I'm going to share some questions and real answers 16-17 year old students gave in the past day in a class studying marine science:
1: Q) Who was the first person to discover North America by boat? A) Titanic
2: Q) In what year did this discovery occur? 2050bc, 1002ad, 1492ad, or 1992ad A) 1992ad
3: Q) In what year did Columbus sail to North America? 2050bc, 2002ad, 1492ad, 1992ad A) 2050bc
4: Q) What two theories is Charles Darwin famous for? A) pressure
5: Q) What did Benjamin Franklin accomplish to advance oceanography? A) Became President of the USA
6: Q) What was his motivation for doing this? A) Greedy
7: Q) How did the Jason, an underwater robot, assist in the photographing of the sunken Titanic? A) It can go underwater.
Bonus: real answer from a physics quiz also:
Q) A students walks with a speed of 2 m/s for 5 s. How far did she walk? A) v=d/t = 5/2 = 2.5m/s
Bonus #2: real answer from a nutrition quiz:
Q) True or False: You should eat a lot of food shortly before going to bed. A) True
And this isn't even an exhaustive list of all ridiculous written answers from the past 24 hours! (never mind ridiculous spoken things) These are just some that I remembered from grading earlier...
There is no such thing as an easy question for somemany students. Every question is a challenge that they very well might get wrong :/
Is it something in the water D:
PS I heard a couple of stories the past couple of years about a 9th grader being unable to tell time on an analogue clock
Honestly I could go on and on but this is just too depressing. No wonder teachers are often heavy drinkers.
edit: probably wasn't clear, but the title of this OP is joking since this is just from today and not even a greatest hits list
Well, that is pretty sad I'd like to see some percentages though.. if you just leave it like that it seems like it could be pretty misleading.. maybe 1/1000 picked the answers above and they didn't take it seriously and were just trolling the teach?
Q) True or False: You should eat a lot of food shortly before going to bed. A) True
Don't like that question though. It's personal preference imo.
Yeah it's not a fully objective fact (pretty much agreed upon by everyone in the medical field though)... but the official stance of the previous day's lesson included a clear message that that is specifically false for the purposes of the assessment.... so it's not like they had an excuse for the wrong answer XD
On September 23 2011 11:27 Alejandrisha wrote: inb4 "only in america"
Well, that is pretty sad I'd like to see some percentages though.. if you just leave it like that it seems like it could be pretty misleading.. maybe 1/1000 picked the answers above and they didn't take it seriously and were just trolling the teach?
I'm not going to give statistics but you can take my word for it: when you teach certain classes (the ones that tend to have the lower performing students) the statistics are pretty horrifying. Remember.... these are all just SOME answers I saw TODAY. And I don't have 1000 students...
Q) True or False: You should eat a lot of food shortly before going to bed. A) True
Don't like that question though. It's personal preference imo.
Yeah it's not a fully objective fact (pretty much agreed upon by everyone in the medical field though)... but the official stance of the previous day's lesson included a clear message that that is specifically false for the purposes of the assessment.... so it's not like they had an excuse for the wrong answer XD
On September 23 2011 11:27 Alejandrisha wrote: inb4 "only in america"
Well, that is pretty sad I'd like to see some percentages though.. if you just leave it like that it seems like it could be pretty misleading.. maybe 1/1000 picked the answers above and they didn't take it seriously and were just trolling the teach?
I'm not going to give statistics but you can take my word for it: when you teach certain classes (the ones that tend to have the lower performing students) the statistics are pretty horrifying. Remember.... these are all just SOME answers I saw TODAY. And I don't have 1000 students...
As a student in an academic high school I feel like crying while reading these. Don't they know about the "1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme? basic algebra to find distance with v = d/t? Darwin discovered pressure? HUH??????
On September 23 2011 11:34 Kid-Fox wrote: As a student in an academic high school I feel like crying while reading these. Don't they know about the "1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme? basic algebra to find distance with v = d/t? Darwin discovered pressure? HUH??????
may I ask what grade level you teach?
These are 16-17 year olds (as I mentioned) so they are in 11th-12th grade.
Yeah when I think back to my high school experience I can't imagine not knowing 1492. To be fair, the physics problem wasn't just basic algebra.... it was substitution. You'd think people would all know that Darwin=evolution due to all the controversy, but they don't pay attention to the outside world. You could be explaining to many of these students how their house is going to explode tonight and they still would barely be paying attention.
It's not as easy for me to give hilarious/sad examples, but some students have a lot of trouble with reading and basic reasoning skills, even after all these years in school.
Some of these are bad but not knowing how to read analogue clocks is really not a big deal. It's an obscure historical curiousity, you really can't fault kids for not knowing about it
Also anything except 1-4 is speciallized knowledge. If they didn't study or pay attention in class of course they're not going to know it.
On September 23 2011 11:40 hypercube wrote: Some of these are bad but not knowing how to read analogue clocks is really not a big deal. It's an obscure historical curiousity, you really can't fault kids for not knowing about it
Also anything except 1-4 is speciallized knowledge. If they didn't study or pay attention in class of course they're not going to know it.
I smell someone who can't read analogue clocks...
Joking of course but I do very much disagree. People should totally know how to tell time.
On September 23 2011 11:40 hypercube wrote: Some of these are bad but not knowing how to read analogue clocks is really not a big deal. It's an obscure historical curiousity, you really can't fault kids for not knowing about it
Basically, they can only tell time using their cell phone. Whether it's the kid's fault, the parent's, the school's, or someone else's, I do kinda see this as a big deal.
Also anything except 1-4 is speciallized knowledge. If they didn't study or pay attention in class of course they're not going to know it.
If they got them wrong with reasonable guesses I wouldn't think twice. But they are putting such ridiculous answers lol
A lot of people left this one blank: "Who first sailed through the straight of Magellan?"
Q) Who was the first person to discover North America by boat?
Some Viking guy found it right? I know Amerigo Vespucci (sp?) named it, John Cabot did something... and Columbus assumed it was India or China (i forget). The whole thing is a mess imo.
On September 23 2011 11:48 Kojak21 wrote: i always used to right down stupidly funny answers for some tests in school, maybe they were just doing that??
If they were I would know and wouldn't have included them in this 'sample.' It's possible for every 20 crazy answers I thought they were serious about, 1 of them was intentionally crazy.... but it's not a significant percentage.
4: Q) What two theories is Charles Darwin famous for? A) pressure
Bonus: real answer from a physics quiz also:
Q) A students walks with a speed of 2 m/s for 5 s. How far did she walk? A) v=d/t = 5/2 = 2.5m/s
Those are my favourite two from the list. This is both hilarious and depressing at the same time. I've run across the same thing tutoring as well, and even then I wanted to be a heavy drinker.
My magic Eight-ball is telling me that if I end up going to teach (which I kind of want to...) I will need to keep a liquor store in my cellar.
On September 23 2011 11:34 Kid-Fox wrote: As a student in an academic high school I feel like crying while reading these. Don't they know about the "1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme? basic algebra to find distance with v = d/t? Darwin discovered pressure? HUH??????
may I ask what grade level you teach?
These are 16-17 year olds (as I mentioned) so they are in 11th-12th grade.
Yeah when I think back to my high school experience I can't imagine not knowing 1492. To be fair, the physics problem wasn't just basic algebra.... it was substitution. You'd think people would all know that Darwin=evolution due to all the controversy, but they don't pay attention to the outside world. You could be explaining to many of these students how their house is going to explode tonight and they still would barely be paying attention.
It's not as easy for me to give hilarious/sad examples, but some students have a lot of trouble with reading and basic reasoning skills, even after all these years in school.
Why do you think that is the case?
Australia has a somewhat more social view on education than the US but we are by no means that different. We are currently grappling with a review of the education system and so there is a lot of news about this kind of thing.
The one country that seems to get it right at the lowest cost is Finland.
Given that some of the more wayward republican nominees (Bachmann at least) are calling for an end to the Education Department, it may be that education is just not valued highly in the US.
On September 23 2011 11:34 Kid-Fox wrote: As a student in an academic high school I feel like crying while reading these. Don't they know about the "1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme? basic algebra to find distance with v = d/t? Darwin discovered pressure? HUH??????
may I ask what grade level you teach?
These are 16-17 year olds (as I mentioned) so they are in 11th-12th grade.
Yeah when I think back to my high school experience I can't imagine not knowing 1492. To be fair, the physics problem wasn't just basic algebra.... it was substitution. You'd think people would all know that Darwin=evolution due to all the controversy, but they don't pay attention to the outside world. You could be explaining to many of these students how their house is going to explode tonight and they still would barely be paying attention.
It's not as easy for me to give hilarious/sad examples, but some students have a lot of trouble with reading and basic reasoning skills, even after all these years in school.
Why do you think that is the case?
Australia has a somewhat more social view on education than the US but we are by no means that different. We are currently grappling with a review of the education system and so there is a lot of news about this kind of thing.
The one country that seems to get it right at the lowest cost is Finland.
Given that some of the more wayward republican nominees (Bachmann at least) are calling for an end to the Education Department, it may be that education is just not valued highly in the US.
No magic answer from me, but I think a lot of it does have to do with cultural values which you hinted at.
Q) Who was the first person to discover North America by boat?
Some Viking guy found it right? I know Amerigo Vespucci (sp?) named it, John Cabot did something... and Columbus assumed it was India or China (i forget). The whole thing is a mess imo.
At around the year 1000 Erik the Red discovered greenland. His son Lief Erikson discovered newfoundland & labrador (L'Anse aux Meadows), and subsequent vikings explored up a bit into the arctic
I feel bad for the person that missed the physics question. It looks like they were actually giving their best effort and they are just really bad at math (or really stupid)
On September 23 2011 12:03 BlackJack wrote: I feel bad for the person that missed the physics question. It looks like they were actually giving their best effort and they are just really bad at math (or really stupid)
I rather kids know concepts as a whole instead of a date and a guys name, but that might just be me. You can give any kid a study guide with these questions and they can go remember it, but asking them to explain a concept is usually where you weed out the smart from the dumb.
On September 23 2011 12:06 Demonace34 wrote: I rather kids know concepts as a whole instead of a date and a guys name, but that might just be me. You can give any kid a study guide with these questions and they can go remember it, but asking them to explain a concept is usually where you weed out the smart from the dumb.
Agree. The purpose of this class is for them to pass science though... not for them to learn. Not up to me.
On September 23 2011 11:40 hypercube wrote: Some of these are bad but not knowing how to read analogue clocks is really not a big deal. It's an obscure historical curiousity, you really can't fault kids for not knowing about it
Basically, they can only tell time using their cell phone. Whether it's the kid's fault, the parent's, the school's, or someone else's, I do kinda see this as a big deal.
Well, my answer was a bit tongue in cheek. But the question is whether we see this as something necessary to function in society or purely encyclopedic knowledge.
And I feel like the same should be asked about a ton of stuff that's taught in science classes today.
Not sure how it works in the US but here I've seen Biology books for 14 year olds that describes different functions in different brain regions. Why?
I remember we were taught about the specific industrial processes used to create Aluminium from bauxit (not sure if that's the English word). Two of them!
The physics problem shows what a think kids should actually be learning about. How to switch between more formal and more common sense ways of thinking. But you probably can't because you are required to teach them about facts that they have no interest in and no use for.
On September 23 2011 11:34 Kid-Fox wrote: As a student in an academic high school I feel like crying while reading these. Don't they know about the "1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme? basic algebra to find distance with v = d/t? Darwin discovered pressure? HUH??????
may I ask what grade level you teach?
These are 16-17 year olds (as I mentioned) so they are in 11th-12th grade.
Yeah when I think back to my high school experience I can't imagine not knowing 1492. To be fair, the physics problem wasn't just basic algebra.... it was substitution. You'd think people would all know that Darwin=evolution due to all the controversy, but they don't pay attention to the outside world. You could be explaining to many of these students how their house is going to explode tonight and they still would barely be paying attention.
It's not as easy for me to give hilarious/sad examples, but some students have a lot of trouble with reading and basic reasoning skills, even after all these years in school.
This applies to all age levels, though. You can't teach someone who's unwilling to learn. It persists into all ages.
On September 23 2011 12:19 GettingIt wrote: When i was 16-17 i would randomly bubble in answers because sometimes i just didnt give a shit. Do these results take that sort of thing into account?
As I already said this does happen sometimes but it doesn't account for most of the answers (most of these weren't multiple choice and for the few that were I compared their answers in the multiple choice with their answers in the fill in the blank).
On September 23 2011 11:34 Kid-Fox wrote: As a student in an academic high school I feel like crying while reading these. Don't they know about the "1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme? basic algebra to find distance with v = d/t? Darwin discovered pressure? HUH??????
may I ask what grade level you teach?
These are 16-17 year olds (as I mentioned) so they are in 11th-12th grade.
Yeah when I think back to my high school experience I can't imagine not knowing 1492. To be fair, the physics problem wasn't just basic algebra.... it was substitution. You'd think people would all know that Darwin=evolution due to all the controversy, but they don't pay attention to the outside world. You could be explaining to many of these students how their house is going to explode tonight and they still would barely be paying attention.
It's not as easy for me to give hilarious/sad examples, but some students have a lot of trouble with reading and basic reasoning skills, even after all these years in school.
Why do you think that is the case?
The problem is that kids fall behind early, get discouraged, and give up. Culture, peer pressure, and poor home lives are a part of why they fall behind and give up, but our educational system does them no favors either. Students are promoted through the grades even when they are hopelessly lost and failing. They reach high school barely able to read or do simple math, yet are expected to do physics, trigonometry, and read literature. It's a joke. We need to overhaul schools so that students don't move on to lesson 2 until they've mastered lesson 1. Salman Khan did a great TED talk a few months ago about addressing this problem:
What state is this school in? Kids don't read at grade level in America, that's just life - I don't know how long you've been an educator, but focus on the standards, improve literacy and don't put too much stock into these kinds of pre-assessments. It isn't your job to put out other teachers' fires.
On September 23 2011 12:28 slyboogie wrote: What state is this school in? Kids don't read at grade level in America, that's just life - I don't know how long you've been an educator, but focus on the standards, improve literacy and don't put too much stock into these kinds of pre-assessments. It isn't your job to put out other teachers' fires.
The problem is that teaching towards standards and then assessing them with standardized tests is potentially a large part of why education in this country has gotten in this state.
He is teaching marine science in high school; according to the standards, a high school student should already be prepared to learn any subject at that grade level, and not be deficient in core areas. Instead, teachers at the high school level often times have to do what these students' teachers' jobs were in elementary and junior high school.
They have to do that work because if they do not, the years of poor teaching which has cultivated such deficient kids will haunt the failure rate of the class and reflect poorly on the current teacher.
On September 23 2011 12:28 slyboogie wrote: What state is this school in? Kids don't read at grade level in America, that's just life - I don't know how long you've been an educator, but focus on the standards, improve literacy and don't put too much stock into these kinds of pre-assessments. It isn't your job to put out other teachers' fires.
The problem is that teaching towards standards and then assessing them with standardized tests is potentially a large part of why education in this country has gotten in this state.
He is teaching marine science in high school; according to the standards, a high school student should already be at a level that makes him or her not deficient at learning subjects at that grade level. Instead, teachers at the high school level often times have to do what these students' teachers jobs were in elementary and junior high school.
They have to do that work because if they do not, the years of poor teaching which has cultivated such deficient kids will haunt the failure rate of the class and reflect poorly on the current teacher.
Well, he's in a state that actually has Marine Science as a class. Anyways, complaining about the system is one thing but he's employed by the state and that's the system. Is it flawed? Most definitely! Are we in desperate need of reform? Absolutely! But that is not the point. The system can work if a teacher is enthusiastic and energetic, smart and motivated. There is nothing wrong with standardized tests or teaching students standards.
If you have to, you shelter your instruction. If you have to you, use SDAIE. If you have to, you make students draw pictures to demonstrate that they've met learning goals. It isn't perfect, it hasn't been perfect for a long time but it's our jobs.
Oh dear. From my time doing tutoring, I can imagine what you're going through, but it's probably worse.
On September 23 2011 11:09 micronesia wrote: Q) How did the Jason, an underwater robot, assist in the photographing of the sunken Titanic? A) It can go underwater.
This one made me chuckle. Admittedly, it's not wrong and if I was put on the hotseat I'd probably stammer that as my first answer. I'm assuming it could do more advanced functions a minisub couldn't?
On September 23 2011 12:28 slyboogie wrote: What state is this school in? Kids don't read at grade level in America, that's just life - I don't know how long you've been an educator, but focus on the standards, improve literacy and don't put too much stock into these kinds of pre-assessments. It isn't your job to put out other teachers' fires.
The problem is that teaching towards standards and then assessing them with standardized tests is potentially a large part of why education in this country has gotten in this state.
He is teaching marine science in high school; according to the standards, a high school student should already be at a level that makes him or her not deficient at learning subjects at that grade level. Instead, teachers at the high school level often times have to do what these students' teachers jobs were in elementary and junior high school.
They have to do that work because if they do not, the years of poor teaching which has cultivated such deficient kids will haunt the failure rate of the class and reflect poorly on the current teacher.
Well, he's in a state that actually has Marine Science as a class. Anyways, complaining about the system is one thing but he's employed by the state and that's the system. Is it flawed? Most definitely! Are we in desperate need of reform? Absolutely! But that is not the point. The system can work if a teacher is enthusiastic and energetic, smart and motivated. There is nothing wrong with standardized tests or teaching students standards.
If you have to, you shelter your instruction. If you have to you, use SDAIE. If you have to, you make students draw pictures to demonstrate that they've met learning goals. It isn't perfect, it hasn't been perfect for a long time but it's our jobs.
Yeah, working as a tutor at a high school during my last year of university really opened my eyes to just how bad things were in public schools nowadays. I had a small inkling of wanting to be a high school teacher, but my experiences at that school quenched that idea really quickly.
To be a good teacher in a system like that really takes a special person, and people should appreciate that a lot more.
On September 23 2011 11:34 Kid-Fox wrote: As a student in an academic high school I feel like crying while reading these. Don't they know about the "1492 columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme? basic algebra to find distance with v = d/t? Darwin discovered pressure? HUH??????
may I ask what grade level you teach?
These are 16-17 year olds (as I mentioned) so they are in 11th-12th grade.
Yeah when I think back to my high school experience I can't imagine not knowing 1492. To be fair, the physics problem wasn't just basic algebra.... it was substitution. You'd think people would all know that Darwin=evolution due to all the controversy, but they don't pay attention to the outside world. You could be explaining to many of these students how their house is going to explode tonight and they still would barely be paying attention.
It's not as easy for me to give hilarious/sad examples, but some students have a lot of trouble with reading and basic reasoning skills, even after all these years in school.
Why do you think that is the case?
The problem is that kids fall behind early, get discouraged, and give up. Culture, peer pressure, and poor home lives are a part of why they fall behind and give up, but our educational system does them no favors either. Students are promoted through the grades even when they are hopelessly lost and failing. They reach high school barely able to read or do simple math, yet are expected to do physics, trigonometry, and read literature. It's a joke. We need to overhaul schools so that students don't move on to lesson 2 until they've mastered lesson 1. Salman Khan did a great TED talk a few months ago about addressing this problem:
Thanks for this. Unfortunately I can't watch the clip right now
However, after reading this blog I did a little research. It seems the model that has been most successful is Finland. Great article here. Their sytem took forty years to get right but looks nothing like how I was taught.
It deals with the problems you raised but focusing on learning and not passing. There are no standardised testes until your final year. This blog provides a pretty good summary.
The main points are
1 - When Finnish kids turn 7 years old they go into compulsory primary school.
This means that all children start at the same level.
2 - All teachers are prepared in academic universities.
To teach in Finland you need at a minimum a Masters degree for permanent placement. Only 10% of applicants get accepted.
3 - Education is seen as the key to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive world.
Education is valued as a driver of economic growth. Iit is seen as a competitive advantage.
4 - Central government ensured sustainable funding to ensure FREE education for all.
This extends to books, equipment, meals, transportation etc. Pretty much everything.
5 - There are no mandatory tests or exams
The exception if the final exam which covers first language; foreign language; mathematics and social/natural sciences.
6 - Schools receive full autonomy and trust.
There a national guidelines but the schools are responsible for setting the curriculum and evaluation.
7 - There are university level studies or the polytechnics insitutions for manufacturing.
There is a wide consensus on increasing technology, environmental sciences and entrepreneurship education.
8 - Building upon the expertise of local players
The teachers and unions have been part of the process of developing the system.
9 - Political consensus and the capacity of policy makers to pursue reform
(What a dream!)
10 - Regional development and networking
One of the key goals was to ensure that schools could cooperate and teach each other.
So to me there seems a real commitment to developing learning as opposed to passing exams. It all comes down to whether there is a cultural commitment to education and how willing the society is to ensure their children receive the best. This is a proven system but it would never get support in the US or Australia, which in my eyes is a very sad situation.
When I was a small child and pissed off at my parents I purposely selected the most wrong answers on all of my standardized tests in the 5th grade. They regraded it by hand twice because i got 0/??? on 4 tests. XD Maybe they are just secretly fucking with you... >o>
I remember in high school when I didn't know the answer and a guess was beyond purview I would write something amusing in hope it would make my teacher laugh.
I now know how lucky I was that my teachers generally knew me and I wasn't just another student.
to be fair, although this is as a european so we dont care about discovering america, i wouldnt of been able to get half of those right without the multiple choice being available : D
Uhg :/ I go to school with The Future Retards of America. Seriously humans will get dumber and dumber until we eventually take out the human brain and replace it with a computer at birth >.<
Haha, In my high school chemistry class, my teacher flipped a shit annually when he saw the results of the algebra 1 math assessment test he gives at beginning of year. He was a really good AP Bio teacher though ;o
Not surprising. I just graduated 2 years ago and I could see a lot of my classmates writing dumb shit like that. I will be honest, some of those i don't know. Like the Ben Franklin oceanography question O.o maybe if i thought about it for awhile lol.
I knew several kids in my class that shouldn't have graduated yet they do. How public schools work in small towns in US.
On September 23 2011 11:38 micronesia wrote: It's not as easy for me to give hilarious/sad examples, but some students have a lot of trouble with reading and basic reasoning skills, even after all these years in school.
Why do you think that is the case?
Parents don't care about educating their kids anymore. They care about them getting good grades. Everything not in the curriculum will be of no interest and teachers are the enemy that want to drag down your kids' grades. They don't realize that
1) There is learning new things outside school 2) You need skills you learn in school in the outside world 3) Things you learn interconnect.
It's actually that easy. Also some teachers forget that some kids just aren't as smart as them. The bell curve has a left side too, you know? But i figure it's more about the parents than the teachers.
Funniest I've ever heard, in a high school biology class :
Teacher talking about the female reproductive organs and goes on a tangent about a tribe in Africa where the men would sew the lips closed when they left on trips so the women couldn't cheat on them.
Then, a student with an incredibly confused look goes : "But... how do they eat?"
I've never laughed that hard in a class. We had like 30 girls and 3 guys in class (including his gf), it was pretty hilarious. Many tears were shed.
Thanks for this. Unfortunately I can't watch the clip right now
However, after reading this blog I did a little research. It seems the model that has been most successful is Finland. Great article here. Their sytem took forty years to get right but looks nothing like how I was taught.
It deals with the problems you raised but focusing on learning and not passing. There are no standardised testes until your final year. This blog provides a pretty good summary.
From experience I can say it's still pretty shit though.
But yeah, some of those questions a ten year old could answer, anywhere in the first world, really.
this form of intellectual snobbery in this thread is more discouraging than the insinuated implicit idiocy of the students in the original post. i'm glad that nearly everybody here has had the pleasure and good fortune to have had the right environment or people in their lives to encourage (or force) you all to have the worldly knowledge and common sense that you all suggest you have.
micronesia (and any other current or aspiring educator in this thread), i sincerely fucking hope that you are making a legitimate attempt to not only dump information into these kids' brains, but also mentor them and guide them to be better and more successful people in life. one of the most overlooked aspects of a 'good teacher' (especially in america, where knowledge isn't always as heralded as it should or could be in many parts of the country) is the quality to mentor a kid to at least develop some/more will to learn and grow intellectually. otherwise, you're as much of a problem as past teachers that apparently 'have failed' these kids.
edit: if this offends you or anybody else, i'm sorry. it is a fucking peeve of mine for people in mentor/leadership roles that shrug off responsibility... i have this (maybe unfounded or discolored) view of today's teachers fitting this perfectly. i know some shitheads from high school that are fucking terrible at communicating ideas and concepts to people, let alone providing some semblance of guidance to the audience probably most in need
On September 23 2011 14:43 Bobo_XIII wrote: i sincerely fucking hope that you are making a legitimate attempt to not only dump information into these kids' brains, but also mentor them and guide them to be better and more successful people in life. one of the most overlooked aspects of a 'good teacher' (especially in america, where knowledge isn't always as heralded as it should or could be in many parts of the country) is the quality to mentor a kid to at least develop some/more will to learn and grow intellectually.
This is what i was referring to. The function of explaining why it's a good idea to learn interconnected and learn outside of school was traditionally implemented by parents. Kids still spend a majority of their time outside school and teachers in high schools see "their" kids for a few hours a week. You can't learning coach 20-30 kids in that time frame.
I still view this as the job of parents. If they can't do it, they have to hire private tutors that doesn't convey knowledge but learning ideology and methods.
/edit: The schools could do that, but that would require MUCH more funding and for the kids to stay even longer in school. Also they kids would not be able to easily transfer this methods/ideology to the outside world as they would, again, learn it in school. Doing this at home has much benefits imho but it has to be done somewhere.
The good thing is that those students will never make an impact on the society (since they are so dumb that they will forget to breathe) The sad fact is that there are realy ppl who are that dumb. What do they even know? Can they do math? Like 1+2= ?
On September 23 2011 14:43 Bobo_XIII wrote: i sincerely fucking hope that you are making a legitimate attempt to not only dump information into these kids' brains, but also mentor them and guide them to be better and more successful people in life. one of the most overlooked aspects of a 'good teacher' (especially in america, where knowledge isn't always as heralded as it should or could be in many parts of the country) is the quality to mentor a kid to at least develop some/more will to learn and grow intellectually.
This is what i was referring to. The function of explaining why it's a good idea to learn interconnected and learn outside of school was traditionally implemented by parents. Kids still spend a majority of their time outside school and teachers in high schools see "their" kids for a few hours a week. You can't learning coach 20-30 kids in that time frame.
I still view this as the job of parents. If they can't do it, they have to hire private tutors that doesn't convey knowledge but learning ideology and methods.
/edit: The schools could do that, but that would require MUCH more funding and for the kids to stay even longer in school. Also they kids would not be able to easily transfer this methods/ideology to the outside world as they would, again, learn it in school. Doing this at home has much benefits imho but it has to be done somewhere.
it's a responsibility that has to be assumed by any and everybody playing in some part of a kids' upbringing. the line "it takes a village to raise a child" is very true. with todays' school systems, teachers (next to managers and bosses at part time jobs) have more face time with kids next to parents... they can essentially be viewed as second parents.
it doesn't require some formal or rigid program or structured approach for teachers to orient kids in the right direction. it just requires adults to be adults, and part of the adult:kid relationship is to be a good role model when in a position of authority.
PS I heard a couple of stories the past couple of years about a 9th grader being unable to tell time on an analogue clock
Actually : I had severe problems with that for a very long time too, I pretty much never had an analog clock for a long time, and only beeing able to tell the time on a normal watch "in theory" made me have to think for ages in front of a "normal" watch (whenever I had to ask someone on the street for the time because I had no watch and they would just SHOW me their watch, I was pretty much doomed.. never got it in time)
Learned it sooner or later though (I´m still slow and have to think about it for a moment, but hey... its okay , and everything else was always pretty good.
But on topic : I feel you Teaching myself, and beeing the son of two teachers, I know how that feels...)
My Mom actually teaches german and .. uhm.. pretty much nutrition ? (online dictionary tells me home ec , but I dunno if thats really the right one...). Anyway... can you imagine what it´s like to have 10 pupils like the one from your post in a kitchen and try to teach them to cook something ?
Hint : it is actually possible for people to misread + Show Spoiler +
Are you for rela? I feel for you. Math and Physics teacher here. Kids can be pretty horrifying. A student once told me that velocity was measured in seconds (at least partially true) -.- Or dividing by zero, or calculating with fractions,... I wanna cry in the corner
On September 23 2011 11:09 micronesia wrote: 1: Q) Who was the first person to discover North America by boat? A) Titanic
2: Q) In what year did this discovery occur? 2050bc, 1002ad, 1492ad, or 1992ad A) 1992ad
3: Q) In what year did Columbus sail to North America? 2050bc, 2002ad, 1492ad, 1992ad A) 2050bc
Lol, you can't be serious. Were these three questions next to each other on the exam paper? Because if they were, well... they practically solve themselves. Unless some of the public common knowledge has changed since I left school, that is. But still, come on.
On September 23 2011 15:03 Bobo_XIII wrote: it's a responsibility that has to be assumed by any and everybody playing in some part of a kids' upbringing. the line "it takes a village to raise a child" is very true. with todays' school systems, teachers (next to managers and bosses at part time jobs) have more face time with kids next to parents... they can essentially be viewed as second parents.
Here in Austria, after grade school, you have different teachers for every subject. You see them about 2-5 hours a week at most in classes. Also you don't see them the whole summer during the huge 9 weeks summer holidays and some other holidays in between. They can have some influence, but that's not nearly enough time to really get close to the kids. And this is the time (10-14) where many intellectual habits/methods develop. I know i would have been lost if my mom wouldn't have been so strict and my dad showing me what the world is about (even if my parents divorced when i was 12). Parents matter very much. Teachers are also in a bad position as, aside from grades, they have no way of punishing the kids without violating regulations and risking their job. You cannot raise a kid just with good words. You have to be strict. And you can only be that if you have leverage. Teachers don't have that.
And yes, "it takes a village to raise a child". Too bad 2/3rds of the western population live in cities where there is no "village".
On September 23 2011 16:49 Nazarene wrote: What is the second theory Darwin is famous for?
evolution and natural selection
Evolution is the process that things change and adapt with their environments over time. Natural selection is like a catalyst, survival of the fittest and have lots of babies.
ill have to agree with HwangjaeTerran. The system is kinda shitty. The reason why people study is to pass trough the grueling university admittance exams(or atleast thats why I studied on weekends instead of partying).
2 - All teachers are prepared in academic universities. To teach in Finland you need at a minimum a Masters degree for permanent placement.
This seems good on paper,but the reality is another thing. The MA degree only takes 4 years and is basicly our BA degree.
On September 23 2011 14:14 liam33 wrote: 7: Q) How did the Jason, an underwater robot, assist in the photographing of the sunken Titanic? A) It can go underwater.
well at least they got this one right
So did the submersible Alvin which they already knew went down to the Titanic. The Jason was tethered to the Alvin and was able to go inside the Titanic and photograph the inside.
On September 23 2011 14:43 Bobo_XIII wrote: this form of intellectual snobbery in this thread is more discouraging than the insinuated implicit idiocy of the students in the original post. i'm glad that nearly everybody here has had the pleasure and good fortune to have had the right environment or people in their lives to encourage (or force) you all to have the worldly knowledge and common sense that you all suggest you have.
Whether the kids are dumb, the environment is terrible, or something else is to blame, it is pretty strange to many people here that they would have this much trouble with the questions. If it was one kid having trouble then people probably wouldn't be laughing, but it's clearly a large percentage of the group.
micronesia (and any other current or aspiring educator in this thread), i sincerely fucking hope that you are making a legitimate attempt to not only dump information into these kids' brains, but also mentor them and guide them to be better and more successful people in life. one of the most overlooked aspects of a 'good teacher' (especially in america, where knowledge isn't always as heralded as it should or could be in many parts of the country) is the quality to mentor a kid to at least develop some/more will to learn and grow intellectually. otherwise, you're as much of a problem as past teachers that apparently 'have failed' these kids.
This is easy to say but difficult to do. I feel like I do a good job with this with some of my students each year, but you won't be able to do it for many of them. When you are with kids 40 minutes a day and have 100 students spread across 4-5 classes with millions of other strict limitations you aren't going to reach every kid in a way that truly inspires them. If you do you are a God among men.
edit: if this offends you or anybody else, i'm sorry. it is a fucking peeve of mine for people in mentor/leadership roles that shrug off responsibility... i have this (maybe unfounded or discolored) view of today's teachers fitting this perfectly. i know some shitheads from high school that are fucking terrible at communicating ideas and concepts to people, let alone providing some semblance of guidance to the audience probably most in need
You've clearly been jaded by bad experiences but make sure you realize your experience doesn't tell you the whole story.
On September 23 2011 16:49 Nazarene wrote: What is the second theory Darwin is famous for?
On September 23 2011 11:09 micronesia wrote: I'm going to share some questions and real answers 16-17 year old students gave in the past day in a class studying marine science:
1: Q) Who was the first person to discover North America by boat? A) Titanic
2: Q) In what year did this discovery occur? 2050bc, 1002ad, 1492ad, or 1992ad A) 1992ad
3: Q) In what year did Columbus sail to North America? 2050bc, 2002ad, 1492ad, 1992ad A) 2050bc
4: Q) What two theories is Charles Darwin famous for? A) pressure
5: Q) What did Benjamin Franklin accomplish to advance oceanography? A) Became President of the USA
6: Q) What was his motivation for doing this? A) Greedy
7: Q) How did the Jason, an underwater robot, assist in the photographing of the sunken Titanic? A) It can go underwater.
Bonus: real answer from a physics quiz also:
Q) A students walks with a speed of 2 m/s for 5 s. How far did she walk? A) v=d/t = 5/2 = 2.5m/s
Bonus #2: real answer from a nutrition quiz:
Q) True or False: You should eat a lot of food shortly before going to bed. A) True
And this isn't even an exhaustive list of all ridiculous written answers from the past 24 hours! (never mind ridiculous spoken things) These are just some that I remembered from grading earlier...
There is no such thing as an easy question for somemany students. Every question is a challenge that they very well might get wrong :/
Is it something in the water D:
PS I heard a couple of stories the past couple of years about a 9th grader being unable to tell time on an analogue clock
Honestly I could go on and on but this is just too depressing. No wonder teachers are often heavy drinkers.
edit: probably wasn't clear, but the title of this OP is joking since this is just from today and not even a greatest hits list
Are you sure some of the kids weren't just trolling to be cool? I know I had several friends/acquaintances that would intentionally bomb tests because making A's wasn't "cool" in their little clique. They would brag about doing zero studying because all they can find time to do is get high, and answering c on true and false questions.
It's really tragic that they don't have the knowledge that seems so basic to us. I'm hoping that they'll improve in the future, but the sad reality for many is they're past their formative stage and won't change much.
On September 23 2011 18:36 gullberg wrote: These kids are most likely trolling (I did most of the time on surveys) because I fear for humanity if they were serious.
Yes i think these are just the greatest trolls of all time.
However i do remember an incident when i was in school were it was very hard for some of my classmates to find canada on a map. In their defense it was a big map.
On September 23 2011 22:18 Sm3agol wrote: Are you sure some of the kids weren't just trolling to be cool?
Pretty sure.
On September 24 2011 00:18 CryMore wrote: I hope you are failing these kids and handing them out burger king applications and self-made brochures of county jails.
No. If I do that I'll get into a lot of trouble.
On September 24 2011 00:37 Count9 wrote: Wait, these are exam/quiz questions right? As in this was gone over in class or in a textbook somewhere?
This somehow gives me a very bad idea about the general high school education in America, is it really that bad overall? I mean these questions are bloody easy.
On September 24 2011 00:18 CryMore wrote: I hope you are failing these kids and handing them out burger king applications and self-made brochures of county jails.
On September 24 2011 00:37 Count9 wrote: Wait, these are exam/quiz questions right? As in this was gone over in class or in a textbook somewhere?
Yes, it was gone over at length.
Will you get into trouble for failing them or for telling them to work in fast food?
I also just wanted to ask what region you work in (not the name of the school of course, but the area/state.) I hope that your not stuck teaching people who don't want to learn forever, good luck in the future.
On September 24 2011 07:51 Kipsate wrote: This somehow gives me a very bad idea about the general high school education in America, is it really that bad overall? I mean these questions are bloody easy.
Well I don't think this is the typical situation in the typical American classroom or anything... don't be THAT worried.
On September 23 2011 22:18 Sm3agol wrote: Are you sure some of the kids weren't just trolling to be cool?
Pretty sure.
On September 24 2011 00:18 CryMore wrote: I hope you are failing these kids and handing them out burger king applications and self-made brochures of county jails.
No. If I do that I'll get into a lot of trouble.
On September 24 2011 00:37 Count9 wrote: Wait, these are exam/quiz questions right? As in this was gone over in class or in a textbook somewhere?
Yes, it was gone over at length.
Will you get into trouble for telling them to work in fast food, or because your not allowed to fail them?
I also just wanted to ask what region you work in (not the name of the school of course, but the area/state.) I hope that your not stuck teaching people who don't want to learn forever, good luck in the future.
New York State; I would get into trouble for both. Most students need the course to graduate. If they fail my class, their graduation gets delayed (except for the 11th graders who are in the same boat next year with a new teacher). The district wouldn't want so many children having trouble graduating because of student performance in an elective class (this is not a state-mandated course; they just need science credit in general).
Also telling them they aren't all 100% special with the ability to become president of the united states wouldn't be politically correct which is vocational suicide as a teacher.
This seems like a good place to ask now, if you don't want to reply feel free not to as it is rather a broad question.
As a teacher in high school, what do you think of the current public school system of America?and how can it be helped?I heard teachers are underpaid heavily(Although this is fairly true for alot of countries) from what I hear the public schools are in bad shape.
its good to know what kinda kids are living right around me although im not surprised i hear similar things from my sister in high school (not the same district you teach at)
OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of proportion of daily energy consumed in the evening with weight change over 10 y of follow-up. DESIGN: The data used were from the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I, 1971-75) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS, 1982-84). The analytic cohort included 2580 men and 4567 women aged 25-74 y at baseline (NHANES I, 1971-75). The proportion of energy consumed in the evening (after 5 pm) was estimated from a 24 h dietary recall obtained at baseline. Weight change was defined as the difference between the follow-up and baseline weights. RESULTS: Mean±s.e. of percent energy from evening food intake was 46±0.29 in the analytic cohort. After adjustment for multiple covariates, percent energy from evening food intake and weight change were unrelated in both men and women. CONCLUSION: Extent of evening eating was not a significant predictor of 10 y weight change in the NHEFS cohort.
This is another one of those random nutrition fitness myths that is not supported by the science.
There are some incidences where hyperphagia may be unregulated and large amounts of calories may be consumed nightly or obese people may be awakened during the night (noctural eating syndrome). However, these specific cases tend to deal with hormonal imbalances (either in ghrelin, leptin, or other hypothalamus signalling) where there are already metabolic dysfunctions present.
For the healthy population, it is fine to eat large meals before sleeping without any negative consequences.
--------------
Also, thanks for the laughs. Love them all except the last one where the kid actually provided an answer to a question that actually doesn't have a right or wrong answer.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of proportion of daily energy consumed in the evening with weight change over 10 y of follow-up. DESIGN: The data used were from the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I, 1971-75) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS, 1982-84). The analytic cohort included 2580 men and 4567 women aged 25-74 y at baseline (NHANES I, 1971-75). The proportion of energy consumed in the evening (after 5 pm) was estimated from a 24 h dietary recall obtained at baseline. Weight change was defined as the difference between the follow-up and baseline weights. RESULTS: Mean±s.e. of percent energy from evening food intake was 46±0.29 in the analytic cohort. After adjustment for multiple covariates, percent energy from evening food intake and weight change were unrelated in both men and women. CONCLUSION: Extent of evening eating was not a significant predictor of 10 y weight change in the NHEFS cohort.
This is another one of those random nutrition fitness myths that is not supported by the science.
There are some incidences where hyperphagia may be unregulated and large amounts of calories may be consumed nightly or obese people may be awakened during the night (noctural eating syndrome). However, these specific cases tend to deal with hormonal imbalances (either in ghrelin, leptin, or other hypothalamus signalling) where there are already metabolic dysfunctions present.
For the healthy population, it is fine to eat large meals before sleeping without any negative consequences.
--------------
Also, thanks for the laughs. Love them all except the last one where the kid actually provided an answer to a question that actually doesn't have a right or wrong answer.
The question was a copy/paste from a powerpoint (that I didn't make actually). Thanks for the heads up.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of proportion of daily energy consumed in the evening with weight change over 10 y of follow-up. DESIGN: The data used were from the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I, 1971-75) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS, 1982-84). The analytic cohort included 2580 men and 4567 women aged 25-74 y at baseline (NHANES I, 1971-75). The proportion of energy consumed in the evening (after 5 pm) was estimated from a 24 h dietary recall obtained at baseline. Weight change was defined as the difference between the follow-up and baseline weights. RESULTS: Mean±s.e. of percent energy from evening food intake was 46±0.29 in the analytic cohort. After adjustment for multiple covariates, percent energy from evening food intake and weight change were unrelated in both men and women. CONCLUSION: Extent of evening eating was not a significant predictor of 10 y weight change in the NHEFS cohort.
This is another one of those random nutrition fitness myths that is not supported by the science.
There are some incidences where hyperphagia may be unregulated and large amounts of calories may be consumed nightly or obese people may be awakened during the night (noctural eating syndrome). However, these specific cases tend to deal with hormonal imbalances (either in ghrelin, leptin, or other hypothalamus signalling) where there are already metabolic dysfunctions present.
For the healthy population, it is fine to eat large meals before sleeping without any negative consequences.
--------------
Also, thanks for the laughs. Love them all except the last one where the kid actually provided an answer to a question that actually doesn't have a right or wrong answer.
The question was a copy/paste from a powerpoint (that I didn't make actually). Thanks for the heads up.
On September 23 2011 11:09 micronesia wrote: Q) A students walks with a speed of 2 m/s for 5 s. How far did she walk? A) v=d/t = 5/2 = 2.5m/s
Hahahaha! Best one!
There was another, I think there is a situation where you want to eat before you sleep. My friend that works out a lot and is very health concious does this.
Edit: Ok yeah there's a post above with stuffs on that.
I am very sad that I have experienced similar things such that I'm not surprised at all by some of these answers. Here's some I've seen off the top of my head. Note that these came from seniors in high school who I was attempting to help pass the CAHSEE (California's hs exit exam which should really be an entrance exam)
What is 50% of 100? 90
The time is 4:43 If it takes me 45 minutes to walk to school, when will I arrive? 6:00
What is the perimeter of a square of side length 2? 4
What is the area of a circle of radius 3, given that the area = pi * r^2 5 (I've found they say a random number without thinking if they don't know how to approach the problem)
x + 5 = 7 what is the value of x? x = 7/5
The one that takes the cake was when I verbally asked what 10+7 was. He needed paper and took around 2 minutes of incorrect answers such as 3, 12, and 27 before reaching the correct answer.
Based off my experiences with these people, I have to say one huge problem is how little is required to pass grades. Sure there are plenty of other factors such as teachers, money, family problems, etc. but at the end of day, why are these kids who can't do the most basic problems allowed to advance through middle and high school? That's a rhetorical question btw; I know the answer but that's exactly why we end up with 14+ year olds who lack any reasonable thinking capabilities and inevitably barely scrape by high school, if at all.
Unless there was a brain fart situation, how can anyone at that age get those questions incorrect. By then its imbedded into your knowledge, the answers should be instantaneous or total "mind reflex"...
I'm taking stats in uni right now and the teacher said something obvious like 100 * 1.5 = 150, it's like 100+50%... and the girl was like well if 200-50%=100, how come 100+50% isn't 200...
I was like WTF am I doing here... I've done stats before, and calculus, and linear algebra - and yet I have to deal with this entry level class where people utter the stupidest garbage...
On September 24 2011 14:50 Disregard wrote: Unless there was a brain fart situation, how can anyone at that age get those questions incorrect. By then its imbedded into your knowledge, the answers should be instantaneous or total "mind reflex"...
That's exactly the problem. These kids never bothered to actually learn this material (or at best, failed to do so despite trying), so it's not even close to being embedded, let alone being instantaneous, yet they're allowed (and "forced") into the next grade.
On September 23 2011 11:09 micronesia wrote: PS I heard a couple of stories the past couple of years about a 9th grader being unable to tell time on an analogue clock
Couple of stories? That's a quarter of my fucking high school. For another quarter it takes them about 15 seconds to read it.
On September 23 2011 11:09 micronesia wrote: PS I heard a couple of stories the past couple of years about a 9th grader being unable to tell time on an analogue clock
Couple of stories? That's a quarter of my fucking high school. For another quarter it takes them about 15 seconds to read it.
Oh well, some people just don't know things.
Someday people with digital watches will get laid?
On September 24 2011 14:54 Djzapz wrote: I was like WTF am I doing here... I've done stats before, and calculus, and linear algebra - and yet I have to deal with this entry level class where people utter the stupidest garbage...
Haha I'm going to be in a somewhat similar situation in the spring I think... more info on that to come later on!
On September 24 2011 14:03 KazeHydra wrote: I am very sad that I have experienced similar things such that I'm not surprised at all by some of these answers. Here's some I've seen off the top of my head. Note that these came from seniors in high school who I was attempting to help pass the CAHSEE (California's hs exit exam which should really be an entrance exam)
What is 50% of 100? 90
The time is 4:43 If it takes me 45 minutes to walk to school, when will I arrive? 6:00
What is the perimeter of a square of side length 2? 4
What is the area of a circle of radius 3, given that the area = pi * r^2 5 (I've found they say a random number without thinking if they don't know how to approach the problem)
x + 5 = 7 what is the value of x? x = 7/5
The one that takes the cake was when I verbally asked what 10+7 was. He needed paper and took around 2 minutes of incorrect answers such as 3, 12, and 27 before reaching the correct answer.
Based off my experiences with these people, I have to say one huge problem is how little is required to pass grades. Sure there are plenty of other factors such as teachers, money, family problems, etc. but at the end of day, why are these kids who can't do the most basic problems allowed to advance through middle and high school? That's a rhetorical question btw; I know the answer but that's exactly why we end up with 14+ year olds who lack any reasonable thinking capabilities and inevitably barely scrape by high school, if at all.
My thoughts are, if they're THIS bad, it's not the fact that school is so easy to get through (it is) but that it's even easier to cheat for the most part. If they're that far gone I can't imagine them even being able to do simple homework, which means someone's probably doing it for them.
Holy shit, it must be at least a bit depressing to have to deal with those students. I wonder how this sort of ignorance of the world is allowed to happen.
On September 25 2011 00:40 Attican wrote: Holy shit, it must be at least a bit depressing to have to deal with those students. I wonder how this sort of ignorance of the world is allowed to happen.
The irony is it is often the very efforts to prevent 'this sort of ignorance' that causes it.
I'm taking stats in uni right now and the teacher said something obvious like 100 * 1.5 = 150, it's like 100+50%... and the girl was like well if 200-50%=100, how come 100+50% isn't 200%...
I was like WTF am I doing here... I've done stats before, and calculus, and linear algebra - and yet I have to deal with this entry level class where people utter the stupidest garbage...
Anyway getting off topic sorry!
lol I love lectures when someone asks a question that the lecturer just answered a minute ago. That person always gets the "are you retarded?"-look.
Any tips for getting home work done when you have an urge to procrastinate every time you know you should be doing it? I personally suffer from this and currently am doing all my home work in a study hall but when it comes to actually doing it at home well...
On September 25 2011 03:09 3FFA wrote: Any tips for getting home work done when you have an urge to procrastinate every time you know you should be doing it? I personally suffer from this and currently am doing all my home work in a study hall but when it comes to actually doing it at home well...
Varies from person to person but having a routine might help... always do your hw at a certain time, etc
On September 24 2011 14:03 KazeHydra wrote: I am very sad that I have experienced similar things such that I'm not surprised at all by some of these answers. Here's some I've seen off the top of my head. Note that these came from seniors in high school who I was attempting to help pass the CAHSEE (California's hs exit exam which should really be an entrance exam)
What is 50% of 100? 90
The time is 4:43 If it takes me 45 minutes to walk to school, when will I arrive? 6:00
What is the perimeter of a square of side length 2? 4
What is the area of a circle of radius 3, given that the area = pi * r^2 5 (I've found they say a random number without thinking if they don't know how to approach the problem)
x + 5 = 7 what is the value of x? x = 7/5
The one that takes the cake was when I verbally asked what 10+7 was. He needed paper and took around 2 minutes of incorrect answers such as 3, 12, and 27 before reaching the correct answer.
Based off my experiences with these people, I have to say one huge problem is how little is required to pass grades. Sure there are plenty of other factors such as teachers, money, family problems, etc. but at the end of day, why are these kids who can't do the most basic problems allowed to advance through middle and high school? That's a rhetorical question btw; I know the answer but that's exactly why we end up with 14+ year olds who lack any reasonable thinking capabilities and inevitably barely scrape by high school, if at all.
My thoughts are, if they're THIS bad, it's not the fact that school is so easy to get through (it is) but that it's even easier to cheat for the most part. If they're that far gone I can't imagine them even being able to do simple homework, which means someone's probably doing it for them.
Yes, that's part of the problem as well, but sometimes is irrelevant. Teachers sometimes offer ridiculous amounts of extra credit that are beyond easy to do (usually far easier than homework and is some "artistic" project rather than something requiring thinking), and I wonder whether they do this for the sake of "passing" these kinds of students. I also recall talking to one high school teacher about a student and she said something along the lines of "if he would just attempt the exams, I would pass him." WTF? No need to cheat if you can pass by just taking the exam.
I'm not trying to generalize all teachers, of course. But the fact that some portion of teachers are willing to pass students who clearly are not prepared to go to the next level needs to stop.
On September 25 2011 03:13 KazeHydra wrote: I'm not trying to generalize all teachers, of course. But the fact that some portion of teachers are willing to pass students who clearly are not prepared to go to the next level needs to stop.
Why do you think some teachers go to such lengths to assure students they couldn't get to perform well still pass? It's a tricky issue.
If I'm given a group of students that I believe to be a 'terrible crop' where I know I can only get some of them to perform at the necessary level to go on to the next level, nobody will believe me when I say this. If I try to make this claim I will get blamed as a bad teacher. My choices are to do whatever it takes to make sure more students pass, or stick to my guns and get punished/fired/whatever.
Of course a teacher can not do their job well, and that can be the reason why students don't perform well, but that's not all the time.
Most federal programs in the past decade or two have been trying to eliminate the 'passing on' of students who aren't sufficiently ready are actually adding fuel to the fire rather than putting it out.
On September 25 2011 03:16 marttorn wrote: So lemme get this shit straight
Titanic discovered North America in 1992 (right around the time Nirvana were in their prime!)
But Columbus (whoever the fuck that is!) discovered it earlier, more accurately 2050bc.
Meanwhile, Darwin is out discovering pressure.
History man. Can't argue with it.
It wasn't the same student for each question necessarily fyi.
On September 25 2011 03:13 KazeHydra wrote: I'm not trying to generalize all teachers, of course. But the fact that some portion of teachers are willing to pass students who clearly are not prepared to go to the next level needs to stop.
Why do you think some teachers go to such lengths to assure students they couldn't get to perform well still pass? It's a tricky issue.
If I'm given a group of students that I believe to be a 'terrible crop' where I know I can only get some of them to perform at the necessary level to go on to the next level, nobody will believe me when I say this. If I try to make this claim I will get blamed as a bad teacher. My choices are to do whatever it takes to make sure more students pass, or stick to my guns and get punished/fired/whatever.
Of course a teacher can not do their job well, and that can be the reason why students don't perform well, but that's not all the time.
Most federal programs in the past decade or two have been trying to eliminate the 'passing on' of students who aren't sufficiently ready are actually adding fuel to the fire rather than putting it out.
Yeah I do realize that more often than not, it's more of a political and administrative issue rather than a teacher issue, and it's not like I can just ask all teachers to risk their jobs in hopes that will fix our education system because it won't. My mistake in trying to make it sound too simple and teacher dependent when it really isn't. I just can't believe some, even if they are a small minority, teachers honestly don't worry about passing these unprepared students.
On the other hand, I've seen a good number of teachers who do stick to their guns and will fail any student they know is not ready. I don't know what or if they receive punishment or are kept with lower pay or something, but at least we still have these teachers who are willing to risk their jobs like this.
On September 25 2011 03:37 KazeHydra wrote: On the other hand, I've seen a good number of teachers who do stick to their guns and will fail any student they know is not ready. I don't know what or if they receive punishment or are kept with lower pay or something, but at least we still have these teachers who are willing to risk their jobs like this.
These tend to be the teachers with tenure. The ones without tenure pass almost everyone.
On September 25 2011 03:37 KazeHydra wrote: On the other hand, I've seen a good number of teachers who do stick to their guns and will fail any student they know is not ready. I don't know what or if they receive punishment or are kept with lower pay or something, but at least we still have these teachers who are willing to risk their jobs like this.
These tend to be the teachers with tenure. The ones without tenure pass almost everyone.
Okay, that actually makes a lot of sense now. Well, good luck with your future work. I'm sure it's frustrating at times, but it's thanks to teachers like you that we at least have an education system, however problematic it may be.
If I'm given a group of students that I believe to be a 'terrible crop' where I know I can only get some of them to perform at the necessary level to go on to the next level, nobody will believe me when I say this. If I try to make this claim I will get blamed as a bad teacher. My choices are to do whatever it takes to make sure more students pass, or stick to my guns and get punished/fired/whatever.
wait a sec. You could get fired for not letting students pass? What kind of logic is this?
Its the students fault if he/she cant pass,not the teacher. I feel for you
I mean, I'd imagine there is some sort of paperwork/talking with parents/proof you may need to provide to both parents and administration, but I can't see how they could fire you over it
On September 25 2011 04:46 Complete wrote: Teachers get fired for failing students?
How exactly does this work?
O_o
I mean, I'd imagine there is some sort of paperwork/talking with parents/proof you may need to provide to both parents and administration, but I can't see how they could fire you over it
Just how the world has evolved.. this comic about sums it up.
Everyone's special and if they're failing, someone else is to blame. Obv.
On September 25 2011 04:46 Complete wrote: Teachers get fired for failing students?
How exactly does this work?
O_o
I mean, I'd imagine there is some sort of paperwork/talking with parents/proof you may need to provide to both parents and administration, but I can't see how they could fire you over it
Yes you do have to document everything and do 10000 things to defend yourself whenever a child doesn't earn 100% on every assignment for the whole year, or if you ever feel the need to give out any type of discipline.
But even if you do everything by the book it is usually considered the teacher's fault if many kids fail, regardless of any other circumstances. It makes you pray you get the 'good' class.
On September 25 2011 04:46 Complete wrote: Teachers get fired for failing students?
How exactly does this work?
O_o
I mean, I'd imagine there is some sort of paperwork/talking with parents/proof you may need to provide to both parents and administration, but I can't see how they could fire you over it
Yes you do have to document everything and do 10000 things to defend yourself whenever a child doesn't earn 100% on every assignment for the whole year, or if you ever feel the need to give out any type of discipline.
But even if you do everything by the book it is usually considered the teacher's fault if many kids fail, regardless of any other circumstances. It makes you pray you get the 'good' class.
are you allowed to hand out detentions and overload kids with homework? because if i was a teacher, that's what i would be doing. i wont give a shit if the kids hate my guts for doing that because it would be my fucking responsibility to make sure that they get educated properly
if i was an american i would be filing petitions to legalize corporal punishments in schools right now
Coporal punishment seems a bit too far, anyway how often do teachers get angry parents all over them?In the Netherlands it does happen, however the case is usually extreme there(e.g the teacher is unable to speak dutch correctly and thus it is hard to understand the subject).
On September 25 2011 04:46 Complete wrote: Teachers get fired for failing students?
How exactly does this work?
O_o
I mean, I'd imagine there is some sort of paperwork/talking with parents/proof you may need to provide to both parents and administration, but I can't see how they could fire you over it
Yes you do have to document everything and do 10000 things to defend yourself whenever a child doesn't earn 100% on every assignment for the whole year, or if you ever feel the need to give out any type of discipline.
But even if you do everything by the book it is usually considered the teacher's fault if many kids fail, regardless of any other circumstances. It makes you pray you get the 'good' class.
are you allowed to hand out detentions and overload kids with homework? because if i was a teacher, that's what i would be doing. i wont give a shit if the kids hate my guts for doing that because it would be my fucking responsibility to make sure that they get educated properly
if i was an american i would be filing petitions to legalize corporal punishments in schools right now
If you assign significantly more homework than kids are used to (only advanced students are used to a lot) then they simply won't do it and the parents will rarely make a difference on this front.
If you want to hand out detentions you can but you need to document everything carefully (including the things you did to try to prevent the need for detention in the first place) and if you give out a lot more than other teachers it makes you look bad in the eyes of the students, parents, and administrators (and possibly other teachers).
On September 25 2011 07:54 Kipsate wrote: Coporal punishment seems a bit too far, anyway how often do teachers get angry parents all over them?In the Netherlands it does happen, however the case is usually extreme there(e.g the teacher is unable to speak dutch correctly and thus it is hard to understand the subject).
Depends on the school... in some places parent's don't care, in others they are unnecessarily down the teacher's throat. It's a real problem sometimes when you have insane parents.
Do schools get more funding based on pass rate or does it determine how they allocate the budget? I know, at least with my district, there was so much focus on preparation for the STAR (state standardized exam) test, that really cut into our actual learning, but the school got more money based on the test pass rate so I understand it.
Are there any current movements for education reform you're aware of that might make your job easier in that aspect?
On September 23 2011 12:03 BlackJack wrote: I feel bad for the person that missed the physics question. It looks like they were actually giving their best effort and they are just really bad at math (or really stupid)
Well, I don't think they are REALLY bad at math, since they did 5/2 and got 2.5. So at least that is right. Reading comprehension could use some work.
I think I've written a lot worse answers than that. Sometimes if I have no clue what the answer is, I'll pick the most ridiculous one just because.
In paleontology one test, there was an essay question about something I had never heard about before, but it sounded like beer. So I had this 5 paragraph long spiel about how explorers found a fossilized beer keg, and how it showed that the discovery of alcohol coincided with the rise of humanity.
I doubt a lot of those answers were serious. Some wouldn't care and random-pick multiple choice answers. And the "math" one, just a matter of not reading it right. Maybe in a hurry or just looked too easy to bother caring?
This is why I could never be a teacher. Especially the multiple choice questions. I was able to sleep through high school and get a 3.5 because of multiple choice.
On September 23 2011 12:03 BlackJack wrote: I feel bad for the person that missed the physics question. It looks like they were actually giving their best effort and they are just really bad at math (or really stupid)
Well, I don't think they are REALLY bad at math, since they did 5/2 and got 2.5. So at least that is right. Reading comprehension could use some work.
LOL Bro, if they can't go through the process of thinking that the distance is going to be the speed times time... idk, there is a greeeeat problem with them, you don't even need to go through the formula to solve that...
Every year I have a few students make the same basic math mistake (these are 16-17 year olds who were considered able to take regular level physics (as opposed to an easier class like that ocean one I mentioned in the OP):
I'm just a TA, bu I have university level students in my stats tutorial that can't tell me the number of the most frequent observation from a bar graph. I got so depressed marking those quizzes.
On September 25 2011 14:12 Monoxide wrote: I'm just a TA, bu I have university level students in my stats tutorial that can't tell me the number of the most frequent observation from a bar graph. I got so depressed marking those quizzes.
Haha, I TA an intro stat class. We were talking about confounding variables, and to the question "Please identify a reason as to why taller people have shorter hair," instead of the obvious confounding variable of gender (men tend to be taller and tend to have shorter hair due to societal norms), a student answered "maybe tall people think they look silly with long hair."
On September 25 2011 14:12 Monoxide wrote: I'm just a TA, bu I have university level students in my stats tutorial that can't tell me the number of the most frequent observation from a bar graph. I got so depressed marking those quizzes.
Haha, I TA an intro stat class. We were talking about confounding variables, and to the question "Please identify a reason as to why taller people have shorter hair," instead of the obvious confounding variable of gender (men tend to be taller and tend to have shorter hair due to societal norms), a student answered "maybe tall people think they look silly with long hair."
I ended up giving him credit :<
At least at my university, intro stats assumed you took some stats in high school. The books were more about applying it to your field instead of actual books that taught you about stats.
So if you were like me and you took it in high school, it was easy; but if you were a newcomer, things were more difficult.
For us, it's meant to be accessible, and there are a bunch of intro classes for different majors that have different course material. For example, the intro stat course for econ majors tends to be harder than the one for the public policy majors. I TA the course for public policy majors.
None of them actually count for the statistics major, though. The first class in the statistics major is probability and it has calc 3 and linear algebra as prereqs. No current majors have taken any of the intro stat courses because they're wastes of time.
On September 25 2011 15:51 Empyrean wrote: For us, it's meant to be accessible, and there are a bunch of intro classes for different majors that have different course material. For example, the intro stat course for econ majors tends to be harder than the one for the public policy majors. I TA the course for public policy majors.
None of them actually count for the statistics major, though. The first class in the statistics major is probability and it has calc 3 and linear algebra as prereqs. No current majors have taken any of the intro stat courses because they're wastes of time.
Exactly. I TA the stats course for the life science, bio, and psych kids. You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces. But I can kind of understand why this stuff is hard for them to understand.
On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote: You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces.
Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math.
On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote: You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces.
Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math.
I'm doing case prep with a girl who couldn't multiply two digit numbers by each other if they involved decimal points.
On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote: You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces.
Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math.
I'm doing case prep with a girl who couldn't multiply two digit numbers by each other if they involved decimal points.
She's (well I guess we're) interviewing with BCG.
I guess once you stop doing math, you start losing it.
On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote: You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces.
Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math.
I'm doing case prep with a girl who couldn't multiply two digit numbers by each other if they involved decimal points.
She's (well I guess we're) interviewing with BCG.
lol i probably cant either, and im a 4th year mech eng. i cant remember the last time i did any calculations without a calculator
As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers.
On September 25 2011 18:13 Kid-Fox wrote: As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers.
Math=logic, once you've figured out the method you can do infinite problems. Not the case with English
On September 25 2011 18:13 Kid-Fox wrote: As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers.
On September 25 2011 18:13 Kid-Fox wrote: As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers.
Math=logic, once you've figured out the method you can do infinite problems. Not the case with English
At least that's how I've always viewed it.
It's weird but "true" geniuses are good at both math and english/language because language is based on syntax, grammar, etc. which have common themes throughout the world. Words are functions with specific definitions, and you can form them into sentences with meaning just like equations.
Being able to use a language to state what you mean and derive meaning from it is like manipulating equations and variables to get the answer you want. Generally speaking, however, guys tend to be a bit better at math and girls at english... likely some genetic and social/environmental factors involved.
But yeah, I'm relatively good with math and crap with english. I would suggest approaching language from a more logical point of view if you're struggling with it though.
All the stuff they teach you about 5 paragraph essay... use it. It's a good logical approach. Bring logical structure to your paragraphs. Eliminate superfluous words. It takes practice to get better at.
Good lord. I really hope that at least some of those were just the I don't know and I'll say something stupid answers.
education in this country sucks. Everyone wants to point to the teachers and everything besides the root of the problem: the dumbass parents. Whether it's because the parents both work two jobs or they just really don't give a shit, it's much easier to blame the teacher or the system instead of accepting that your kid is not a good student and it's because you're not involved at all.
I coach soccer and it's apparent there too. I always bug the kids about school since I know a lot of their teachers and without fail, the ones that are bad at school and general pains in the asses are always the ones whose parents don't care, don't show up, etc etc
On September 29 2011 02:38 Hawk wrote: Good lord. I really hope that at least some of those were just the I don't know and I'll say something stupid answers.
education in this country sucks. Everyone wants to point to the teachers and everything besides the root of the problem: the dumbass parents. Whether it's because the parents both work two jobs or they just really don't give a shit, it's much easier to blame the teacher or the system instead of accepting that your kid is not a good student and it's because you're not involved at all.
I coach soccer and it's apparent there too. I always bug the kids about school since I know a lot of their teachers and without fail, the ones that are bad at school and general pains in the asses are always the ones whose parents don't care, don't show up, etc etc
Just had meet the teacher night...
In that ocean class, 3/31 kids' parent(s) came. In my AP class just about all came. Surprise surprise ._.
I love how on the easiest physics question in existence the student carried his units wrong but still put them in the answer. Speed is apparently a distance, now.
I think the reason for all of this is they just didn't care.
I rarely blamed the teacher for my troubles in high school. Typically i would know if it was my fault or not. Whether it was sleeping in class, not paying attention, playing games on my ipod. What have you.
But i can honestly say i have had 2 teachers that just were so epically terrible at their job, one got fired later on tho for sexual harassment (and he got a sex change, which was part of the harassment, showed pictures to a student of him as a women), the other tried way to hard to be liked by everyone in the class, tried to be the cool teacher. Told us to ask him for help on his free time, never did help you tho.
Both were math teachers and well i enjoy math. I was in accel math up until 10th year when then terrabad train of teachers happened. The first one told us to take notes, i always did in math, had too. Well he told us to turn in our notes. I happily did... he gave me a F on my fucking notes because my handwriting was sloppy.( i could read it fine, and even read it to him to prove it) lost 20 points of the semester that day. Then later on when he was talking about how to solve stuff, well he didnt make sense. I passed that class through help of friends, but i kept up. Passed with a C sadly.
Then the next year came. and i get this douche rockin-roll guy talking about how he used to party just like us. I dunno why fail teachers get into the class rooms where i live, but somehow a few always do. He was horrible at explaining anything. Everyone, even the "smart" kids in the class said they had trouble understanding wtf this guy was talking about. ppl in our class would get together just to try and figure out what was just taught to us. Failed that class because half way through i just gave up trying. Was not worth it to me anymore. Turned into my nap time lol.
And what do you know, summer school for math, all fine and dandy. Passed the class 5 days early because the teacher actually knew how to teach. Ballin.
Not saying this is every teacher on the planet, but some teachers are just really really bad, while others are forced into things such as micro has been saying. And teachers being heavy drinkers was awesome cuz well.... it all makes sense. Lol
I personally think from elementary school, if your behind, summer school. If your still behind, no advance. It should not reflect poorly on a teacher if the kids are stupid. But if the teacher is bad, well, there should be a way for everyone in the class to petition or something. (having to be a landslide). thats just off the top of my head, dont look super deep at any holes in the logic lol.
err i just remembered, one time one of the good math teachers subbed and was amazed at how little we had been taught. It was comical.
Thanks for the blog, was funny, sad, and well all around quality. I am actually returning to school in winter quarter. Gonna get a degree!!! And since i never use anything i learned in "Real life", im going to have to retake some basic classes to refresh my memory >.< more money gone.
On September 29 2011 14:43 TheGiz wrote: I love how on the easiest physics question in existence the student carried his units wrong but still put them in the answer. Speed is apparently a distance, now.
I think the reason for all of this is they just didn't care.
Some of the ocean kids perhaps, but not the physics one. I'm pretty sure about that.
As a teacher do you ever feel responsible for their bad answers or get disheartened? I'm sure it isn't easy to teach them this stuff everyday for a few weeks and then get those response.
On September 29 2011 22:59 Cruncharoo wrote: As a teacher do you ever feel responsible for their bad answers or get disheartened? I'm sure it isn't easy to teach them this stuff everyday for a few weeks and then get those response.
Sometimes but after a while you realize just how many things besides you contribute towards incorrect answers.... like it's not my fault when my physics student can't do basic algebra on the first day. I'll do my best to help them but they were behind the 8 ball to begin with.
Ehhhh...I can KIND OF understand the 1492 vs. 1992 mistake. If someone is doing the work too fast they'd just see the "92" and pick that choice.
The velocity over time issue also isn't a stretch. It seems they messed up the dimensional analysis (and let's face it, understanding this is all about understanding fractions - something many people are averse to) or they accidentally divided, realized they got s^2/m, got really confused, and just fluffled something.
I know what you mean with interesting answers. I grade for a senior level engineering course. I am honestly frightened for the plants that hire some of these people -_-
On September 30 2011 01:32 Servius_Fulvius wrote: The velocity over time issue also isn't a stretch. It seems they messed up the dimensional analysis
This isn't how most students think about it. They start with what information is given (without worrying about units), figure out which formula has those givens and the unknown, and then plug in... they don't even do algebra with the units usually)
(and let's face it, understanding this is all about understanding fractions - something many people are averse to)
Agreed
or they accidentally divided, realized they got s^2/m,
I'm at the company in the conference room. Its going to be hard to get me a lease since I don't have a company. Buying seems to make more sense for me and they are currently pricing a smaller machine for me since I don't need 11x17. I'll continue the live report as this progresses! edit: wrong thread lol (was on phone)
On September 30 2011 03:04 micronesia wrote: I'm at the company in the conference room. Its going to be hard to get me a lease since I don't have a company. Buying seems to make more sense for me and they are currently pricing a smaller machine for me since I don't need 11x17. I'll continue the live report as this progresses!
Oh micronesia, in a thread about people making mistakes too.
On September 30 2011 03:04 micronesia wrote: I'm at the company in the conference room. Its going to be hard to get me a lease since I don't have a company. Buying seems to make more sense for me and they are currently pricing a smaller machine for me since I don't need 11x17. I'll continue the live report as this progresses!
I must be missing something because this reads like Romulan to me.
On September 30 2011 03:04 micronesia wrote: I'm at the company in the conference room. Its going to be hard to get me a lease since I don't have a company. Buying seems to make more sense for me and they are currently pricing a smaller machine for me since I don't need 11x17. I'll continue the live report as this progresses!
Oh micronesia, in a thread about people making mistakes too.
Haha sorry I was on my phone and posted in the wrong thread :p
On September 29 2011 02:38 Hawk wrote: Good lord. I really hope that at least some of those were just the I don't know and I'll say something stupid answers.
education in this country sucks. Everyone wants to point to the teachers and everything besides the root of the problem: the dumbass parents. Whether it's because the parents both work two jobs or they just really don't give a shit, it's much easier to blame the teacher or the system instead of accepting that your kid is not a good student and it's because you're not involved at all.
I coach soccer and it's apparent there too. I always bug the kids about school since I know a lot of their teachers and without fail, the ones that are bad at school and general pains in the asses are always the ones whose parents don't care, don't show up, etc etc
Just had meet the teacher night...
In that ocean class, 3/31 kids' parent(s) came. In my AP class just about all came. Surprise surprise ._.
Lol... here in NJ my schools are pretty awesome where 2 years I had the same teacher in a row(my 4th grade teacher replaced the 5th grade social studies teacher because the original one left and there was no other replacement). In 4th grade my parents and I complained about too much home work as I was in the "bad class" and at the time my little grade-school girl friend had just moved away the year before and then I get hit with hours of homework when I'm not even 11 yet. I and others couldn't do it while some actually got dogs to eat their homework(no joke they brought it to school like that xD). Then in 5th grade the teacher did it again and it was like "Angry old lady+Boring Way to teach Social Studies+ Gives a test on MLKJr. and keeps all our F's on it..." Then when we graduated one girl that is normally really nice but hated our teacher said "I hope she dies." Then when we got into 6th grade in Middle School guess what happened? Our old teacher ended up in the emergency room from a car accident and it was announced over the middle school loud speaker...
Now I'm a Freshman and in 8th I got C's and D's and got an F in English one marking period but my teachers didn't want to have to explain it to the school admin. so they bumped it up to a D-. My parents said "You'll never be able to turn things around for yourself in high school."(I was also late almost every day of the school year 8th grade and had the record for ever having the most tardies ) I am getting A's and B's as of now(Home work getting done in study hall, getting to school early instead of late, participating in class a LOT, etc.). They said I couldn't do it...
Now, all I need is to figure out how to motivate myself to getting home work done at home where I go "I would much rather go to my computer and play SC..." and get an itch to do so.
Yo I'm not sure if these are personally collected answers, or from a region wide testing thing? Because MAYBE this was just me, but if something wasn't grade changing or didn't count (state testing) then, I just bubbled in AABBCCAABBCC. ezpz
On September 30 2011 08:12 Ponyo wrote: Yo I'm not sure if these are personally collected answers, or from a region wide testing thing? Because MAYBE this was just me, but if something wasn't grade changing or didn't count (state testing) then, I just bubbled in AABBCCAABBCC. ezpz
In my school we made pictures with the bubbles lol. One time one guy bubbled a **** =/
That's actually terrible for the schools, because part of their funding comes from how well students do on standardized exams (at least for public schools).
On September 29 2011 02:38 Hawk wrote: Good lord. I really hope that at least some of those were just the I don't know and I'll say something stupid answers.
education in this country sucks. Everyone wants to point to the teachers and everything besides the root of the problem: the dumbass parents. Whether it's because the parents both work two jobs or they just really don't give a shit, it's much easier to blame the teacher or the system instead of accepting that your kid is not a good student and it's because you're not involved at all.
I coach soccer and it's apparent there too. I always bug the kids about school since I know a lot of their teachers and without fail, the ones that are bad at school and general pains in the asses are always the ones whose parents don't care, don't show up, etc etc
Just had meet the teacher night...
In that ocean class, 3/31 kids' parent(s) came. In my AP class just about all came. Surprise surprise ._.
Lol... here in NJ my schools are pretty awesome where 2 years I had the same teacher in a row(my 4th grade teacher replaced the 5th grade social studies teacher because the original one left and there was no other replacement). In 4th grade my parents and I complained about too much home work as I was in the "bad class" and at the time my little grade-school girl friend had just moved away the year before and then I get hit with hours of homework when I'm not even 11 yet. I and others couldn't do it while some actually got dogs to eat their homework(no joke they brought it to school like that xD). Then in 5th grade the teacher did it again and it was like "Angry old lady+Boring Way to teach Social Studies+ Gives a test on MLKJr. and keeps all our F's on it..." Then when we graduated one girl that is normally really nice but hated our teacher said "I hope she dies." Then when we got into 6th grade in Middle School guess what happened? Our old teacher ended up in the emergency room from a car accident and it was announced over the middle school loud speaker...
Now I'm a Freshman and in 8th I got C's and D's and got an F in English one marking period but my teachers didn't want to have to explain it to the school admin. so they bumped it up to a D-. My parents said "You'll never be able to turn things around for yourself in high school."(I was also late almost every day of the school year 8th grade and had the record for ever having the most tardies ) I am getting A's and B's as of now(Home work getting done in study hall, getting to school early instead of late, participating in class a LOT, etc.). They said I couldn't do it...
Now, all I need is to figure out how to motivate myself to getting home work done at home where I go "I would much rather go to my computer and play SC..." and get an itch to do so.
I've always believed that any student can get a 4.0 throughout high school in this country just by showing up to class, paying attention, and doing like...maybe half the homework.
College though, especially in a rigorous field, is pretty different lol
On September 30 2011 12:21 wherebugsgo wrote: I've always believed that any student can get a 4.0 throughout high school in this country just by showing up to class, paying attention, and doing like...maybe half the homework.
This has not been my observation... as a student or as a teacher. This is partly due to the differences in the difficulty of getting a 4.0 in different schools, and party due to the differences in students.
I used to breeze through all my courses EZPZ with doing virtually no homework, but now that I'm in my final year in physics and pre cal everything looks like heiroglyphics to me. T.T
From my experience any time I got a (relatively) poor mark it was usually because the teacher was utter balls.
On September 30 2011 12:21 wherebugsgo wrote: I've always believed that any student can get a 4.0 throughout high school in this country just by showing up to class, paying attention, and doing like...maybe half the homework.
This has not been my observation... as a student or as a teacher. This is partly due to the differences in the difficulty of getting a 4.0 in different schools, and party due to the differences in students.
Maybe not a 4.0, but almost everything outside of math is memorization and basic effort, picking up the book instead of going to cliffnotes, etc. Kids have notoriously shitty work ethic. Severe learning disabilities and immigrants who do not know the language aside, anyone pulling below 3.5 is almost always lacking in the effort department.
Math and some of the science courses that incorporate math are really the only thing where your brain is doing something other than regurgitating shit you had to read or memorize. It's not like you're doing real literary analysis in english, and the writing bar is so damn low that you have to be pretty lazy to fuck that up.
obviously, this does not include AP, where teachers go out of their way to challenge you. But general and cp kid classes are not exactly challenging.
On September 30 2011 12:21 wherebugsgo wrote: I've always believed that any student can get a 4.0 throughout high school in this country just by showing up to class, paying attention, and doing like...maybe half the homework.
This has not been my observation... as a student or as a teacher. This is partly due to the differences in the difficulty of getting a 4.0 in different schools, and party due to the differences in students.
Maybe not a 4.0, but almost everything outside of math is memorization and basic effort, picking up the book instead of going to cliffnotes, etc. Kids have notoriously shitty work ethic. Severe learning disabilities and immigrants who do not know the language aside, anyone pulling below 3.5 is almost always lacking in the effort department.
Math and some of the science courses that incorporate math are really the only thing where your brain is doing something other than regurgitating shit you had to read or memorize. It's not like you're doing real literary analysis in english, and the writing bar is so damn low that you have to be pretty lazy to fuck that up.
obviously, this does not include AP, where teachers go out of their way to challenge you. But general and cp kid classes are not exactly challenging.
out of curiosity how much is 4.0 gpa in percent? i got around 81% overall average in high school and i was notorious for being one of the people who never did homework or pay attention in class
On September 30 2011 12:21 wherebugsgo wrote: I've always believed that any student can get a 4.0 throughout high school in this country just by showing up to class, paying attention, and doing like...maybe half the homework.
This has not been my observation... as a student or as a teacher. This is partly due to the differences in the difficulty of getting a 4.0 in different schools, and party due to the differences in students.
Maybe not a 4.0, but almost everything outside of math is memorization and basic effort, picking up the book instead of going to cliffnotes, etc. Kids have notoriously shitty work ethic. Severe learning disabilities and immigrants who do not know the language aside, anyone pulling below 3.5 is almost always lacking in the effort department.
Math and some of the science courses that incorporate math are really the only thing where your brain is doing something other than regurgitating shit you had to read or memorize. It's not like you're doing real literary analysis in english, and the writing bar is so damn low that you have to be pretty lazy to fuck that up.
obviously, this does not include AP, where teachers go out of their way to challenge you. But general and cp kid classes are not exactly challenging.
out of curiosity how much is 4.0 gpa in percent? i got around 81% overall average in high school and i was notorious for being one of the people who never did homework or pay attention in class
Well there would be no real way to convert GPA perfectly to %. In the U.S., the grades A,B,C,D for each class are converted to 4,3,2,1, and then the average across your high school career is taken. So a 4.0 means all A's and could range from 90-100%. A 4.0 is considered "perfect" grades. A 81% would roughly be a 2.7, but it's a very poor comparison considering the nature of the education system here.
On September 30 2011 12:21 wherebugsgo wrote: I've always believed that any student can get a 4.0 throughout high school in this country just by showing up to class, paying attention, and doing like...maybe half the homework.
This has not been my observation... as a student or as a teacher. This is partly due to the differences in the difficulty of getting a 4.0 in different schools, and party due to the differences in students.
Maybe not a 4.0, but almost everything outside of math is memorization and basic effort, picking up the book instead of going to cliffnotes, etc. Kids have notoriously shitty work ethic. Severe learning disabilities and immigrants who do not know the language aside, anyone pulling below 3.5 is almost always lacking in the effort department.
Math and some of the science courses that incorporate math are really the only thing where your brain is doing something other than regurgitating shit you had to read or memorize. It's not like you're doing real literary analysis in english, and the writing bar is so damn low that you have to be pretty lazy to fuck that up.
obviously, this does not include AP, where teachers go out of their way to challenge you. But general and cp kid classes are not exactly challenging.
out of curiosity how much is 4.0 gpa in percent? i got around 81% overall average in high school and i was notorious for being one of the people who never did homework or pay attention in class
Depends entirely on your education system.
Under A-levels or IB, 81% could quite easily translate to 4.0. The US system uses comparatively high % boundaries for grades, balanced by how easy they are to achieve.
On September 23 2011 16:49 Nazarene wrote: What is the second theory Darwin is famous for?
evolution and natural selection
Evolution is the process that things change and adapt with their environments over time. Natural selection is like a catalyst, survival of the fittest and have lots of babies.
And selection works through selective pressure, so maybe the kid wasn't in the wrong after all!
EPT
I'd like to see some percentages though.. if you just leave it like that it seems like it could be pretty misleading.. maybe 1/1000 picked the answers above and they didn't take it seriously and were just trolling the teach?
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jUm0q.gif)
