to be taught in grade school. Too many freakish and dysfunctional kids and teens these days. The school needs to try and correct that by teaching psychology as a main subject.
We need to completely scrap and change our nations education system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronK
I have believed this for a long time. Not enough emphasis is put into the sciences and mathematics in grade school, which completely messes people up for high school. Too much emphasis on English, which isn't a bad thing but more needs to be placed onto other subjects.
Shoot, I don't even know where to begin on how we could remodel our education system. Maybe it is time the United States starts to take a look at other countries, and model off of them.
I can't argue with the need to make major changes, Aaron.
Unfortunately, meaningful change is a lot harder than just believing in it. (This is not a knock at your post, just an observation on the general willingness to act in society rather than merely bemoaning the state of things.)
I'm not actually convinced that we put insufficient emphasis on math in elementary school - figure that we spend roughly 750-800 hours on math instruction from 1st - 6th grades combined (at ~45 minutes per day, ~170 day per year). Teaching all of the math learned in those years, but to a 12 or 13 year old, takes somewhere between 15% and 20% of that time, starting from scratch - for average students.
Not that we couldn't teach more than we do, certainly. The new course content on an annual basis from 5th - 8th grades is negligible! There is a reason it is so easy to simply dump 8th grade math in favor of Algebra I, as is done in so many places for at least the more advanced students.
I might debate the English assertion, too, not because I think the emphasis is right, but because volume of attention to a subject is not the only issue. The direction of the emphasis is at least as important. How much grammar? How much drama? What stories? How much writing and of what type? Is spelling truly important in this day of spel chekers?
I intend to come back to this post and question, but wanted to dash off a couple first reactions. Oh - as for models from other countries, I suspect you would be less thrilled with them the more familiar with them you became.
Or, as they say in Japan, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
Science is alright but again is rarely used unless you plan to go into medical school or be a medical tech.
Dude are you serious? Science is only useful for medical school or medical tech? Do you think a doctor created your computer? There are a massive number of careers that require knowledge in science, of course you can always work at McDonalds.
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As for choice in high school, a common and sensible argument is that a large percentage of high school students have no idea on what they would like to focus, and too little experience (or pre-frontal cortex development) to make wise decisions about their futures.
Right and many don't have parents that will correctly guide them in school. In high school I dropped out of AP science classes because I didn't like the teacher much. In reality she wasn't that bad. I also disliked mathematics in high school, yet I ended up getting a degree in it. Once I saw (by accident really) what Mathematics was really about I became interested in it. High school math courses (even the more advanced ones) never show you what mathematics is really about.
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