How about REALLY preparing kids for the real world?
High school-instead of making me take four years worth of classes for a career I ended up discarding, how about teaching future generations how to survive in this world? How about making Issues in American Society a mandatory class? I learned more about about humanity and society in that one class than I did in all four years of high school. I am 19 and I watch the news daily, I vote, and I can debate topics like abortion and war intelligently without turning into an elitist asshole. I see all sides of these issues, I kinda get the world we live in and have a better appreciation for my freedom and the things most Americans take for granted. I wish that more teenagers had some knowledge of the real world outside of MySpace and the mall. We continue to breed ignorance-no wonder children in other countries are more intellectual and well-rounded.
Rating:5.00
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1you sound like an arrogant ass
Posted 2 months ago | Report -
2i grew up in europe, and -no offence- but it continues to amaze me how little knowledge and understanding some americans have of the world around them.
i know it's not only americans who are like that, don't worry. english, italian, german, french, canadian, chinese, etc. there's people like that everywhere. i just dont understand how people can get on in life when they don't know what's going on.
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3(im seventeen btw. commenter #2)
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4well said. agree 100%
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5The school system is deliberately designed to dumb you down.
People like number 2 are an extreme minority and are hated by the sheeple of America.
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618 and graduating... I totally agree. My economics/government class was the most useful class I took in all four years.
I don't care who you are or what you say. I will never need calculus.
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7Well #6, you may never need calculous but others will. Do you expect schools to custom design the curriculum for each individual student or just teach them as much as they can about as many different things as they can and let the students use what they need and discard the rest?
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8I agree. In my years of education, including four years of college, I never once had someone attempt to explain taxes in the U. S. Or how to just fill out a W-4 or a W-2. They're so busy making economics and government classes hard, they forget to teach the things that you will actually need to know.
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9i agree but the system in place... english, math, history classes is supposed to make them well-rounded... it's the stuff that they teach you in the classes... and the way it's taught that's not practical. i am an ESL teacher and i've seen my students graduate highschool and go to better universities than the average american-born student.. . That's not to say all american-born students are stupid... there is a minority that is exceptional too.
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10I have several friends who work for the school system and their complaints seem to be similar. They say that the people who teach or administer tend to be those who've stayed inside the academic "walls" since they themselves were in school; college, grad school, etc, so they don't REALLY know what the "real" world is like. Also, the system exists primarily to perpetuate itself, though teaching kids is its most important product.
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11If the teachers would actually give out valid and factual information it wouldn't be so bad. I am in high school now and my health teacher told us (juniors) that the reason syphilis is around is because the scottish had sex with sheep. That's bullshit. Oh, and he also kinda implied that you could get pregnant through oral sex... Moron!
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12and america remains a theocracy in denial.
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13#8 don't complain about taxes being difficult, the instructions are pretty cut and dry on the sheet itself and any other issues can be resolved by looking them up on the internet. Don't complain about not being taught "useful" things either. Take it upon yourself to develop your own ideas because the few concepts introduced in schools depict the most basic facets of the issue. Generally, an issue that spans the globe is so diverse that it is going to take some research rather than being spoon-fed the information you want.
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14i definitely agree with you OP. i felt the same way when i was in highschool. i was extremely advanced in many areas when it came to society, politics, world issues, and self-image, which are all important things that every person should know and learn at a young age. unfortunaly my highschool disliked the idea that i spoke out in many of my classes for the sake of the other students to give them a voice. i was banned from walking at graduation and i cant even tell you how many detentions i had throughout senior year. but i dont regret a single second of it because i knew administration just felt threatened by me. keep yourself involved in whats going on around you, ignorance is not bliss. you're a very wise 19-year-old.
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15I agree with the OP and with #8. When I was in high school I had a 3. 8 GPA. Everyone said I was booksmart but had no commen sense because I didn't have a clue how to go about real life situations. When I was 18 I thought the only way to buy something was to actually have all the money and pay for it in full. I had no clue what financing was. I had the basic concept of what a credit card was but didn't even know what APR stood for. When I went to get my first bank account I was baffled when the lady asked what kind of account I wanted, I just thought a checking account was the only kind there was.
No one ever bothered to even mention this stuff to me, in school or at home. So #13, there was no depiction of the basic facets of anything. Had I known these things existed I probably would have tried to further explore them on my own. No one tells you this in high school because you don't need to know it then, they don't care about what you need to know after graduation. All they care about is that you score high on standardized tests so the school looks good and that you're prepared to take the ACT/SAT.
Posted 2 months ago | Report