How to improve American Education in 2021. (1 Viewer)

[Paul]

The most recent PISA results, from 2015, placed the U.S. an unimpressive 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science. Among the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which sponsors the PISA initiative, the U.S. ranked 30th in math and 19th in science.

U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries

U.S. students continue to rank near the middle, and behind many other advanced industrial nations, in international math, science and reading assessments.

www.pewresearch.org

My suggestion is rather simple.

1. Study why immigrants from East Asia, India, and Nigeria do well with American education. Apply that insight to other groups (if possible).
2. Manage public schools as if though they were private schools with uniforms and discipline.
3. Create high end special schools for those that are truly disenfranchised.
4. Create a force of social workers to treat family dysfunction with regards to education.
5. Reduce the curriculum to the simple basics and repeat that on a yearly basis.
6. At about 10th grade divide college bound students away from non-college bound.
7. Provide solid basic education and trade training for non-college bound kids. There is no point in offering free college to these kids.

 

[samiam5211]

When did k-12 schools start teaching CRT?

That’s is also a really good question they won’t have an answer for.

They are scared to death that it’s been too long and too many of their kids have been brainwashed to believe that racial inequity is not natural.

They are angry at themselves more than anything else for not caring about their children’s education because they were too busy arguing on Facebook about things Facebook told them to argue about.

Than god Facebook finally warned them about CRT.

 

[MT15]

The answer is never. They never have taught it and they never will.

 

[Goatman saint]

The answer is never. They never have taught it and they never will.

I was going to say. I’ve never taught it, and have had no discussions about I from any level. Closest we come to is attempting to show all sides of an issue when we are teaching Spanish vs natives with missions, challenges of Chinese and Mexicans from the 1850s-now, Japanese during WW2 things like this. Presenting each issue through numerous lenses

 

[Optimus Prime]

This could go in a few threads
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At a November school board meeting about an hour from my home in Upstate New York, a parent complained about a book his daughter had brought home from the middle school library: “The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person,” by Frederick Joseph.


Tensions are running high in that particular school district, where locals have been wrestling for more than a year with whether to change their sports mascot from “Indians” to something less, well, racist.

But the dad’s complaint is familiar to anyone anywhere in the country following the massive wave of parents around the country demanding that schools remove, ban and even burn books.


According to the local paper, the father held up a copy of “The Black Friend” and said, “If this isn’t critical race theory, I don’t know what is.”
I agree. He doesn’t.


A young adult book of nonfiction, “The Black Friend” simply encourages White people to be thoughtful in their interactions with people of color.

Chapters include “We Want You to See Race,” “Certain Things Are Racist, Even If You Don’t Know It,” and “So Your Friend Is Racist. What Should You Do?”

It’s an entertaining and helpful guide, suffused with the optimism that animates all how-tos: the belief that people want to do better, and, with a little education, can do better.


Or, as the father put it at the school board meeting: “It’s disgusting. It’s crap.” He also said he wasn’t going to return it to the library.


Now whether this man thinks racism is overblown, or over — or just something Black people do to White people, he has to admit that it’s an issue in the world today. Even in his almost-all-White school district…….

Parents are pretty good at fooling ourselves. Which is exactly why we shouldn’t be in charge of our children’s education.


That’s right, I agree with the statement Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe made in a late-September debate, though it’s been dubbed a “gaffe” and a “blunder ”: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Of course we shouldn’t!……..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/24/parents-think-they-know-what-is-best-schools-they-often-dont/

 

[Optimus Prime]

More school board craziness and this definitely is a new low in a year full of them

A small-town mom wanted to help her community. And then the community took aim at her child | CNN

Some of the worst political vitriol of 2021 happened not in Washington DC, but connected to a school board election in Hastings, Minnesota, where opponents outed an eight-year-old transgender child.

www.google.com

 

[cuddlemonkey]

More school board craziness and this definitely is a new low in a year full of them

A small-town mom wanted to help her community. And then the community took aim at her child | CNN

Some of the worst political vitriol of 2021 happened not in Washington DC, but connected to a school board election in Hastings, Minnesota, where opponents outed an eight-year-old transgender child.

www.google.com

This is what kills me about the current GOP base. Even if they completely disagree with the treatment of this family and this child, their vote still encourages it. How anyone with a conscience can do this is beyond my comprehension.

 

[MT15]

I’m not sure how many actually disagree with this, though. From what I hear locally, the “othering” of people who are different in any way is nearly fait accompli.

Honestly, it wasn’t a very long journey for some of the GOP base anyway. It’s very sad, tbh.

 

[bird]

I’m not sure how many actually disagree with this, though. From what I hear locally, the “othering” of people who are different in any way is nearly fait accompli.

Honestly, it wasn’t a very long journey for some of the GOP base anyway. It’s very sad, tbh.

The use of “the other” via agitprop has been around for decades if not centuries. Mass communication and especially anti-social media combined with tribalism creates this simply much more easily.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Wasn’t sure what thread to put this in

Is this too political for the EE?
=====================
With the deadly Oxford, Mich., high school shooting that killed four students this week still raw, a new government study details how increasingly malicious American school environments can be.


Analyzing Education Department data, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found a huge jump in K-12 public school “hostile behaviors.”

The most alarming statistic — physical attacks with a weapon nearly doubled early in the Trump administration.


In a two-year period, from school years 2015-2016 to 2017-2018, attacks with weapons jumped 97 percent, according to the most recent data available. At the same time, hate crimes increased 81 percent and sexual assaults rose 17 percent.


The report offers no reason for the dramatic growth in attacks with weapons and hate crimes, but “schools are microcosms of their communities,” Jacqueline M. Nowicki, GAO’s director of education, workforce, and income security issues, said by phone.


For students and others, 2017 was a period of political upheaval and racial tension under President Donald Trump. That August, as students readied for a new school year, a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville led to the murder by car of Heather Heyer.

In a defining moment of his presidency after the attack, Trump said “there’s blame on both sides.”


While schools reflect society, “federal data doesn’t get at why” cases increased, Nowicki said. “We are unable to give a definitive answer there [the large 2017-2018 increase] because that’s not the data the federal government collects.”…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/06/gao-report-students-hostile-behaviors-attacks/

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[Optimus Prime]

More School Board fights - about mascots this time not masks or CRT
=================================

A Connecticut school board member was slugged in the face by an angry parent Tuesday night during a debate on the future of Glastonbury High School’s Native American-inspired mascot.

The dust-up between the parent, Mark Finocchiaro, and board secretary Ray McFall, took place during a 10-minute recess after tempers flared amid a public comment period about the Glastonbury Tomahawks name, which was changed last year to the Glastonbury Guardians. The school’s team logos were also switched from a tomahawk, which many found offensive, to a knight’s helmet.

A committee was formed to consider changing the Tomahawks name and logo in the wake of nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer. The choice was all-but solidified when the National Congress of American Indians subsequently contacted the board and asked that the Tomahawk logo and mascot be phased out.

Because of pandemic restrictions at the time, the Glastonbury school board was convening only online, and accepting opinions from the community via the internet. A petition started by Glastonbury residents argued that the process denied them an “opportunity to provide meaningful input,” and demanded that the school’s Tomahawk logo and mascot be restored. On Tuesday evening, the board held a special meeting to discuss the issue in-person.

Cellphone video recorded by bystanders at Tuesday’s session showed Finocchiaro, 53, confront the 57-year-old McFall, standing nose-to-nose with the former Marine Corps officer. When McFall gently pushed Finocchiaro away, Finocchiaro responded by punching McFall, who immediately dropped to the floor.

McFall was able to get back up on his own and did not appear to be seriously injured...........

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[samiam5211]

More School Board fights - about mascots this time not masks or CRT
=================================

A Connecticut school board member was slugged in the face by an angry parent Tuesday night during a debate on the future of Glastonbury High School’s Native American-inspired mascot.

The dust-up between the parent, Mark Finocchiaro, and board secretary Ray McFall, took place during a 10-minute recess after tempers flared amid a public comment period about the Glastonbury Tomahawks name, which was changed last year to the Glastonbury Guardians. The school’s team logos were also switched from a tomahawk, which many found offensive, to a knight’s helmet.

A committee was formed to consider changing the Tomahawks name and logo in the wake of nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer. The choice was all-but solidified when the National Congress of American Indians subsequently contacted the board and asked that the Tomahawk logo and mascot be phased out.

Because of pandemic restrictions at the time, the Glastonbury school board was convening only online, and accepting opinions from the community via the internet. A petition started by Glastonbury residents argued that the process denied them an “opportunity to provide meaningful input,” and demanded that the school’s Tomahawk logo and mascot be restored. On Tuesday evening, the board held a special meeting to discuss the issue in-person.

Cellphone video recorded by bystanders at Tuesday’s session showed Finocchiaro, 53, confront the 57-year-old McFall, standing nose-to-nose with the former Marine Corps officer. When McFall gently pushed Finocchiaro away, Finocchiaro responded by punching McFall, who immediately dropped to the floor.

McFall was able to get back up on his own and did not appear to be seriously injured...........

MSN

www.msn.com

I am pretty sure that the anti-CRT army would say that any teacher who explained to their kids why the mascot could be offensive to some people was teaching CRT.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I am pretty sure that the anti-CRT army would say that any teacher who explained to their kids why the mascot could be offensive to some people was teaching CRT.

a tomahawk is just an axe, what's wrong and racist about that?

 

[samiam5211]

a tomahawk is just an axe, what's wrong and racist about that?

I don't think it's racist.

I could see an argument that making a logo out of something that represents a culture essentially eradicated by the culture using it as a logo could be offensive. I know I wouldn't personally care enough to make an issue out of it if I lived there, but i would probably support changing it once the issue was brought up, if I was forced to choose between the two options.

My point in the previous post was that if a teacher and students had the conversation you and I are having right now about this, that the most vocal opponents of CRT would claim it amounted to teaching CRT.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I don't think it's racist.

I could see an argument that making a logo out of something that represents a culture essentially eradicated by the culture using it as a logo could be offensive. I know I wouldn't personally care enough to make an issue out of it if I lived there, but i would probably support changing it once the issue was brought up, if I was forced to choose between the two options.

My point in the previous post was that if a teacher and students had the conversation you and I are having right now about this, that the most vocal opponents of CRT would claim it amounted to teaching CRT.

I agree and I also don’t have an issue with it but when the Congress of American Indians say they have an issue with it, l don’t have an issue with changing the name

Agree with you CRT point

 

[MT15]

It’s the polite and ethical thing to do.

 

[brandon]

I don't think it's racist.

I could see an argument that making a logo out of something that represents a culture essentially eradicated by the culture using it as a logo could be offensive. I know I wouldn't personally care enough to make an issue out of it if I lived there, but i would probably support changing it once the issue was brought up, if I was forced to choose between the two options.

My point in the previous post was that if a teacher and students had the conversation you and I are having right now about this, that the most vocal opponents of CRT would claim it amounted to teaching CRT.

Maybe farb will weigh in to let us know if it’s CRT?

 

[SamAndreas]

a tomahawk is just an axe, what's wrong and racist about that?

A tomahawk is primarily a weapon, a native american weapon, an ax is primarily a tool.

A better comparison would be that a tomahawk would be closer to a hatchet, although the one is still primarily a weapon and the other primarily a tool.

Here's another tool which can have a racist connotation, a shovel vs a spade. The two are not the same at all, although many people cannot tell the difference. A spade's blade is almost straight aligned with the handle and the blade is made of hardened forged steel. It's for hacking through hard soils with rocks.

A shovel is angled from the handle and made of flimsy formed sheet steel, It's for scooping loose soil, such as in a garden or a plowed field.

This is were the racist part comes in, a spade is what would best be used to dig a foundation for a buildings, or ditches for a pipes, or graves for people. It was N***** work. That's were the other meaning for "spade" came from.

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