For a while now, I have been wanting to correct some things I said on one of 's posts a while back on Google+. Most of what I said in the comments of that post were correct, and I stand by them, but the following is something I would like to revise. I wrote the following to Heather and :
"Many Japanese people actually admire American students, because they can (both regulation-wise and culturally) ask questions. In Japan, teachers prepare full lectures (which is probably what a lot of that time is used for) and basically just read the lesson out, and the students take notes. It is rote memorization. They are excellent at it, and if it involves memorization (including of math concepts), they can beat nearly anyone else in the world. However, if they are asked to go outside the script, they stumble. For example, ask what year a war started, and they will know it (for the test, at least...then forget later on), but ask why the war started...the intricacies of it...and they will have no clue."
https://plus.google.com/113554828959224108236/posts/e4wwVBRnxnY
While I went on to note how what I said was just a generalization, I am now of the opinion that I was giving Americans far too much credit. You see, for a while between my comment then and my post now, I actually taught in the United States. All illusions were annihilated upon getting into the local school system, however. I really thought that I would be able to get through to most students and help them learn, but I could only reach a small proportion of them. I gave it my best, but in real life, I am kind and gentle, and I cannot turn myself into the drill sergeant that is required in the situations in which I was placed. Thus, I now know why grown-ups are often this stupid:
QVC Host Argues the Moon Is A Planet (via )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGoZZvfEd6A
During my experience, I went to various schools and at each one, proudly ignorant students made up the bulk of nearly all classes (with a few exceptions). These students had absolutely no desire to learn. They could not be reasoned with. I went over slideshows and with all of the answers to multiple-choice quizzes prominently written in the slideshows. For example, if I had a question that asked what element the sun is mostly made of (and gave the choices "hydrogen", "helium", "argon", and "cement"), then I would have a slide (which I urged everyone to take notes on) saying prominently that "The sun is mostly made of hydrogen." There is NO reason why anyone would fail. Yet while the few smart ones got 100% (and proved to me that I was not a total failure getting ideas across), the average score of all classes combined might be 50%, and numerous students would make 0%. Remember that guessing randomly would generally net someone a 25% (due to there being four multiple-choice answers for each question).
I mostly taught middle school students. There WERE some brilliant ones, but they were far too rare (except in an honors class that I taught where they made up the vast majority). I think one of the experiences that popped out at me which showed the extent of the ignorance among students was when a supposedly "average" (i.e. not dyslexic, autistic, etc) 8th grader wrote a note and I noticed that she wrote her lowercase "f"s backwards. Like, even by 8th grade, some students don't know which way the curve at the top of the "f" goes!
Most of the students were not only extremely dumb, but super proud of it, and rude beyond belief. So many students did not do anything that I asked and in fact couldn't. They were so wild that I don't think they were even capable of acting in a civilized manner. Running around the class hollering, throwing sharp pencils at other students, yelling and cursing (using the word "faggot" and others), always secretly (or not secretly) using phones and listening to music (and yelling at me and threatening me and not letting go of it when I tried to take it away), cheating, being deceptive and giving me false names, hitting each other and hitting me once. When I played a video, there were always students who complained that it was boring...yet didn't want to do anything else, either. Most of these kids did not want to learn. Some did...and that made me sad, because they would suffer along with me and I couldn't stop it.
Without experiencing what I did, you cannot imagine it. I dreaded work every single day. Happily, many of the GOOD students surprised me by giving me lovely notes saying how much they appreciated me. Now, those days are over (hopefully), but I know why people are as stupid as they are...and it's usually not because of their teachers...or lack of funding...or whatever. It is sadly because of them. If you don't want to learn, there is very little that can be done. In fact, one smart student I met wrote about a problem in school which she thought was "too much use of technology". I was at first surprised but then I realized that many students are not able to pull themselves away from screens. They often hinder more than help. A class in the 1800s who lived in a rural area without electricity and met in one room would probably trounce a class today with Chromebooks, smartphones, and iPads...just because they were able to LISTEN. (Personally, I can't buy the Flynn Effect. I just can't! Something must be wrong with that.)
I have my own ideas about what would improve things, and I will list a few here. I propose strict segregation by behavior. Those who show a willingness to learn should all be put together and given a teacher that is kind and knowledgeable. Those in the middle can have regular teachers. Those who show no respect and glorify ignorance must face a drill-sergeant-like instructor who teaches respect first and foremost, and only then gets through as much of the curriculum as possible.
I will also say that grades must not be inflated, although behavior can count as a certain percentage of the grade. When I was teaching, grades were inflated beyond belief. I was directly told at one school to never give a score below a 77 (even if the student did NOTHING), because a 76 was an F and kids could not fail. How about that for "no child left behind"? Even elsewhere, I was often disliked by the office for being too truthful with grades. I learned upon leaving one place that the school changed the grades that I meticulously entered because they didn't want any students to fail (while 1/2 of students in some classes actually deserved to fail...really). I am a nice person and anyone who tried even a bit hard would get a decent grade. But sadly, most students did not want to try at all. It was just horrible. I can't really say much more about it.
The education that many kids today in America are getting stinks...not because of bad teachers or lack of funds but due to the rampant behavioral problems. And the biggest reason for idiocy and ignorance continuing is probably not due to Creationism taught in school (because who would be taking notes and listening, anyway?) but rather the love of ignorance. Ignorance is a badge of honor to some, and that is the largest problem today. And by segregating classes by students' behavior and desire to learn, and having extremely strict "character builders" firmly in charge at the low end while helping good students all we can, things will be a lot better.
As for my career, that appears to be on the verge of getting better, too. I will not go into specifics, but although I will not be receiving a great salary, I MIGHT be able to do something I enjoy. The jury is still out on just how good it will be, but I don't think that it could be any worse than what I have already gone through.
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