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I posted this on a California thread but it is relevant to this topic. Take a look at what the demographics of public schools were for the 2013-2014 school year in California. This is what is coming to your state.
I would like to know why the Disney channel can't produce a Latino, black or Asian heartthrob in this world of so many minority kids? We are constantly fed the idea that ONLY white kids can be this type. The only exceptions that I can think of are Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato (white Hispanics). Disney should step up and offer more minority stars and explain why they still have a Mouseketeer mentality when it comes to their star making.
I would like to know why the Disney channel can't produce a Latino, black or Asian heartthrob in this world of so many minority kids? We are constantly fed the idea that ONLY white kids can be this type. The only exceptions that I can think of are Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato (white Hispanics). Disney should step up and offer more minority stars and explain why they still have a Mouseketeer mentality when it comes to their star making.
I thought this thread was about education, not pop stars, most of whom never went to college.
So if bottom students are improving, why are so many on this thread blaming minorities for the US ranking as average?
Because their scores are still significantly lower than average. You've seen the huge score gaps between Asians/Whites and Hispanics/Blacks.
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Why are top students declining? Do they live in districts that do not perceive value in AP classes? Or is it a lack of funding?
AP classes don't start until high school, sometimes not until 11th grade, and more and more schools are allowing anyone to take them (even if they're not academically prepared for the rigor) which pulls the instructional level down in AP classes. Up until AP classes, most schools have mixed ability classes which also pulls the instructional level down to below average. Public schools are extremely loathe to group classes by ability (high, medium, low, etc.) because it's not pc, so the instructional level is frequently way too low for the top students.
It's not a funding problem, it's a public schools think they can ignore the smart kids because they already know what they're trying to get the struggling students to learn problem. Can't have highly achieving top students if we only teach to the below average level in our public schools' mixed ability classes.
Here are some of the problems associated with opening AP classes to all:
So if bottom students are improving, why are so many on this thread blaming minorities for the US ranking as average?
It's not so much blame as it is the root cause. Hispanics/blacks score lower than whites or Asians, so when you increase the Hispanic/black population you are going to get lower averages. The only exception to this is when you add a self selected group. For example, African immigrants outperform everyone else in the USA and the UK, but they aren't who we have been adding. The good news is that group scores are improving, but the US average will continue to decline until minorities catch up with everybody else.
Additionally, for science, we are just ahead of Japan if you look at the USA average for students in schools with less than 10% free lunch participation. Japan had .5 more students scoring at the very top level and .8 less at the next highest level.
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Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
Why are top students declining? Do they live in districts that do not perceive value in AP classes? Or is it a lack of funding?
Or maybe, just maybe, some top students are not making the same effort as top students in those countries that perform better on tests.
Can't speak about the trend with top students. PISA released the score distributions for 2012 and broke that down by race & free lunch participation, but I haven't seen those breakdowns in the other reports..
It's because of selective admissions. Students are sorted by skill/ability level into different schools and therefore receive an education much more suited to their needs. Everyone learns more under those circumstances. U.S. Public K-12 nearly universally refuses to do the same, so we're stuck on stupid.
The comprehensive school was one of the worst ideas to hit education.
We need specialized schools and selective admissions in public secondary schools. Perhaps make all schools charters, like they did in New Orleans. Also, introduce vouchers - so the liberals can no longer engage in white flight.
ESL/ELL is huge in schools and now we have to provide linguistic accommodations through high school.
English is a second language for them. In schools you have English in the classrooms but it's discriminatory to ask them to speak English outside of the classroom.
Were children ever required to speak English outside of the classroom?
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