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SAT's are basically college entrance exams, and Florida kids take them as well.
What I have seen is that up North teachers teach you to think and solve problems. You learn critical thinking skills. Down south they teach you to memorize. In 12 years of school up north I had one class ever where we had to memorize to the test--and it was a terrible class that I retained absolutely nothing from. (And I admit that there is some memorization required in any school--times tables, spelling words, etc. That is not the learning by rote that I'm referring to.)
One other enormous difference I've noticed is with language arts. Up north kids are taught proper grammatical usage and writing skills. Down south it seems that other than spelling needed for the FCAT, there are minimal language arts taught.
I've compared my northern education with southern friends, and much of what I learned my junior and senior year of high school were never taught in the south. I have several college level educators in my family, and they all feel that the students from the southern states--including Florida--are overall not as well prepared academically for college as those from northern schools.
Of course there will always be some exceptions. There are certainly some northern schools that are failures, and there are some southern schools that are exemplary.
Were you a teacher up North? You seemed to have hit the nail on the head. All the things you have pointed out, memorization, proper grammer and writing skills are definetly not emphasized here. I could never pin point it when I was helping my kids with their homework. I thought it was me just getting old and there was a new way of teaching.lol
As I have said I don't think my children are getting a poor education but its great to know how I can improve on what they may be missing.
All the hispanics are flooding in??? Geez, Hispanics have always been the majority in south florida... Miami is over 85% hispanic. The school administrators and the teachers are all hispanics. You also said that hispanics are a burden??? you might be the most ignorant man... Hispanic parents pay taxes as well...
And most of them are bilingual, that`s a lot better that being monolingual.
Hispanics have recently become a majority in part of S. Florida. This has not always been the case. Yes many Hispanics pay taxes and follow the rules but the latest wave coming here do not want to live the same way. They refuse to learn English, they expect and demand free medical care, free food, free housing, free schooling, welfare, etc., etc. Plus they are very much contributing to the huge rise in crime to put it mildly. They aren't coming here to play by our rules. They bring the third world rules with them and want to stick with those. Very selfish.
Bilingual is better than being monolingual?? English is our national language and we never needed to learn another language until the Hispanics overwhelmed our borders and demanded we cater to them.
I'm proud of being a red blooded American and speaking only English. Who needs Spanish spoken here? If they don't want to speak our language when they come here then go back to the banana republic and the dirt floor shanty town. Let's see if they get free money and medical care there.
Hispanics have recently become a majority in part of S. Florida. This has not always been the case. Yes many Hispanics pay taxes and follow the rules but the latest wave coming here do not want to live the same way. They refuse to learn English, they expect and demand free medical care, free food, free housing, free schooling, welfare, etc., etc. Plus they are very much contributing to the huge rise in crime to put it mildly. They aren't coming here to play by our rules. They bring the third world rules with them and want to stick with those. Very selfish.
Bilingual is better than being monolingual?? English is our national language and we never needed to learn another language until the Hispanics overwhelmed our borders and demanded we cater to them.
I'm proud of being a red blooded American and speaking only English. Who needs Spanish spoken here? If they don't want to speak our language when they come here then go back to the banana republic and the dirt floor shanty town. Let's see if they get free money and medical care there.
Don't let people from South Florida ruin the rest of Florida.
South Florida, specifically Miami is lost already. The city is a cesspool that manages to make every "top 5 worst" list conducted in the United States.
I don't think the Hispanics coming here is the reason someone should learn Spanish. I was educated up north, and part of our elementary education was language arts. I started to learn French in Kindergarten, and continued through 6th grade. Once in middle school, I chose Spanish. Once in high school, I elected Latin. I don't see any Romans coming here, but it broadened my overall knowledge. I was actually able to write and read with more depth b/c the English language is derived quite a bit from Latin. I can make my way through legal paperwork, and medical jargon quite easily as well.
Another thing to keep in mind...on the same throught process as PSouth's comments...if learning another language is ridiculous b/c this is America where we speak English....why do countries outside the US speak their own language as well as English? We aren't invading them? It's because they can conduct worldwide business, and become successful. The issue with the "true American blooded people" is that they are content to speak English (at times half cocked slang English at best), pick up the remote control, live their life off soundbites from ESPN, the news and Family Guy...crack a beer, make minimum wage, and get pissed that the world is evolving around them.
Don't get me wrong...I do think that our politics are a joke, and the "catering" mentality is pretty strong.
However, truthfully, the souther schools are lacking in the true meaning of well rounded educations. Saying learning another language is unnecessary b/c you live in the US and are American is like saying music class is a joke b/c you'll never be Bach. Or, art class is worthless b/c you aren't Picasso.
I don't think the Hispanics coming here is the reason someone should learn Spanish. I was educated up north, and part of our elementary education was language arts. I started to learn French in Kindergarten, and continued through 6th grade. Once in middle school, I chose Spanish. Once in high school, I elected Latin. I don't see any Romans coming here, but it broadened my overall knowledge. I was actually able to write and read with more depth b/c the English language is derived quite a bit from Latin. I can make my way through legal paperwork, and medical jargon quite easily as well.
Another thing to keep in mind...on the same throught process as PSouth's comments...if learning another language is ridiculous b/c this is America where we speak English....why do countries outside the US speak their own language as well as English? We aren't invading them? It's because they can conduct worldwide business, and become successful. The issue with the "true American blooded people" is that they are content to speak English (at times half cocked slang English at best), pick up the remote control, live their life off soundbites from ESPN, the news and Family Guy...crack a beer, make minimum wage, and get pissed that the world is evolving around them.
Don't get me wrong...I do think that our politics are a joke, and the "catering" mentality is pretty strong.
However, truthfully, the souther schools are lacking in the true meaning of well rounded educations. Saying learning another language is unnecessary b/c you live in the US and are American is like saying music class is a joke b/c you'll never be Bach. Or, art class is worthless b/c you aren't Picasso.
Learning a foreign language should always be encouraged, but it should never be "forced", as is pretty much the case in Miami. Just go to Careerbuilder.com and search Miami jobs and see for yourself how many of them require an applicant to be bilingual in both English and Spanish. In Miami, the minority became the majority, to the point that those who have lived here for generations are now outsiders and not part of the "clique" or morons that is Miami, Florida.
I don't think the Hispanics coming here is the reason someone should learn Spanish. I was educated up north, and part of our elementary education was language arts. I started to learn French in Kindergarten, and continued through 6th grade. Once in middle school, I chose Spanish. Once in high school, I elected Latin. I don't see any Romans coming here, but it broadened my overall knowledge. I was actually able to write and read with more depth b/c the English language is derived quite a bit from Latin. I can make my way through legal paperwork, and medical jargon quite easily as well.
Another thing to keep in mind...on the same throught process as PSouth's comments...if learning another language is ridiculous b/c this is America where we speak English....why do countries outside the US speak their own language as well as English? We aren't invading them? It's because they can conduct worldwide business, and become successful. The issue with the "true American blooded people" is that they are content to speak English (at times half cocked slang English at best), pick up the remote control, live their life off soundbites from ESPN, the news and Family Guy...crack a beer, make minimum wage, and get pissed that the world is evolving around them.
Don't get me wrong...I do think that our politics are a joke, and the "catering" mentality is pretty strong.
However, truthfully, the souther schools are lacking in the true meaning of well rounded educations. Saying learning another language is unnecessary b/c you live in the US and are American is like saying music class is a joke b/c you'll never be Bach. Or, art class is worthless b/c you aren't Picasso.
Good post! As an English Teacher who has made his living off of traveling the world and teaching English...I agree wholeheartedly.
Almost everywhere in the world people are studying and learning and speaking English...but it doesn't make them any less Brazilian, Japanese, or Korean or whatever else...it just makes them more marketable and knowledgeable and...well, pretty much all plusses.
I think it really is ONLY in America that you would have people so strongly fighting to remain unknowledgeable and try to force those ideals on to others of your own countrymen.
In all my time abroad, I met one Korean who told me 'you are in Korea, speak Korean!'...as I spoke English to my fellow foreign friend. It was pretty weird as another language is somehow offensive. Yet, it seems like back in my own country, the U.S., half of the nation is extremely offended and almost hate-filled to hear another language.
I think it also just perpetuates the stereotypes that Americans are ignorant and dumb with a horrible education system. I've tried to argue that point 10000s of times to say 'no, it's not everyone, the U.S. DOES incredible well in the world, and there are reasons for it'. But over the years I've come to the conclusion is it because the U.S. attracts bilinguals and very educated from all over the world, as it doesn't so readily producing it itself as you'd think a leader in the world should be able to produce the best students, citizens, most knowledgeable, etc.
Learning a foreign language should always be encouraged, but it should never be "forced", as is pretty much the case in Miami. Just go to Careerbuilder.com and search Miami jobs and see for yourself how many of them require an applicant to be bilingual in both English and Spanish. In Miami, the minority became the majority, to the point that those who have lived here for generations are now outsiders and not part of the "clique" or morons that is Miami, Florida.
Miami is certainly not the benchmark of the US. We were talking "America" and not one city in the very bottom left side of a very large country. Miami is an enigma, and b/c of that...I understand your thoughts about it. However, wherever someone is the minority, they are going to have issues with the majority. Its human nature.
I agree with BCreass in that learning another language is important and I think it has pretty much been a school requirement for decades now. I don't believe it shoud be forced on a country by waves of freeloading Hispanic immigrants either. You can learn other languages but you should not have to speak another one in your home country where English has always been the national language. You can't even get a job in S. Florida if you don't speak Spanish now. I had one interview where they expected me to speak English, Spanish, and Creole Haitian and this was for a professional marketing job. It wasn't sales to the general public or anything like that. Guess what I didn't get the job because I only speak English. Go to a banana republic and try to get them to speak only English and see what happens. Go to every bank, store, restaurant, parking garage, whatever and you will find people speaking only Spanish everywhere here. This is a major snub to our country and language. It is our fault since we continue to let them in and give them their way.
We have given away the shop. And, yes, this definitely effects the schools and education levels. What do you think is gonna happen when you have the poorest and most uneducated people in the world coming here with a language problem and flooding our school system?
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