What can be done to improve American public education?

[Asardia]

Public school here in the US needs drastic changes in my opinion. My bit of anecdotal evidence goes this way: School teaches a bunch of useless information and make sure to push it down our throats, but won't give us the information we will need to thrive in this hellish world. Halfway through highschool, and I have no idea what life will be like when the final bell rings. How do I do taxes? Saving money? What are the essentials to surviving?

For me, those questions were not answered. I don't know how I'm supposed to be functional adult when my main source of education is learning fifty different ways to solve for X. How about the fact that kids go to school and worry ONLY about their grades? The subject material is rushed and inadequate, and we are forced to regurgitate what we memorized back on the page to move on. Kids that fall behind? They're left behind as the course is forced to go on. Students will learn ways to take advantage of a flawed system where success is only measured by arbitrary letters on a card, not by actual intelligence or readiness to accomplish things as an adult. I get "good grades", however I don't consider myself smart or more well off than my classmates. Judging intelligence by grades, and placing such an emphasis on them will only hurt students. The real world seeks results, while school doesn't even seem to care that much anyway. My state requires ONE SEMESTER of "consumer education", a class where we played a bunch of games for two weeks before doing anything somewhat related to the actual class. Meanwhile we learned about how to divide exponential fractions and how to use imaginary numbers, something that may or may not be required in the future.

There's a video by a man named Louis Rossmann who talks about why kids don't like to read. Some interesting points are how students will prioritize getting the best grade they can to just pass the class. All these questions in order to "prove you read the book" which fits an arbitrary criteria. Students will take this as being only a way to get forward, instead of a learning opportunity. Summer reading projects are so bland, that you don't even need to read the books! I just googled sparknotes for the book I chose, and I still got a B- on the project.

My main concern, is that the system needs a revamp. You're considered an adult by the time you're 18, yes? So why is it they we learn more about dozens of math equations we'll never use instead of how to go well in a job interview? You know what would be better? If they taught us why these ridiculously hard to remember equations will work for us in life, and why we must learn them now as opposed to learning the life skills we need.

Personally, I believe we need to teach the vital information at a young age and move on from there. Kids are taught that we need to go to college, despite the fact that college is quite expensive. You'll probably end up working a job that doesn't even involve the four years of debt and time you wasted. School has us for 9 months of the year, for 1/4 of the day. What we get is classes introducing a subject, "learning" for a while, maybe a few weeks at most, and boom! Test. Repeat.

This article has a nice analogy.

Imagine you were building a house.
After buying the land, you hired a contractor to come in to make the foundation for the next 3 weeks.
3 weeks later, an inspector comes in and says that the work is 80% complete.
80% is a B, not bad, let’s go ahead and build the rest of the house on top of the foundation.
A year later, after trying to build the second floor of the house, the floor splinters and the house collapses.

I have only talked about education through highschool up to this point. Here's some worrying trends. Americans are actually regretting their college degrees. CBS News says

About 70% of college students graduated with student loan debt this year, averaging about $33,000 per student. And as younger grads pay off student loan balances, they're struggling to accumulate wealth or are putting off purchasing homes — some millennials are even struggling to purchase groceries.

This is completely unacceptable for a first world country. The statistics show students who to go college will end up more successful, yet we also have those same students living unfulfilled lives.

[United Muscovite Nations]

We have to recognize that the education system's success with individual pupils is largely determined by socio-economic factors before those pupils enter the classroom, namely, by parental ability to read to them, which is one of the biggest predictors of academic success. Education begins in the home and we need to help struggling parents overcome those factors.

[Geneviev]

American public education needs to offer music and arts programs. Students who study music have improved test scores and are more successful in academic classes. Arts in general improve critical thinking and emotional and social skills.

[Asardia]

We have to recognize that the education system's success with individual pupils is largely determined by socio-economic factors before those pupils enter the classroom, namely, by parental ability to read to them, which is one of the biggest predictors of academic success. Education begins in the home and we need to help struggling parents overcome those factors.

I definitely agree with this. Parents definitely have many things to worry about, and sometimes reading to their children may get overlooked, especially for lower income families. As a country, more needs to be done to improve the ability of parents to have a stable enough family to ensure success

[Gormwood]

Get rid of the private school shill Betsy DeVos.

[Izandai]

Equalize school funding so that how much money a school gets isn't dependent on how wealthy the families that send their children to it are.

[Rojava Free State]

I know one thing we can do. End abstinence only education. No public funding unless your asses teach birth control, cause I'll be damned if my tax payer dollars go toward helping some prude trads be the best friends of teen pregnancy and the aids virus

Also we need new books. The physics book being published in 1974 doesn't cut it and the fact tupac was still alive in my health class book scared me

[Kowani]

Equalize school funding so that how much money a school gets isn't dependent on how wealthy the families that send their children to it are.

Yes, but that makes too much sense. So we won’t do it.

[Izandai]

I know one thing we can do. End abstinence only education. No public funding unless your asses teach birth control, cause I'll be damned if my tax payer dollars go toward helping some prude trads be the best friends of teen pregnancy and the aids virus

Also we need new books. The physics book being published in 1974 doesn't cut it and the fact tupac was still alive in my health class book scared me

Oh yeah, there's another one. Textbook publication should be financed by public funds and they should be made freely available. To everyone, not just students. And better regulations so our children aren't fed bullshit like this (though admittedly that was a Canadian textbook, not an American one).

[Izandai]

Equalize school funding so that how much money a school gets isn't dependent on how wealthy the families that send their children to it are.

Yes, but that makes too much sense. So we won’t do it.

I can dream, Harold!

[Kowani]

I know one thing we can do. End abstinence only education. No public funding unless your asses teach birth control, cause I'll be damned if my tax payer dollars go toward helping some prude trads be the best friends of teen pregnancy and the aids virus

Also we need new books. The physics book being published in 1974 doesn't cut it and the fact tupac was still alive in my health class book scared me

Oh yeah, there's another one. Textbook publication should be financed by public funds and they should be made freely available. To everyone, not just students. And better regulations so our children aren't fed bullshit like this (though admittedly that was a Canadian textbook, not an American one).

My AP Macroeconomics textbook still has trickledown as a viable theory.

[Rojava Free State]

I know one thing we can do. End abstinence only education. No public funding unless your asses teach birth control, cause I'll be damned if my tax payer dollars go toward helping some prude trads be the best friends of teen pregnancy and the aids virus

Also we need new books. The physics book being published in 1974 doesn't cut it and the fact tupac was still alive in my health class book scared me

Oh yeah, there's another one. Textbook publication should be financed by public funds and they should be made freely available. To everyone, not just students. And better regulations so our children aren't fed bullshit like this (though admittedly that was a Canadian textbook, not an American one).

Mfw the first nations agreed to walk hundreds of miles, many dying along the way, just to reach the dustbowl that is Oklahoma

[Izandai]

Oh yeah, there's another one. Textbook publication should be financed by public funds and they should be made freely available. To everyone, not just students. And better regulations so our children aren't fed bullshit like this (though admittedly that was a Canadian textbook, not an American one).

My AP Macroeconomics textbook still has trickledown as a viable theory.

Dammit, where's the puking smily when you need it...

[Izandai]

Oh yeah, there's another one. Textbook publication should be financed by public funds and they should be made freely available. To everyone, not just students. And better regulations so our children aren't fed bullshit like this (though admittedly that was a Canadian textbook, not an American one).

Mfw the first nations agreed to walk hundreds of miles, many dying along the way, just to reach the dustbowl that is Oklahoma

It's called the Trail of Tears because they were crying with joy at all the wonderful scenery they got to see along the way!
Don't'cha know.

[Kowani]

Oh yeah, there's another one. Textbook publication should be financed by public funds and they should be made freely available. To everyone, not just students. And better regulations so our children aren't fed bullshit like this (though admittedly that was a Canadian textbook, not an American one).

Mfw the first nations agreed to walk hundreds of miles, many dying along the way, just to reach the dustbowl that is Oklahoma

…The First Nations refers to Canadian Amerindians, afaik.

[Rojava Free State]

Mfw the first nations agreed to walk hundreds of miles, many dying along the way, just to reach the dustbowl that is Oklahoma

…The First Nations refers to Canadian Amerindians, afaik.

Who says you can't call the American ones first nations? They get called a whole lot of less accurate shit, like Indians

[Czechoslovakia and Zakarpatia]

Oh yeah, there's another one. Textbook publication should be financed by public funds and they should be made freely available. To everyone, not just students. And better regulations so our children aren't fed bullshit like this (though admittedly that was a Canadian textbook, not an American one).

My AP Macroeconomics textbook still has trickledown as a viable theory.

Trickledown is as viable as naturopathy and homeopathy.

[Aureumterra]

Public school here in the US needs drastic changes in my opinion. My bit of anecdotal evidence goes this way: School teaches a bunch of useless information and make sure to push it down our throats, but won't give us the information we will need to thrive in this hellish world. Halfway through highschool, and I have no idea what life will be like when the final bell rings. How do I do taxes? Saving money? What are the essentials to surviving?

For me, those questions were not answered. I don't know how I'm supposed to be functional adult when my main source of education is learning fifty different ways to solve for X. How about the fact that kids go to school and worry ONLY about their grades? The subject material is rushed and inadequate, and we are forced to regurgitate what we memorized back on the page to move on. Kids that fall behind? They're left behind as the course is forced to go on. Students will learn ways to take advantage of a flawed system where success is only measured by arbitrary letters on a card, not by actual intelligence or readiness to accomplish things as an adult. I get "good grades", however I don't consider myself smart or more well off than my classmates. Judging intelligence by grades, and placing such an emphasis on them will only hurt students. The real world seeks results, while school doesn't even seem to care that much anyway. My state requires ONE SEMESTER of "consumer education", a class where we played a bunch of games for two weeks before doing anything somewhat related to the actual class. Meanwhile we learned about how to divide exponential fractions and how to use imaginary numbers, something that may or may not be required in the future.

There's a video by a man named Louis Rossmann who talks about why kids don't like to read. Some interesting points are how students will prioritize getting the best grade they can to just pass the class. All these questions in order to "prove you read the book" which fits an arbitrary criteria. Students will take this as being only a way to get forward, instead of a learning opportunity. Summer reading projects are so bland, that you don't even need to read the books! I just googled sparknotes for the book I chose, and I still got a B- on the project.

My main concern, is that the system needs a revamp. You're considered an adult by the time you're 18, yes? So why is it they we learn more about dozens of math equations we'll never use instead of how to go well in a job interview? You know what would be better? If they taught us why these ridiculously hard to remember equations will work for us in life, and why we must learn them now as opposed to learning the life skills we need.

Personally, I believe we need to teach the vital information at a young age and move on from there. Kids are taught that we need to go to college, despite the fact that college is quite expensive. You'll probably end up working a job that doesn't even involve the four years of debt and time you wasted. School has us for 9 months of the year, for 1/4 of the day. What we get is classes introducing a subject, "learning" for a while, maybe a few weeks at most, and boom! Test. Repeat.

This article has a nice analogy.

Imagine you were building a house.
After buying the land, you hired a contractor to come in to make the foundation for the next 3 weeks.
3 weeks later, an inspector comes in and says that the work is 80% complete.
80% is a B, not bad, let’s go ahead and build the rest of the house on top of the foundation.
A year later, after trying to build the second floor of the house, the floor splinters and the house collapses.

I have only talked about education through highschool up to this point. Here's some worrying trends. Americans are actually regretting their college degrees. CBS News says

About 70% of college students graduated with student loan debt this year, averaging about $33,000 per student. And as younger grads pay off student loan balances, they're struggling to accumulate wealth or are putting off purchasing homes — some millennials are even struggling to purchase groceries.

This is completely unacceptable for a first world country. The statistics show students who to go college will end up more successful, yet we also have those same students living unfulfilled lives.

Every single thing you said is a problem everywhere, not just the US

[Internationalist Bastard]

For one thing we need a common curriculum. The argument that teachers need freedom what they teach is strong and I do support it to a degree, but there's kids who legitimately aren't allowed to read the Diary of Anne Frank in school. It's absurd how where you grow up determines what your taught

[Kowani]

…The First Nations refers to Canadian Amerindians, afaik.

Who says you can't call the American ones first nations? They get called a whole lot of less accurate shit, like Indians

“the First Nations (French: Premières Nations) are the predominant indigenous peoples in Canada south of the Arctic Circle.”
That Amerindians get called the wrong names is not a reason to give them less wrong names.

My AP Macroeconomics textbook still has trickledown as a viable theory.

Trickledown is as viable as naturopathy and homeopathy.

I am well aware.

[New haven america]

Move focus away from standardized tests and focus on actual comprehensive learning, change how school funding is given out instead of relying on income tax and performance (This includes repealing No Child Left Behind), create a federally standard system of education standards and how to get there (Unlike Common Core, where the states are left to their own devices to figure shit out) developed and managed by some of the best educators and professionals in their fields, reintroduce trades and home ec., make comprehensive sex education and emotional development/critical thinking classes and subjects compulsory and mandatory, etc...

[Hansdeltania]

Get rid of the private school shill Betsy DeVos.

This.

She has no qualifications to be in charge of American education at all.

It's like making David Duke the ambassador to Liberia.

[The Emerald Legion]

Eliminate elementary schools entirely. Provide parents with teaching materials for the basics, reading, writing, addition and subtraction.

Fold Fifth grade into 'Middle' school and go through the entire elementary school curriculum in that year. Then proceed as normal. Then redistribute resources to the remainder of the school years.

[Saiwania]

Well, one thing American schools aren't teaching generally speaking, is personal finance. Some people figure it out on their own as expected, but many don't and the US has a big debt problem and a low wages problem. So it is more important than ever for people to be able to manage their money most effectively. Knowing how to make more money combined with not losing as much money to begin with, is how you become rich.

[Aclion]

School choice, let parents enroll their children in private schools and take, say 70% of the per student federal funding with them as tuition. Might not actually improve the public schools, but does mean under-performing public schools.

Equalize school funding so that how much money a school gets isn't dependent on how wealthy the families that send their children to it are.

We already give more funding to poorer schools then to rich schools. Equalizing it any more would require actually barring state and local governments from funding education, which seems counter productive if the goal is to improve them, not make them more equally shit.