Concerned about Oregon Schools

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Some of the best universities?? The OP was concerned about academics, not football.

I stand by what I said. And don't forget Reed, George Fox, and Linfield.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

I stand by what I said.......

Then you better inform the ranking services that they are wrong.

The U. of O., Oregon's flagship university isn't even ranked in the top 100 here:

National University Rankings | Top National Universities | US News Best Colleges

If you don't like those rankings since they don't agree with you, see if you can find an Oregon university in the Times Higher Education Top 400 World University Rankings . (Dominated by U.S. universities so you can't claim British prejudice.) I couldn't.

Top 400 - The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-2012

Overall rankings are pretty useless.

Individual departments vary wildly - e.g. OSU has some programs that are among the best in the nation (Nuclear Engineering, Forestry, for example), but it also has a bunch that are wholly forgettable (all of liberal arts).

Anyway, the more immediate concern seems to be K-12, where Oregon really manages to suck. If you live in an area where people care about their kids' education (e.g. the college towns and high income suburbs), then the schools are perfectly fine. The rest of the state varies from "meh" to "breathtakingly terrible." All the centralization of funding in the world can't make up for crappy parents who think throwing a piece of dead pig around is more important than learning to add.

[Larry Caldwell]

I think everyone agrees that Oregon's public school system is pretty wretched. I don't blame it on the teaching so much as "all kids have a right to an education." There is a small minority that disrupts the school system and ruins it for everyone. About a decade ago, the principal of Roseburg High School expelled about 10% of the student body. (180 kids out of 1800.) He let about 150 back into school after a parent conference, but the other 30 were not welcome back. He set some very strict conditions on their return, and they generally didn't.

When Thomas Jefferson promoted universal education, he envisioned primary education for everyone, secondary education for about 1/3 of the population, and university training for 10%. In the days when those ratios more or less held, a high school graduate knew Latin, could solve complex mathematical problems, was skilled in rhetoric and debate, and was conversant with world history and philosophy. They got that education in a one room schoolhouse where students were exposed to advanced material almost every day. If a 3rd grader understood algebra, they could do the same problems as a 6th grader.

Americans don't realize how much the curriculum has been dumbed down to meet the needs of mediocre minds. Mommy and Daddy may have a high school diploma, but they forgot everything they learned before the ink was dry. If someone had told them they weren't smart enough to get a high school education they might have had higher aspirations for their kids. Instead, mediocre goes from generation to generation, helped along by the Oregon school system.

With over 50% of high school graduates going on to college, the same process is starting to happen at the university level. There is only so much sugar you can stuff into a 5 lb. sack. My nephew is taking a 400 level psych class on stress, and all they do is lay around on the floor and talk. No tests. No textbook. 3 credits. Isn't that just precious?

[Silverfall]

Did you guys see Mike Rowe's
testimony before Congress? I thought it was great and it relates to education.

The problem we have as a nation is that we are unwilling to admit that college isn't for everyone and that is okay. Lots of other valuable things to do in this world other than college.

I can also say as a parent that I live in a wealthier part of Salem that feeds into a "good" school here locally. It gets good test scores and has good parent participation. It doesn't even come close to the quality of education that my kids are getting at private school this year. We had to pull them out of public when we heard about the SK budget and projected class sizes. I don't care how educated your parents are, how involved, or how good the teachers are....they can't teach effectively with 35 kids in a class.

I knew that the curriculum at the public school was dumbed down, but didn't realize just how much until we went private. My kids have hustled this year to try and get caught up.

[haggardhouseelf]

We have become so frustrated with Sheldon High School in Eugene. They consider 3 classes per term to be a full schedule. There are four terms per year, two semesters. Yes, with block scheduling and 83 minute class periods it does meet certain requirements... BUT... it also means your student has long stretches of time without consistent studies in math, english, writing, science, social studies, etc. With these breaks in-between studies - some breaks as long as an entire school year, but most are whole semesters/2 terms - knowledge is lost. It also makes it very hard to do well on the (stupid) assessment tests that now they must pass in order to graduate. UGH.

He goes to school at 8:56 and by 1:52 he's done for the day. This includes a 40 minute off-campus lunch period where he and the rest of the high schoolers have nothing to do. (Why do elementary kids have 15 minutes to eat and yet the high schoolers are given 40? Middle schoolers get 30 minutes... I don't understand it.) Anyway, he says he is extremely bored, and is just biding his time until he can graduate and get on with his life.

There are lots of other things we also have had trouble with at Sheldon High School, but they are small issues compared to the problematic block scheduling and not being able to have a full schedule each term so that our kids attend for a full school day like they should be able to. It's ridiculous.

And supposedly Sheldon High School is supposed to be the #2 public high school in the state? I don't believe it. No possible way. They just released the district report cards and Sheldon is listed as being "In Need of Improvement". Of course... much of the data we have about our schools are based on those (stupid) assessment tests.

[Nell Plotts]

Children who come from families that value learning do well and if the school has parents with similar values the school is strong.

My Portland area grandchildren are very young so I can't comment about their grade school yet.

I have one grandchild in first grade in the Silicon Valley. When we were visiting at Christmas I talked to him in a way that assumed he understood basic division. DD quickly told me that he was too young for that.. but he gave me the correct answer. He understood the concept very well. Recently I heard that his school district is trying out Khan Academy in a couple of classes. I think this is a tool that students should be using particularly in mathematics.

Frankly I did not let the school LIMIT my child's learning and I didn't delegate the process entirely to a teacher. My children were very different in their learning styles and interests, I moved one a couple times to make sure that he stayed on track.

[Steve Pickering]

Sheldon is one of the best in the state. It goes down hill from there.

[clogan98]

Okay seriously? I had one simple question. This is why I flat out said I was not trying to start any crap on here. I was just wondering about the reasoning behind the lower test scores. God, I was just CURIOUS! I understand some people have nothing better to do besides spout off with their crap opinions, but give me a break. This O.P. would like this topic to end as I did not mean to **** people off! I asked about schools. THAT'S IT! Mr Leisesturm, you are free to keep your negativity to yourself, and by the way I AM moving to OR in June. Hope your disappointed.

[Nell Plotts]

I don't think it is possible to generalize about the schools in any state and each of us may have a different take on how to measure student achievement. The only nation-wide test of which I am aware is the SAT/ACT and even here the % of students taking that test varies greatly from school to school.