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Are schools aimed toward the stupid?

cmh0114

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Maybe this is just in my school district, but it seems like the school curriculum is completely directed towards the idiots in the world. What about those who are actually intelligent and care about school? The school praises morons for achieving mediocrity, acknowledges mediocre students who work hard, but completely ignore those extraordinary students who are naturally gifted and work hard.

What's wrong with this picture?
 
Maybe this is just in my school district, but it seems like the school curriculum is completely directed towards the idiots in the world. What about those who are actually intelligent and care about school? The school praises morons for achieving mediocrity, acknowledges mediocre students who work hard, but completely ignore those extraordinary students who are naturally gifted and work hard.

What's wrong with this picture?

I've always thought schools were geared toward compelling uniformity/conformity, and encouraging mediocrity.
It's better for society as a whole to have a whole bunch of conformists of mediocre intellect, than a bunch of radical free-thinkers.
We can all be grateful that most people go to school.
 
I've always thought schools were geared toward compelling uniformity/conformity, and encouraging mediocrity.
It's better for society as a whole to have a whole bunch of conformists of mediocre intellect, than a bunch of radical free-thinkers.
We can all be grateful that most people go to school.

Well, schools still push the whole conformity thing. But they say that they want every student to be an individual. :-S

I just don't agree that the schools spend so much money to try to teach the mentally disabled basic living skills (despite the fact that most of them will need assisted living for all of their lives), and yet spend a relatively tiny amount on those who could grow up to create an invention or idea that will change the world.
 
Maybe this is just in my school district, but it seems like the school curriculum is completely directed towards the idiots in the world. What about those who are actually intelligent and care about school? The school praises morons for achieving mediocrity, acknowledges mediocre students who work hard, but completely ignore those extraordinary students who are naturally gifted and work hard.

What's wrong with this picture?

Ok - I accept that you realize that education is meant to educate people and teach them what they don't already know :)
So you're not being literal with your use of the term - in that sense.

Things have changed a lot since I was a kid - they've been forced, by the pressure of certain people, to pander to the psyche and be concerned with the emotional state of pupils rather than focus purely on educational issues.

However - maybe I break away from the pack on this - with my kids I have my own standard that I hold them to and I don't let them relish to much on the idiocracy and pansy attitudes that others have saturated our school system with.
That being said - I also recognize that my children's school district is still more related to the older-approaches to learning than the more modern approaches and I approve of that and hope it doesn't change too much before my youngest makes it through.

If you are annoyed with this 'encouraging underachievment" then I advise you against going to a sub-par school and aim for the big leagues when you grace into college. . . or you'll be surrounded by attitudes and behaviors that'll truly get under your skin.
 
Maybe this is just in my school district, but it seems like the school curriculum is completely directed towards the idiots in the world. What about those who are actually intelligent and care about school? The school praises morons for achieving mediocrity, acknowledges mediocre students who work hard, but completely ignore those extraordinary students who are naturally gifted and work hard.

What's wrong with this picture?

Quite some time ago, school became less about education and more about producing managable consumers who don't think for themselves, don't question authority, and are easily distracted.
 
Maybe this is just in my school district, but it seems like the school curriculum is completely directed towards the idiots in the world. What about those who are actually intelligent and care about school? The school praises morons for achieving mediocrity, acknowledges mediocre students who work hard, but completely ignore those extraordinary students who are naturally gifted and work hard.

What's wrong with this picture?

Because those mediocre students have to work much harder to acheive those As and Bs than someone who is naturally gifeted so of course it will be noticed more.
School is not meant to be the end all be all. It's simply as place to learn how to learn.
This is not counting medical school and other schools that teach a skill.
You learn through a combination of life, experience and school.
 
It's simply as place to learn how to learn.

It's not even that anymore.

I come from a big family, and I've been able to watch a couple of dozen cousins move through the same public school I did. They dropped all sorts of things from the program over time, including basic research skills, reason and logic, and critical thinking -- the kinds of things that I found to be the most valuable lessons that I took away from my experience.
 
Welcome to no child left behind.

Also, we should bring back tracking.
 
This is a problem that predates No Child Left Behind.

I know, but NCLB makes it much, much worse. The fact is that some people are stupid and there is nothing we can do about it.
 
Quite some time ago, school became less about education and more about producing managable consumers who don't think for themselves, don't question authority, and are easily distracted.

Not to mention, that it is often encouraged for the more advanced students, to stay with the less advanced students and help them try to achieve some level of passing.

It's a total disservice to advanced students.
Many teachers routinely promote this as good.:doh
 
Not to mention, that it is often encouraged for the more advanced students, to stay with the less advanced students and help them try to achieve some level of passing.

It's a total disservice to advanced students.
Many teachers routinely promote this as good.:doh

Yes, they do promote higher level peers helping lower level ones, because that's what the vast majority of the research (using control groups) indicates improves education, and that's a mandate of the teacher.

It also shows it has little negative impact on he advanced studdents are not totally ignored and also get their enrichment services.



Edit: regarding posts made by others, the education system aims toward the middle because the bulk of people are at the lower and middle ends of the spectrum. Only a tiny amount are actually at the top. The bulk of the people are the people you later need to worry about as they leave the system later. You need to train them with basic living and thinking skills, and given it is much harder additional resources diverted to them.

Also, given no parents want their children ignored or shoved aside, no matter how stupid, and given how many parents of lower-average kids there are, you can understand why they exert a much more dominant force than the very very elite.
 
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I had a showing up problem myself.
Kinda retards getting passing grades. :2razz:

I constantly acted out in school because I was frustrated that they kept going over the same stuff over and over. Once was enough for me, and about half the time, I got the concept way before they explained it.
 
Yes, they do promote higher level peers helping lower level ones, because that's what the vast majority of the research (using control groups) indicates improves education, and that's a mandate of the teacher.

It also shows it has little negative impact on he advanced studdents are not totally ignored and also get their enrichment services.

Not entirely true.

Differentiating curriculum for gifted students

This briefly shows that gifted students need curriculum designed to their needs.
It's a waste of time for them to help those with less educational ability.

If as much money and time were spent on advanced students, as is spent on special needs and less advanced students.
Their achievement ability could be a lot higher.


Edit: regarding posts made by others, the education system aims toward the middle because the bulk of people are at the lower and middle ends of the spectrum. Only a tiny amount are actually at the top. The bulk of the people are the people you later need to worry about as they leave the system later. You need to train them with basic living and thinking skills, and given it is much harder additional resources diverted to them.

Also, given no parents want their children ignored or shoved aside, no matter how stupid, and given how many parents of lower-average kids there are, you can understand why they exert a much more dominant force than the very very elite.

No one is talking about ignoring each group, people largely want school to educate their child to their maximal ability.
 
I constantly acted out in school because I was frustrated that they kept going over the same stuff over and over. Once was enough for me, and about half the time, I got the concept way before they explained it.

Me too.
Especially in English/literature, history and science classes.
Rarely studied but made A's on tests because of my memory, it's like a library in there.

What's crazy is that they test for ability several times through out your schooling career but rarely modify course work to the higher achieving student.
 
What's crazy is that they test for ability several times through out your schooling career but rarely modify course work to the higher achieving student.

Did your school not have IB/AP?

I'm pretty sure most do, nowadays.
 
Did your school not have IB/AP?

I'm pretty sure most do, nowadays.

We had a high school baccalaureate program but you had to be in target (elementary and middle school) to get into it.
I purposefully failed the target exam in 6th grade because I didn't want to be a social outcast in my school.
(Not realizing that I already was and probably would of found more social acceptance in the target classes.)
The problem with those, is that you have to excel in all levels to be accepted into the program.

What if someone is just really awesome at math but average on everything else?
The avenues for success are few with those situations.


We also had AP but all that was, at my high school, is the same course with more busy work.
By then I was a bad kid in school, so that wasn't really an option anymore.
 
We had a high school baccalaureate program but you had to be in target (elementary and middle school) to get into it.
I purposefully failed the target exam in 6th grade because I didn't want to be a social outcast in my school.
(Not realizing that I already was and probably would of found more social acceptance in the target classes.)
The problem with those, is that you have to excel in all levels to be accepted into the program.

What if someone is just really awesome at math but average on everything else?
The avenues for success are few with those situations.


We also had AP but all that was, at my high school, is the same course with more busy work.
By then I was a bad kid in school, so that wasn't really an option anymore.

This is why I think IB is better. No test needed, each IB subject can be taken individually, and there are two levels to each, SL and HL. And for English I experience both IB and non-IB, and the difference is not just in busywork. Honestly non-IB English was a joke.

Don't have much experience with AP, maybe it was better at other schools.
 
This is why I think IB is better. No test needed, each IB subject can be taken individually, and there are two levels to each, SL and HL. And for English I experience both IB and non-IB, and the difference is not just in busywork. Honestly non-IB English was a joke.

Don't have much experience with AP, maybe it was better at other schools.

Our school district was crap.
In American history, there were to many people in the class, so they had to lop off 5 and send them to AP history.

Not familiar with IB at all.
What does SL and HL mean?

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the South or not but in schools, high school football is everything to a lot of districts.
The school can be **** but if the football team is winning, most people are happy.
 
Our school district was crap.
In American history, there were to many people in the class, so they had to lop off 5 and send them to AP history.

Not familiar with IB at all.
What does SL and HL mean?

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the South or not but in schools, high school football is everything to a lot of districts.
The school can be **** but if the football team is winning, most people are happy.

IB is International Baccheloriate; it's like AP but not limited to the U.S.
SL is Standard Level, HL is Higher Level.

I've technically lived in the South for all my life, but only technically. Northern Virginians never refer to themselves as Southerners, and are sort of insulted every time someone else does. Anyways, our football team was crap, so I wouldn't know about that sort of stuff.
 
IB is International Baccheloriate; it's like AP but not limited to the U.S.
SL is Standard Level, HL is Higher Level.

I've technically lived in the South for all my life, but only technically. Northern Virginians never refer to themselves as Southerners, and are sort of insulted every time someone else does. Anyways, our football team was crap, so I wouldn't know about that sort of stuff.

That's what I thought but IB is usually for high school only, right?
Our IB program was small and all the kids were funneled to one school, which ran the program.

Ours was crap as well but for some reason, they were really important.
 
That's what I thought but IB is usually for high school only, right?
Our IB program was small and all the kids were funneled to one school, which ran the program.

Ours was crap as well but for some reason, they were really important.

Yeah, but I thought we were only talking about high school. I consider those years to be more important that middle school, academically.
Our middle school had some sort of advanced program too; it was okay, iirc.

Lots of people who wanted IB ended up going to my school, since not all schools have it. But pretty much every school around here has either IB or AP, with the exception of the magnet school, which is intense enough as it is.
 
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