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In the traditional school module, you have a multitude of students and one standalone teacher. This set-up has many drawbacks, including : slowing down the best and the brightest, pressuring troubled students to work as hard, and boring those who already know the material or are just not interested. Also, you're already making it hard for the teacher who has to teach 20-30 students all at once.

I honestly think grades levels should be based on skill and IQ.

Questions To Ponder

Question : What do you think grades levels should be organized by?

Question : What do you think is the best alternative to school if it falls out of favor?

Question : Should we repeal the "No Child Left Behind" Act in America?

 OOC: Honestly, I agree. Also, I believe there should be a lot more discussions based lessons and peer-to-peer learning. I am lucky as I am in a program that is very discussion based, where our opinions are heard and we can back them up, as well as teachers allowing the students to tech each other topics that they themselves research. However, this is not the majority of cases, but the exception.

As a note. Please god go look up exactly what it is that IQ tests. Become enlightened. And stop using it like that.

I already posted some of my thoughts here. To sum it up though, education should be based on installing a love of learning in young children, determining the topics they are interested in, and putting them in classes suited for their eventual job or interests, including internships so that students have experience right out of school. It would also be a life-long system, where adults could go back through the process to gain skills in new interests and jobs they're interested in.

As for No Child Left Behind...it's a wreck and a blatant giveaway to private schools enacted by the Bush Administration. The way it works is that each year, schools were supposed to have higher standards than the previous year, and if they didn't, they were to be labelled as "failing schools" and parents would have the choice of putting their children in another public school or receiving vouchers for a private school. The problem is that now it's expected by law that 100 percent of students in America be proficient in their grade level or better in math and English, and if even a single student isn't meeting those standards in a school system, that system is legally failing, triggering those options.

When the Obama Administration came in, instead of pushing Congress to fix this broken law, they used it to their advantage, telling states that they would waive the requirements if the states made certain 'improvements' which the Administration wanted to see. However, just last month the state of Washington failed to meet one of those 'improvements'...creating new legislation that would evaluate teachers based on test score performance instead of seniority. Thus, in the fall every parent of a student in a Washington public school will receive a letter stating that their schools are failing and will be given the option to get vouchers for private schools. The state will also lose out on millions of dollars on public school funding from the federal government.

Not only that, but the emphasis on math, science, and standardized testing has pushed the emphasis toward those areas and away from other areas that are just as important...social sciences, arts, and the humanities. In several instances, teachers who were as much in fear for their jobs as they were in their students' performance, were even caught helping their students cheat on the standardized tests. It's simply a broken law at all levels. It needs to be repealed repeatedly, and emphasis on subjects need to be rebalanced toward actually helping students in their future lives and careers instead of trying to be 'better' than Japan and whatever other nations are 'ahead' of America.

Funny this thread resurfaces today, as I had a 45-minute rant with my English teacher on why Standardized testing sucks, and why No Child Left Behind sucks.

As I'm sure many of the regular IRC-ers know, I had my AP: United States History exam yesterday. This is not only the most important exam of my school year, but possibly of my entire career.

Want to know how much my school cared about it? Zippo. With the exception of my History teacher, not a single other teacher was willing to help me prepare (I had a huge Chemistry test today, 1st period. I already know I failed it because I was busy studying for a history class that will help me in college instead of studying for chemistry I'm never going to use).

Want to know why they weren't willing to help me? Because guess what!? We have state-mandated standardized testing next week!

Want to know what this standardized test does for me? Nothing!

Want to know how the state uses these tests? They give less funding to those schools who score poorly!

So while I get screwed over on my AP test and Chemistry test, I now get to look forward to yet another test!

Thank you President George fucking Bush! You're helping my education so much!



Additionally, while I'm ranting about education...
Again, I'm sure I've mentioned that I want to pursue Computer Science as a career. The highest level computer class offered at my school is Web Design (I learned the entire curriculum for that class in 7th grade). No one worry though, because we have 21 different industrial classes (Welding, Woods, Agriculture, Sugaring, Logging, etc...). When I'm not studying for ∞ tests, attending classes I'm never going to use in my life, or trying to maintain somewhat of a social life, I'm fighting tooth-and-nail for to take AP Computer Science as an independent study next year, just so I can actually succeed in life.

Isn't education great!? 

Hmm...

Finals are coming up really fast and I wish good luck to myself and to all who are also taking it.

But : The thing is, I think teachers should know the materials that are presented in tests and therefore prepare the students for whatever they face in that exam. Though, in many cases that isn't true. Teachers are, in a way, blindly teaching students what they think they should know for the test.

I have deliberately failed my AS Media Studies, so that I may clear my head and focus on the A-levels I actually want to use.

If I were Prime Minister...

• Full state monopoly on education
• Reintroduce January exam
• Remove compulsory studying of the Arts up to year 9
• Increase funding for Sixth-Form colleges, by cutting the free school meals for all 5-7 year olds
• Abolish University fees, replace with a student tax (or reintroduce grants)
• Reintroduce grammar schools (schools for the top 25% of pupils)

Please tell me you're joking.

Nope.

Seriously? Cutting free school meals from children? >_>

I have deliberately failed my AS Media Studies, so that I may clear my head and focus on the A-levels I actually want to use.

If I were Prime Minister...

• Full state monopoly on education
• Reintroduce January exam
• Remove compulsory studying of the Arts up to year 9
• Increase funding for Sixth-Form colleges, by cutting the free school meals for all 5-7 year olds
• Abolish University fees, replace with a student tax (or reintroduce grants)
• Reintroduce grammar schools (schools for the top 25% of pupils)

What the fucking hell dude. I died a little when I saw this and died more when you said you weren't joking. Seriously dude these ideas are HORRIBLE. And why cut the free school meals, especially for children?

I... Have no comment to give.

Really,  why Charax?

What happened?

I fully encourage mandatory study of the arts, I never would have learned clarinet if it wasn't for that.

You play clarinet!?! Me too!

I do not encourage mandatory study of the arts, some students prefer other things, and only forcing them to study it will make them hate it, or dislike it more so than they already do.