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I agree with your statement and also feel it is not only gym class that the parent has lost control and state has given standards the differ from the individual abilities. Public Schools believe they are better at knowning what is best for ALL kids. Which is the problem with most Government related programs and functions.
We agree, but the public schools can only do what is allowed by the state legislators. I find it interesting that we have such a strong focus on "peripheral issues" (I don't use profanity in posting, but would have used it here), while core academics continue to languish (insert another profanity).
And this was passed by a very "liberal" state legislation body.
We agree, but the public schools can only do what is allowed by the state legislators. I find it interesting that we have such a strong focus on "peripheral issues" (I don't use profanity in posting, but would have used it here), while core academics continue to languish (insert another profanity).
And this was passed by a very "liberal" state legislation body.
Suspected as much coming from California.. I'm sure it will move it way east to NJ and NY. Academics should be local controlled since most of the money comes from the local properity taxes and the school boards are usually local elections. Atleast that is how it is in NJ for the elections. I find if more local control of education was in the hands of local teachers and tax payers you might find those who make this stupid decisions accountable. Of course if you live in a very liberal township you will find crazy things also get put thru that you might disagree with often. :-)
We agree, but the public schools can only do what is allowed by the state legislators. I find it interesting that we have such a strong focus on "peripheral issues" (I don't use profanity in posting, but would have used it here), while core academics continue to languish (insert another profanity).
And this was passed by a very "liberal" state legislation body.
Just be glad that your Governator vetoed the California Legislature's attempt to weaken California's State Standards not too long ago.
"Democratic lawmakers in California pushed through a bill last year that would have lowered the state’s standards, which they called unrealistically high. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vetoed the measure. “Redefining the level of academic achievement necessary to designate students as ‘proficient’ does not make the students proficient,” he wrote in his veto message."
The California Gov's actual veto message:
http://gov.ca.gov/pdf/press/AB_2975_Veto_Message.pdf (broken link)
Regarding NCLB and State Standards...
Everyone needs to realize that student achievement is actually much lower than indicated in public schools' NCLB reports. States are allowed to construct their own NCLB tests and set their own 'passing' scores. This has resulted in manipulations that make it look like schools are getting better, when in reality the majority of students in many states are far below acceptable levels of proficiency. In some cases, there's as much as a 70 percentage point difference in proficiency levels between state achievement tests and the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) tests.
If you want to see your state's reported NCLB proficiency level vs. the NAEP proficiency level (to see if your public schools are being honest about providing an adequate education), check here: NAEP Researchcenter - NAEP and State Equivalent Percent Table
For each grade level, the first column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient (meets or exceeds state standards) on the state test; the second column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient on the NAEP (National test).
For all the complaining schools and teachers do about NCLB and testing, the reality of how poorly our country's children are being educated is far worse than many people think.
Wow, What's wrong with PE? What's even wrong with boot camp? We test kids for achievement in everything else and physical fitness is an important life skill. If it's hard, good. It's a growth experience to work hard at something. The coaches should be supportive just like a math teacher. You don't ridicule the kid who struggles in math, but you still demand that he struggle. The same should be true for PE.
Wow, What's wrong with PE? What's even wrong with boot camp? We test kids for achievement in everything else and physical fitness is an important life skill. If it's hard, good. It's a growth experience to work hard at something. The coaches should be supportive just like a math teacher. You don't ridicule the kid who struggles in math, but you still demand that he struggle. The same should be true for PE.
So, you take a kid who excels in academics but is overweight (one of the six criteria they need to pass) and you force them to continue to take PE, instead of other academically oriented classes. Also, the highlighting this kid as a "loser" to their peers, which only makes existing problems worse.
Even the measurement criteria doesn't make any sense at all. If the objective is to promote healthy long term lives, why not have the kids be certified that they make certain levels of physical effort (such as walking a couple of miles twice per week), as opposed to pushups or bodymass (a convoluted way of doing height/weight charts) measurements?
Simply a disgrace, and those legislators who advocated this requirement didn't think it through (to be charitable).
Just be glad that your Governator vetoed the California Legislature's attempt to weaken California's State Standards not too long ago.
"Democratic lawmakers in California pushed through a bill last year that would have lowered the state’s standards, which they called unrealistically high. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vetoed the measure. “Redefining the level of academic achievement necessary to designate students as ‘proficient’ does not make the students proficient,” he wrote in his veto message."
You know what is most interesting in all of this? When the test scores come in and our kids continue to do poorly, the complaint won't be about stupid curriculum requirements, it will be on INADEQUATE SCHOOL FUNDING!
I'd like to see vouchers, so parents and kids could select appropriate schools.
This current process of mandated local public schools, lack of choice for programs, mandates for nonsense, random non-academic requirements cannot continue without ruining our country.
I'd like to see parents pull the bright kids out of the public schools, and then let them also deal with the kids who should have dropped out and are now disruptive due to mandated attendance for a drivers license.
What a disgrace, I can't believe how misdirected this whole process is. I'd like to see full and open competition here, this is just beyond anything I can rationalize.
Great discussion. NewToCa, I agree completely, this is a load of...you know. PE does nothing to prove academic excellence, which is what school is supposed to be about. This is more "government knows best for you" legislating.
I was required to have gym every since year in school, I couldn't graduate HS without gym class. In 9th grade I failed gym class because I wore socks that weren't white too often and I refused to run the mile, I walked it instead. I had to make up the credit by taking a gym elective before I graduated. I'm not very athletic and hated team sports, I would deliberately slack off, this lowered my grade. So...while having good grades otherwise, my low PE scores dragged my GPA down.
Informed - good post. I also have an issue with fluffed up test scores. They lower the standards, and then when children don't meet them they propose a budget for more money. In my district, the fourth grade wasn't meeting the state requirements (don't even get me started on where the average in this state falls on the NAEP). Would you believe that in my district they actually created a "school within a school" by hiring all new administration for only the fourth grade?! The citizens expressed outrage, so they hired the principal on an hourly basis to test it out. Four years later, the principal is still there making $600 per day! (They said the test run would take longer than they thought). When test scores are low, the first thing I think of is that the students must need their own principal. Yeah, this is a little off of the PE topic, but relates to the way that public schools think.
I find the thought process behind it fascinating. Apparently this is all about promoting healthy living, but in effect they are really setting up non-athletic kids for significant abuse. I can already anticipate how the kid who has to take gym class in later grades will be regarded by their peer group, and how the supposedly enlightened folks are creating this problem.
I'd love to see the brightest kids transfer to private schools (consider this an embedded ad for school vouchers) and let the schools have to get these other kids up to snuff to compensate for those losses (drag down the overall score by the brightest kids leaving).
Then, we require the most disruptive to continue to attend school because we want to deny them a drivers license. So now you drop out AND can't transport yourself to work.
Very enlightened society we have here.
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vetoed the California Legislature's attempt to weaken California's State Standards not too long ago.
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