Students ask to be pushed as more real-world prep needed, survey says

[sabra]

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-08-09-students-standards_x.htm

Students ask to be pushed as more real-world prep needed, survey says
WASHINGTON (AP) — The campaign to make high school more demanding seems to be picking up support from the people who have the biggest stake in the matter: the students themselves.
Almost nine in 10 students say they would work harder if their high school expected more of them, a survey finds. Less than one-third of students say their school sets high academic expectations, and most students favor ideas that might add some hassle to their life, such as more rigorous graduation standards and additional high-stakes testing.

"The good old times in high schools are being replaced by good old hard work," said Peter Hart, whose Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., conducted the survey for the "State of Our Nation's Youth Report," released Tuesday. "There's a recognition among students that they have to be more ready to compete."

The nonprofit Horatio Alger Association, which provides college scholarships and mentoring to needy students, issued the annual report on youth attitudes. The findings are based on a phone survey of 1,005 students in high school last May.

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[bluestateguy]

1. I'm glad this survey didn't come out when I was in high school

I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from all the academic stress. I was never more stressed out as a student than I was when I was in high school.

[Sparkly]

3. You must have had a good school!

Mine was TERRIBLE. At one point, ten of us went to the principal's office requesting Latin classes. The answer was "no." :eyes:

I didn't realize until later how awful my schools were.

[PunkPop]

4. When I was in high school

I had finished practically all my requirements by junior year.

I only had to attend 4 hours a day my senior year and two of those were electives.

It was not exactly what you'd call a rigorous curriculum.

[Sparkly]

5. Me too!!

I was out early.

I also remember an awful lot of "study hall" periods (= going to the library because there was nothing else for them to have us do).

[Tempest]

2. And in response

Bush says intelligent design should be taught in the schools.

Already during Bush's administration the U.S. has fallen behind South Korea and Sweden in scientific research, and has fallen behind China and India in the number of science/engineer related degrees being earned by college graduates.

And the chimp wants to further dumb down America by having intelligent design taught.

[LibDemAlways]

6. My 12-year-old has more demands placed

on her academically by her middle school than I ever did back in high school in the 60's. And I attended a suburban school in a wealthy repuke area where just about everybody went on to college.

She brings home several hours of homework each night, has frequent tests covering large amounts of material, and has a multitude of reports and projects that are difficult and challenging. Example: 6th grade math project: Design, provide blueprints for, and build a scale model of a house. Frankly, I think its more than a pre-teen can or should be required to do and those kids whose parents step in to "help" (wink, wink) end up with the best grades.

My daughter had to give up her after school dance lessons because she had so much homework. Being challenged isn't an issue. Finding the time to be a kid and have any kind of a life outside of school is.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. I agree...

There is no joy in learning for most of these kids, because they're too stressed and hypercritical.

The "social skills" that are so highly touted in our schools turn out to be little more than a class in cliquishness and intolerance...important skills for todays world. :eyes:

[LibDemAlways]

15. The cliques are alive and well. That much hasn't changed.

My daughter has one best friend and a couple of other girls she knows from her classes. The vast majority of kids she never talks to. Reason: "They're not in my group. No one talks to kids who aren't in their group."

Starts early.

[kestrel91316]

7. Students need to focus on four critical areas, and then the rest is

a cakewalk: READING SKILLS - if you can't read, you can't do independent research about the world around you
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS - if you can't do the math, you can't ever go into any of the sciences
CRITICAL THINKING - if you don't know how to differentiate fact from fluff and think independently and critically, you may as well just stay home and watch soaps all day because you are of no use to society
HOW TO DO INDEPENDENT STUDY - this way you are not dependent on schools to spoon-feed you factoids - you go forth into the world and keep learning the rest of your life, tuition-free.

I REALLY don't want my tax money going to teach kids the equivalent of underwater basketweaving. And they should stop the excessive emphasis on team sports, too.

[Maple]

14. Very good

I like that summation...short and to the point...thanks! :hi:

[kestrel91316]

17. You're very welcome!

:hi:

[Gregorian]

8. What would Socrates say?

edit- By the time I was 17 I was teaching premeds how to interpret electrocardiograms. My high school days ended at 4:30pm.

[K-W]

9. The last thing kids need is more pressure.

The number one most important educational reform this country needs is parents with more time to parent. Revving up the educational system to spit out corporate friendly overachievers probably wont help that.

[tblue37]

16. There is a lot of pressure on *some* of them,

but it is often the wrong kind of pressure. Some of what passes for rigorous education is really little more than hazing, but even kids who get put through the wringer by monster teachers are often not actually learning anything useful:

"Toxic Teachers"
http://www.teacherblue.homestead.com/toxic.html

I teach college English. My student sometimes tell me about all-nighters spent writing 20-page research papers--but they still can't write competently. They can't spell, they can't use a variety of sentence structures, their grammar stinks, their vocabulary is limited, and they can't think their way out of a wet paper bag.

We do need to demand more of our students, but not everything is worth demanding. Just piling on the work is useless, unelss the work is intellectually profitable.

Besides, only some of the students are pressured thus. For many, high school really is just a social club with a lot of sports teams.

[durutti]

10. The problem is that school *is* preparing people for the real world...

The sad fact is that the vast majority of the jobs that will be created in the years to come won't require much in the way of thinking. School is about teaching kids to follow orders.

[xtreme69]

12. Tell that to the kids in India

I don't know about that, seems to me that plenty of school around the globe aren't having much of a problem whooping our asses all over the place (are they just about "following orders"?). We can choose to be lax if we want, and "go easy" on our children now. But later on, when we're not around, will the job market go easy on them? Knock school all you want, but education is a very important thing...and so is a good work ethic. I certainly don't see India or China slowing down to complain they have "to much homework".

[One_Life_To_Give]

13. Lesson 1, I.D. is not science.

For years the IEEE has asked the question "Does the US want Engineering Leadership" Still it appears the answer is No. Give us baseball, hockey and scantily clad women on stage instead.