Ugh. This isn't surprising. I remember taking civics classes in high school and having to know a lot about how our government operates. High school education is becoming a joke. The administration is more worried about teaching kids how to pass the standardized tests than they are having them learn something useful. Thanks "No child left behind"! Those tests are the biggest waste of time and will eventually end up hurting all students more than helping them.
I read something a few weeks ago about a school that was penalized because they didn't raise their test scores. The school was in the 98th or 99th percentile already. The administrator was asking "Where are we supposed to go from there? What do they want from us?" It's ridiculous. Then, not two days later I heard something in my physics class that compelled me to write a blurb about it in a blog. <snip> So, I am sitting in Physics class this morning listening to the professor talk about fission. He moves to the topic of uncontrolled fission reactions and shows a short little movie on Hiroshima. During the video, a girl behind me gasped at some of the scenes. My first thought was, Yes, yes. Its all very terrible. My second thought was, Wow .. that is rather jaded of me. When did I become so cynical? Then .. then she said to someone beside her, I didnt know about any of that. Er what? She was saying this like it is the first time she had ever heard of the bombing of Japan, or even that she knew what a nuclear weapon really is or does. So, my next thought was, W..T..F? What are high school kids learning in history class these days? Was she absent the day that was covered? Was it not on any tests? My cynical side tells me that the public education system is glossing over some of the more distasteful events in our history. My hopeful, cynical side says she is just obtuse. Either way, here was a college student who knew nothing about the exclamation point at the end of the sentence, WWII was probably the most defining moment of the 20th century! I guess knowing that George Washington Carver found a peanut while transporting the cherry tree he cut down across the Mississippi to the French-Indians near the valleys forge is important too. </snip> On 5/7/2011 5:49 PM, Jerry Barnes wrote: > > Failing Grades on Civics Exam Called a Crisis > > Excerpt: > > Fewer than half of American eighth graders knew the purpose of the Bill of > Rights on the most recent national civics examination, and only one in 10 > demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances among the > legislative, executive and judicial branches, according to test results > released on Wednesday. > > At the same time, three-quarters of high school seniors who took the test, > the National Assessment of Educational Progress, were unable to demonstrate > skills like identifying the effect of United States foreign policy on other > nations or naming a power granted to Congress by t ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:337562 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
