Education

[darkhorse85]

Face it, most college guys searching for the perfect wives or vice-verse .... really, who cares about real learning? Bonus: party times !! Or else too lazy to work after high school (my son). Most 4-years college degrees are worthless. Valuable aspects are engineers, doctors, BSN nurses, teachers, business, physics/chemistry, computer science ...... that's about it.

 

And mandatory military service after high school and before college (males only). Most civilized countries are required.

 

Why? And why males only? This would only weaken the strength of our military. Plus that would be a logistical nightmare if we had a huge influx in numbers like that. A strictly voluntary military is the way to go.

[strigori]

 

And mandatory military service after high school and before college (males only). Most civilized countries are required.

We are back to the size of nations. A lot of these countries that require military service (Israel and Sweden come to mind) have about the population of New York City. And Israel is kind of in a hostile environment to begin with. And in our case, we have no need of a military with several million members. Even in world wars did we bring in that kind of numbers.

[Hooked on Huskers]

 

Face it, most college guys searching for the perfect wives or vice-verse .... really, who cares about real learning? Bonus: party times !! Or else too lazy to work after high school (my son). Most 4-years college degrees are worthless. Valuable aspects are engineers, doctors, BSN nurses, teachers, business, physics/chemistry, computer science ...... that's about it.

 

And mandatory military service after high school and before college (males only). Most Half of civilized countries are required.

 

.......... This would only weaken the strength of our military. Plus that would be a logistical nightmare if we had a huge influx in numbers like that. A strictly voluntary military is the way to go.

 

 

Yeah, you're probably right with the exception of comrades military force. In Russia, all males are liable for one year of compulsory military service. South Korea too (90 millions population). BTW, I was wrong, behind the times as usually ....... now map shows half of the countries or so got a mandatory service instead of most.

 

And I despise Vietnam draft rules based on birthday date. Basically a spinning ball lottery !

 

Oh by the way, 99% or more males dominate troops except a few military nurses, admin typists, secretaries, gophers, etc. for every countries except us.

 

EDIT: Take it back - Iraq Female Army. First thought, god damn hotter than hell (body temp.) when wearing a black veiled hijab .

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Parents today are misunderstanding what it means to be involved in their child's education. Or they are unaware of how to be effectively involved in their child's education. Effective doesn't mean complaining at to a teacher at parent teacher conferences about a student's failing grades until the teacher just gifts the student a better grade. Effective means being more involved in a child's education outside of school, when they're working on homework.

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Final_Parent_Involvement_Fact_Sheet_14732_7.pdf

[Moiraine]

There are serious problems with our educational system, but when comparing our test scores to other countries people need to consider what our philosophy/values are. I'm not an expert on China but I'm pretty damn sure they don't put the money/care into children with disabilities that we do.

 

Our attitude is to make sure everyone gets an education no matter what. We aren't limiting it to the best and the brightest, so the test-takers are not our best and brightest like they are in lots of other countries. When you can get into lots of public schools with an 18 on the ACT, then almost anyone can go to college. There are obviously good things and bad things about this. I lean toward wanting the gifted kids in high school to be given the most attention instead of focusing on the lowest common denominator, but at the same time I do think it's commendable what we do for students who are at the opposite end of the spectrum.

[BigRedBuster]

Parents today are misunderstanding what it means to be involved in their child's education. Or they are unaware of how to be effectively involved in their child's education. Effective doesn't mean complaining at to a teacher at parent teacher conferences about a student's failing grades until the teacher just gifts the student a better grade. Effective means being more involved in a child's education outside of school, when they're working on homework.

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Final_Parent_Involvement_Fact_Sheet_14732_7.pdf

That is some very good information. Two things I want to point out though.

1) First one is just something that is frustrating and funny at the same time. My mother and father both started off as school teachers out of HS. So, both valued teaching kids and the value of education. When my older siblings started school, (late 60s early 70s) the school actually told my parents to stop teaching us to read at home because THEY thought THEY should be teaching that at school the "right" way. Well, that went over like a fart in church. But, I point that out because I think the education community has come full circle on that. They did go through a pompous attitude period where THEY were the experts and they didn't need the parent's help to teach things. Well...that didn't go so well did it.

 

2) I think this is much more than just helping with homework. It is setting a certain attitude and expectations towards education with your children. So many children grow up in homes where the parents don't even care about education or they don't stress the value of it. I fully understand a single parent has a harder time especially if they have to work a couple jobs to make ends meet. They can't be at every function...etc. However, they still can instill in their children what is expected and set high expectations. They might not be there to do homework with them every single night. But, the kid can still understand the importance of getting it done and the consequences of not doing so.

[BigRedBuster]

Can someone please explain to me what exactly the Department of Education does? This isn't a smart ass question. I honestly don't know. I was just in Washington and they have a pretty dang big building so they must do something.

[tschu]

Probably nothing. Why do we fund those bastards anyway.

[tschu]

Parents today are misunderstanding what it means to be involved in their child's education. Or they are unaware of how to be effectively involved in their child's education. Effective doesn't mean complaining at to a teacher at parent teacher conferences about a student's failing grades until the teacher just gifts the student a better grade. Effective means being more involved in a child's education outside of school, when they're working on homework.

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Final_Parent_Involvement_Fact_Sheet_14732_7.pdf

 

Man this really makes me appreciate my parents a ton. They went way out of their way to try to get my siblings and I to explore our world and not just watch TV all day. They were always finding fun activities for us to do, projects, puzzles, whether it was building small projects with my dad's carpentry tools in the garage, gardening, reading, whatever. Then in school-ages I couldn't do anything until my homework was done. I feel like I'm going to be a horrific parent in comparison when that time comes. Really scares me.

[VprHis]

I can see the point with regard to effective parenting. Several years ago, I was the instructor for about 50 college freshmen/sophomores in their intro molecular biology course. At the end of the semester, right after grades were released, this 19-year old kid's friggin parents show up, yelling at me that their precious offspring deserves an A. I told them their offspring needed to be present for that discussion, since he's an adult and privacy rules apply.

 

Oddly enough, they didn't come back. Too bad, because then I could have explained how offspring goofed off in the lab all semester, never came to office hours, or made an appointment to see me at another time--I was in the lab seven days a week, so all the students had an open invite to come talk things through, and we could even run through lab demos one-on-one--and I caught him plagiarizing.

 

So no. No "A" for little offspring.

 

There was a kid in the same section. Total meathead. Dumb as a stump. Put in the time and effort, and by the end of the semester, he knew the material better than just about anyone in the room. And the concepts behind it, so he could think his way through the reasoning questions on the exam.

 

If I impart no other knowledge to my daughters, they will know that you have to work for what you want. When you fail, that just means it's time to work some more. And do it better/smarter this time. And ask for help if you need it.

[BigRedBuster]

I can see the point with regard to effective parenting. Several years ago, I was the instructor for about 50 college freshmen/sophomores in their intro molecular biology course. At the end of the semester, right after grades were released, this 19-year old kid's friggin parents show up, yelling at me that their precious offspring deserves an A. I told them their offspring needed to be present for that discussion, since he's an adult and privacy rules apply.

 

Oddly enough, they didn't come back. Too bad, because then I could have explained how offspring goofed off in the lab all semester, never came to office hours, or made an appointment to see me at another time--I was in the lab seven days a week, so all the students had an open invite to come talk things through, and we could even run through lab demos one-on-one--and I caught him plagiarizing.

 

So no. No "A" for little offspring.

 

There was a kid in the same section. Total meathead. Dumb as a stump. Put in the time and effort, and by the end of the semester, he knew the material better than just about anyone in the room. And the concepts behind it, so he could think his way through the reasoning questions on the exam.

 

If I impart no other knowledge to my daughters, they will know that you have to work for what you want. When you fail, that just means it's time to work some more. And do it better/smarter this time. And ask for help if you need it.

Its funny because I know of only a couple times my parents were upset enough to go talk to a teacher. Every time it was because the teacher didn't expect more out of us. An example was one time a teacher actually told them they shouldn't expect as much out of my brother because he just wasn't as smart as his older brother. Wow......that pissed my father off. Fact was, the younger brother was just being lazy in school. Once the parents and teacher were on the same page, all of a sudden my brother was working harder and getting better grades.

[NUinID]

I guess I'm the opposite. I came from a small class B school and felt perfectly fine prepared for college when I got to Lincoln. Now, my school to this day has a very strong science and math department so maybe that is the difference.

 

I don't believe school size has anything to do with it. I think it has to do with the ability of certain schools to attract good teachers. AND....the willingness of the public in those towns to support efforts to get those teachers.

 

If you are comparing your average to below average small town student I think they are much better prepared than your average to below average big city student. The smaller classes etc. prepares them better. Now your high end smart kids taking AP courses at a larger HS are much better prepared than a smart kid from a small town, due to the opportunities they have to take those AP classes with 20 other smart kids. More smart kids makes more competition.

[BigRedBuster]

 

I guess I'm the opposite. I came from a small class B school and felt perfectly fine prepared for college when I got to Lincoln. Now, my school to this day has a very strong science and math department so maybe that is the difference.

 

I don't believe school size has anything to do with it. I think it has to do with the ability of certain schools to attract good teachers. AND....the willingness of the public in those towns to support efforts to get those teachers.

 

If you are comparing your average to below average small town student I think they are much better prepared than your average to below average big city student. The smaller classes etc. prepares them better. Now your high end smart kids taking AP courses at a larger HS are much better prepared than a smart kid from a small town, due to the opportunities they have to take those AP classes with 20 other smart kids. More smart kids makes more competition.

 

You might be right to an extent. I know our HS now has AP courses. My daughters have taken several of them. They are video streamed. There would be 3-4 kids at their school on line with probably 50 students from various schools. The teacher can interact with the students and actually see each other. All students can ask questions etc....

 

So, technology has brought this a long ways. Now, one thing that I see is that there are some students in our HS that SHOULD be taking advantage of this and they don't. That is both the students and their parent's fault. They are only hurting themselves.

 

We are also unique in our science department. The teacher that has been there since I was in school teaches an anatomy/physiology class that is second to none. I think he told me this year that he has somewhere around 35-40 ex students who have gone on to be doctors. You talk to those students and they claim they would literally take their notes from his class and study them along with various classes they take in college. Their college professors are impressed with their knowledge when they get there.

So....there are good opportunities in small towns. I understand not all schools are the same.

[NUance]

Can someone please explain to me what exactly the Department of Education does? This isn't a smart ass question. I honestly don't know. I was just in Washington and they have a pretty dang big building so they must do something.

You could say this same thing about half the federal gov't. We could shut about half of the federal gov't down tomorrow and nobody would notice. Well, until their tax bill came and it was pleasantly reduced.

[NUance]

There are serious problems with our educational system, but when comparing our test scores to other countries people need to consider what our philosophy/values are. I'm not an expert on China but I'm pretty damn sure they don't put the money/care into children with disabilities that we do.

 

Our attitude is to make sure everyone gets an education no matter what. We aren't limiting it to the best and the brightest, so the test-takers are not our best and brightest like they are in lots of other countries. When you can get into lots of public schools with an 18 on the ACT, then almost anyone can go to college. There are obviously good things and bad things about this. I lean toward wanting the gifted kids in high school to be given the most attention instead of focusing on the lowest common denominator, but at the same time I do think it's commendable what we do for students who are at the opposite end of the spectrum.

This. +1

 

I realized this in college when comparing classmates from abroad to other UNL students. The students from abroad tend to be the cream of the crop. The native Nebraska UNL students were just rank and file students from all Nebraska schools. Some smart. Some not. /JMHO