US students do worse in science and math

by beksbks 14 Replies latest social current

• 

  JeffT

  My questions would be: What are average class sizes. What do teachers get paid. What portion of the federal budget goes to education. What percentage of families have two working parents. What is the homework standard. What percentage of the population is below the poverty line Etc. etc.

  And my comment would be instead of adjusting class sizes and teacher pay, lets take a look at what it takes to actually educate kids. When I was in grade school (back in the middle ages) our class size averaged above 30 students/class. Given the decline in test scores it could be argued that larger classes seem to be better at educating kids. The one statistic that seems to make the most difference is one parent vs. two parent families, although that can be overcome if the one parent is actually engaged with his/her children. I would suggest that we start by educating adults on what it means to be a parent.
• 

  SirNose586

  Is it any wonder? At the same time when scientists are researching fascinating discoveries in biology and genetics, we are opening "museums" with Adam and Eve riding dinosaurs. We proudly march backwards, refusing to pay teachers enough to get by, or fund schools enough to make a difference.
• 

  beksbks

  I would suggest that we start by educating adults on what it means to be a parent.

  So you are saying that America has a higher percentage of lousy parents? If so, why? Again I would have to ask the questions I asked above.
• 

  dinah

  Bek,

  I'm not sure if the US has more lousy parents than other countries, but we have our share. The majority of people in my community who have kids are divorced. What do they do on the weekend? Get out and party. Who has their kids? It used to be me until I just couldn't handle a house full anymore.

  Of the folks I know who have children and are still married, work takes up the majority of their time. When both parents work, it's hard to find time to help with homework. A mother can have great intentions, but there's laundry to do and dinner to cook. What ticks me off is when my kid comes home with 2 hours of homework and they spent classtime watching a freaking movie. I was thinking they could watch a movie at home!! This really happened, I'm not making it up.

  All that being said our public education here needs a complete overhaul.
• 

  beksbks

  Girl!! Don't you get me started on the homework issue!! When my children were young, I had to work full time and we lived about 30-40 minutes outside of town (because that was the only way we could afford to buy a house!). So, after getting off at 5 o'clock, driving home, picking up the kids at daycare (grrrr), it was almost 6:30 by the time I got to start cooking dinner. Everyone has chores, getting ready for the next day, eating dinner, etc. etc. Then the homework horror would begin. There was TONS of it. My daughter was in the Gifted and Talented Education Program at this time, and I swear I had to be her teacher, because there was so much stuff they would go over it once, and then send home a packet of homework. Where is the time? I just think about families that are less capable or less interested in this process. Many parents here in California, don't even speak English. How are they to help their children keep up?? Frankly, I didn't train to be a teacher, I don't think that's my job. Values, morals, ideas, yes, but not academics.

  I agree we have our share of lousy parents, but I would have to think that is not uncommon in the world. And yet in this country we are rating so much lower in test scores than some of our neighbors.