The reason so many U.S. students are "falling short of their intellectual potential" is not "inadequate teachers, boring textbooks and large class sizes" and the rest of the usual litany cited by the so-called reformers — but "their failure to exercise self-discipline."
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
The problem with American education:
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Ok, so the link doesn't work. But oh, do I have a lot to say about this. However I will not start my rant until I have read the full article.
The link should be fixed now, sorry about that. Please, rant away.
Ok, so I am finally getting around to reading/responding to the article. First off I will say that I agree that it seems U.S. students today don't give a crap... about anything really. But besides that I think the rest of the article is crap. I am so sick of people comparing Asian and U.S. students. Who cares about the comparison? Let's just get these kids excited about learning something and stop telling them they are mediocre compared to Asia. Something I witnessed while teaching in Chicago was not that the U.S. students don't care, but they don't have a reason to. Not only that but all students learn in different ways so how are we measuring their learning? I sure as hell hope it's not tests. For additional info read 'The Manufactured Crisis' by Berliner.
Secondly, I love how the article does not even address the larger problem in American education... that of Latinos and African-Americans. For info on this read 'Rethinking Schools' edited by Levine, Lowe, etc. I cannot continue this rant now because it will get too heated and this afterall is not my blog.
Ok, I need to clarify something in my comment. I admitted that I think "U.S. students today don't give a crap" but I went on later to say that they do give a crap they just learn in different ways. Are kids today different learners from when we were younger? Do they play more games? (If you know Pete, I would say no they don't play more games) Is the education crisis a manufactured crisis? Do they test students more now then when we were young? Answer if you like...
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