Kids are Not Being Taught to Think
by We are graduating many idiots from our school systems; the fault falls squarely on the backs of our teachers, and the families who do not demand more from their children and our school systems.
When I read material on Triond, I can pretty much determine who has been taught/learned correct English. I can generally determine the age and gauge the level of intelligence of the writers by how they write.
Our school systems have changed to the point that they are becoming a joke. I have scored many high school tests over the past couple years, of kids who are about to graduate, and it is disheartening to see how uneducated these kids are. Many of them cannot do the simplest of math and have no idea how to write. There are many reasons for this, but I believe the biggest problem is teachers cannot, or not allowed to teach these children properly.
Another big problem that I have noticed is the lack of thinking by these children. They are allowed to use calculators today, much more than the older generation was allowed. They punch in a bunch of numbers, while taking exams, and write down an incorrect result, without even considering/thinking about how wrong it is. For example, let’s say the question is (to keep it simple): “Add 120 to 60 and divide the result by .07.” They speedily hammer the numbers into their calculators and get a result (let’s say 200,490,860), which is blatantly incorrect, but instead of thinking about the result, which is obviously ridiculous, they enter the incorrect answer on their exam.
The lack of thinking is a major problem with kids today. This can be attributed mostly to poor teaching. The grammar and punctuation of these kids (who are about to graduate) is pathetic. Many cannot even put a simple sentence together. We are graduating many idiots from our school systems; the fault falls squarely on the backs of our teachers, and the families who do not demand more from their children and our school systems.
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Post Commentlynn high
On August 14, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I believe that this article is biased and not completely accurate. To put most of the blame on teachers is absurd. Sure, there are some teachers that do not do their part, but the majority are there for the love of teaching. Unfortunately teachers are very limited on what we can teach. Teachers are being forced to teach to a test, which results in students’ decreased interest and increased stress. As far as lack of spelling and complete sentences, I believe techology is part to blame. Kids now are texting and emailing using quickhand and slang, which undoubtedly transfers to their daily living as well. Hopefully we can find a way to improve our education system. However, disrespecting teachers will not be the solution.
Westbrook
On August 19, 2008 at 9:48 am
Lynn, I don’t mean to be cruel to teachers who try to teach properly. I understand the problems teachers are facing in our school systems today. I acknowledge this in the last sentence of the second paragraph of my article. I agree that there are many teachers who can do the job properly, but are shackled by the modern-day dictates, demands and failures of the system.
In the first sentence of the last paragraph I stated that the lack of learning can be attributed to poor teaching. I believe this is true. I agree with you that teachers are handicapped by the system and cannot teach properly, but that’s the problem, intentionally or not, my statement is correct.
I lay the blame on both teachers and parents for poor teaching, which I stated in the last sentence of the last paragraph in the article. Regardless of the problems of our school systems, teachers must teach simple, basic math and English to help these children to survive when they hit the streets. I know many good teachers who say the same thing you are saying…they simply are forced to go with the flow. They believe they have no options.
Many parents seem to be oblivious of the poor teaching in our schools…I often think they have very little knowledge about what kids should be learning, or they don’t care. Many parents don’t even know their kids are dumb and have wasted their time in school.
Granted, kids are gravitating to the slaughtering of the English language by using all the technological devises of today, but this is a problem that both teachers and parents must fix. If people are capable of learning multiple languages, then why can’t this learning problem in our school systems be controlled and fixed? Look, no matter how shackled teachers are, I absolutely find it absurd that graduating kids cannot even do the simplest of math. Yes, they use calculators and such, but they are not thinking when they enter obviously wrong results on tests. Let’s say they are asked to divide 10 by 2 and they somehow get a result of 647. They slam the result down on their test without even seeing that it is clearly wrong. That is the result of the lack of thinking! Teaching is all about helping people to think. The real problem today is kids are not being forced or taught to think.
Colleen Ranney
On March 4, 2009 at 8:02 am
We definitely have evolved to a new age and means of understanding. I have always said “to be a teacher is to be an echo” Great article.