Billy: US High Schools Obsolete

[AFB]

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/27/1626214&from=rss

 

[imported_Hi]

agree

 

[Sunbird]

I have the same opinion about schools here in South Africa, so its probably true for US as well.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Sad but true...but then again...when did education ever really work? At least working with computers, etc...I learned that to get true skills, you have to work in an industry and then slowly pick up certifications and do specialized training to learn different systems.


The things I learned in school: Grammar, writing, math, science, general stuff.... I'm glad I went because I can name most of the bones in the human body (from 7th grade), most of the countries in the world (from 6th grade), and know plenty about resumes and job interviews (h.s. and college). Overall, I think school helped me, but for my profession, it was all me.

 

[Platypus]

This is not true for all high schools, but for the most part this is true. My high school taught me way more than my peers' did

 

[Toastedlightly]

I have to agree with that. With the different programs for the 'dumber' kids (at least at my school) and the lacking of almost all advanced classes make my school a joke on everying.

 

[Kaido]

I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: Kaido
I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

Don't put things your parents should teach you on the schools back.

 

[Atomicus]

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation

Originally posted by: Kaido
I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

Don't put things your parents should teach you on the schools back.

Most of us don't live in atomic families :roll:

 

[vshah]

my school was definately rigorous. i write as well as i do because of the english classes there. i think it depends on your school.

 

[daniel1113]

Education is what you make of it. I learned a ton during high school because I was motivated to do so. Unfortunately, the vast majority of students are not motivated to learn.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation

Originally posted by: Kaido
I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

Don't put things your parents should teach you on the schools back.

Yeah, that's true. Half the stuff I learned from my parents, the rest just from doing. I think that's a lot of kid's problems nowadays...their parents dump them in day-cares or after-school programs and expect the school to teach them stuff. Bleh 🙂

 

[imported_Ziggy]

Originally posted by: vshah
my school was definately rigorous. i write as well as i do because of the english classes there. i think it depends on your school.

Nice capitalization you got there.

🙂

 

[brigden]

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation

Originally posted by: Kaido
I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

Don't put things your parents should teach you on the schools back.

I agree. Those life skills should be taught by friends and family, not by a publically funded education system.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: Atomicus

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation

Originally posted by: Kaido
I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

Don't put things your parents should teach you on the schools back.

Most of us don't live in atomic families :roll:

You mean 'nuclear family', right?

 

[Atomicus]

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: Atomicus

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation

Originally posted by: Kaido
I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

Don't put things your parents should teach you on the schools back.

Most of us don't live in atomic families :roll:

You mean 'nuclear family', right?

My brain must be trying to block the proper term out.... reminds me of Hanson ... *shudder*

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: Atomicus

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: Atomicus

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation

Originally posted by: Kaido
I wish schools would actually teach you useful living skills. I've learned just about everything the hard way - by myself. Apartment shopping, cooking, doctor stuff, financial planning, all that stuff...I wish they'd taught that in high school. Oh well.

Don't put things your parents should teach you on the schools back.

Most of us don't live in atomic families :roll:

You mean 'nuclear family', right?

My brain must be trying to block the proper term out.... reminds me of Hanson ... *shudder*

Uhh, right...

 

[Babbles]

Originally posted by: vshah
my school was definately rigorous. i write as well as i do because of the english classes there. i think it depends on your school.

Your grammar is outstanding :roll:

Anyhow, I disagree with Bill Gates. Just because he is the brains behind MS, I do not think that makes him uniquely qualified to critique high schools across the nation. Too many people look only at the pure academics of schools and pass judgement solely on that. High school is also a time of growth for kids. There are certain activities that happen in high school that make a person a well-rounded individual: music, sports, theatre, journalism, and so forth. I hardly think those activities are obsolete.

I am sure Bill Gates would probably prefer a world where high school students stayed home and took academic instruction via the intraweb, but I hardly see a world like that as being conducive to the growth of a high school student.

 

[vi edit]

Nobody ever stops to think about children as individuals and failures. It's always about how the school failed.

I'll use myself as a prime example - I went to school every day, did my homework, did the extra credit assignments, played in sports all seasons, and worked a couple nights a week and on the weekends.

I wasn't fscking around in the back of the class. I wasn't on some country road on the weekends boozing it up at tailgate beer parties. I wasn't a disruption to class.

I went on to college had some fun, put in my hard work and came out with a decent job that paid me pretty well and gives me a lot of experience to carry on with me throughout my career.

A handful of my classmates did the same thing.

But, at least half of my class never put in the effort, never went that extra step, never went on to college, and now they are still living with their parents at the age of 25-27 and working grunt work jobs and will probably never dig themselves out the rut.

We both went to the same school. Both had the same teachers. Had the same opportunities available to us. It's just that I wanted to improve myself and do better. They were just comfortable in where they were.

A reformed school system is never going to magically reach out and touch these types of students. It has to come from family and peers.

Schools work. You just have to want to work yourself.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
A reformed school system is never going to magically reach out and touch these types of students. It has to come from family and peers.

Schools work. You just have to want to work yourself.

WINNER!

 

[audi]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Nobody ever stops to think about children as individuals and failures. It's always about how the school failed.

I'll use myself as a prime example - I went to school every day, did my homework, did the extra credit assignments, played in sports all seasons, and worked a couple nights a week and on the weekends.

I wasn't fscking around in the back of the class. I wasn't on some country road on the weekends boozing it up at tailgate beer parties. I wasn't a disruption to class.

I went on to college had some fun, put in my hard work and came out with a decent job that paid me pretty well and gives me a lot of experience to carry on with me throughout my career.

A handful of my classmates did the same thing.

But, at least half of my class never put in the effort, never went that extra step, never went on to college, and now they are still living with their parents at the age of 25-27 and working grunt work jobs and will probably never dig themselves out the rut.

We both went to the same school. Both had the same teachers. Had the same opportunities available to us. It's just that I wanted to improve myself and do better. They were just comfortable in where they were.

A reformed school system is never going to magically reach out and touch these types of students. It has to come from family and peers.

Schools work. You just have to want to work yourself.

I agree with everything except that point. There are people who I hang around with who have supportive parents, the same friends I do, and they can't seem to try hard in school. I think the motivation has to come from yourself and you have to truly want to do well.

 

[Sunbird]

I know people who never worked hard at school, and are still jerking around, but they have better jobs and g/f's and wifes, unlike me.

But I'm don't care, just stating a fact of life.

 

[Babbles]

Originally posted by: audi

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Nobody ever stops to think about children as individuals and failures. It's always about how the school failed.

I'll use myself as a prime example - I went to school every day, did my homework, did the extra credit assignments, played in sports all seasons, and worked a couple nights a week and on the weekends.

I wasn't fscking around in the back of the class. I wasn't on some country road on the weekends boozing it up at tailgate beer parties. I wasn't a disruption to class.

I went on to college had some fun, put in my hard work and came out with a decent job that paid me pretty well and gives me a lot of experience to carry on with me throughout my career.

A handful of my classmates did the same thing.

But, at least half of my class never put in the effort, never went that extra step, never went on to college, and now they are still living with their parents at the age of 25-27 and working grunt work jobs and will probably never dig themselves out the rut.

We both went to the same school. Both had the same teachers. Had the same opportunities available to us. It's just that I wanted to improve myself and do better. They were just comfortable in where they were.

A reformed school system is never going to magically reach out and touch these types of students. It has to come from family and peers.

Schools work. You just have to want to work yourself.

I agree with everything except that point. There are people who I hang around with who have supportive parents, the same friends I do, and they can't seem to try hard in school. I think the motivation has to come from yourself and you have to truly want to do well.

WTF, you not read the rest of his post??? He clearly stated, "You just have to want to work yourself."

 

[vi edit]

I think the motivation has to come from yourself and you have to truly want to do well.

Agreed. Some people, no matter how much support and motivation are provided to them by others will never amount to anything. Sad but true.

I know a couple people who were INCREDIBLY intelligent - mid 30's on the ACT, could do complex math easily in their heads, ect. But they drank themselves to oblivion and never applied that brainpower to anything significant.

One guy works at a fast food joint 40 hours a week and a movie theatre on the weekends for extra cash. The other guy is doing manual labor for a construction company.

Not to knock their lifestyles, but had they wanted they could have done so much more with their lives.

The guy who works at the fast food joint and the movie theatre has a father who is a doctor and a mother that is a HS teacher. Just for reference.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

I think the motivation has to come from yourself and you have to truly want to do well.

Agreed. Some people, no matter how much support and motivation are provided to them by others will never amount to anything. Sad but true.

I know a couple people who were INCREDIBLY intelligent - mid 30's on the ACT, could do complex math easily in their heads, ect. But they drank themselves to oblivion and never applied that brainpower to anything significant.

One guy works at a fast food joint 40 hours a week and a movie theatre on the weekends for extra cash. The other guy is doing manual labor for a construction company.

Not to knock their lifestyles, but had they wanted they could have done so much more with their lives.

The guy who works at the fast food joint and the movie theatre has a father who is a doctor and a mother that is a HS teacher. Just for reference.

Lazy geniuses... Sad. Oh well, screw 'em.