Education Fail: NY Grads in Poor Shape for College, American Students Do Poorly on the Basics of History
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 15, 2011
Recent studies show that our American students are in dire shape for getting into college and solid careers — they are lacking in basic knowledge in history, math, and reading proficiency. I place a great deal of blame on the statists and progressives for the dumbing down of American students.
Schools across the country have been trying to find new ways to teach our students, from sensible education reforms to new private and online colleges. And what were the liberals doing while the best online classes and new charter schools were innovating their way forward? Arguing about teachers’ unions?
Don’t forget that it was the history-lacking left-wing media and sheeple liberals who mocked and assaulted Sarah Palin for her accurate American history summary of Paul Revere and the 1773 Boston tea party.
What, that old Longfellow poem got it WRONG, while Sarah Palin got it RIGHT?
Barack Obama has flubbed and revised historical citations on several occasions. Even Department of the Treasury head Tim Geithner was laughed at when he was explaining economics and that China’s huge holdings of dollar assets were safe to Chinese students.
So, the fact that American students are doing so poorly is no surprise.
From Wall Street Journal, Students Stumble Again on the Basics of History:
Fewer than a quarter of American 12th-graders knew China was North Korea’s ally during the Korean War, and only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, according to national history-test scores released Tuesday.
The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that U.S. schoolchildren have made little progress since 2006 in their understanding of key historical themes, including the basic principles of democracy and America’s role in the world.
Only 20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were “proficient” or “advanced,” unchanged since the test was last administered in 2006. Proficient means students have a solid understanding of the material.
The news was even more dire in high school, where 12% of 12th-graders were proficient, unchanged since 2006. More than half of all seniors posted scores at the lowest achievement level, “below basic.” While the nation’s fourth- and eighth-graders have seen a slight uptick in scores since the exam was first administered in 1994, 12th-graders haven’t.
From The Lonely Conservative, US Students Aren’t Learning History, NY Graduates Not Ready for College or Careers:
Boy, it’s a good thing we’re spending so much money on education. Here in NY, we spend more than any other state. But hey, we get what we pay for, right? Wrong.
A new study shows that the majority of New York’s high school graduates aren’t ready for college or careers.
The state Education Department released a report Tuesday that showed high school graduation rates inching up across New York.
But in the same release, it included an additional statistic for each school district: the percentage of students it believes are actually ready to succeed in college.
The two rates differ radically. Statewide, 73.4 percent of the students who entered ninth grade in 2006 graduated four years later, in June 2010 — a slight gain from the previous year’s graduation rate of 71.8 percent. But the statewide “college- and career-ready” rate was only 37 percent.
Even in our district, which is supposed to be one of the best, only 61% are ready for college. Not that anyone can afford college these days, anyway.
Throwing more taxpayer money at the problem is not the solution. Record amounts of money are being spent on schools, like the new posh Los Angeles school that cost more than half a BILLION dollars to build. Who cares that the state of California is broke? This school has a maple-floored dance studio, a gigantic swimming pool, and what every school needs to fill kids’ heads with knowledge — a pizza oven!
And there’s at least one school in Virginia that wants to make things easier for students by eliminating failing grades… oh, sure, that should solve the problem of students not knowing basic history or math.
About the author
We need to get rid of tenure for teachers. Only then will we be able to rid the school systems in America of bad teachers and replace them with good ones. Tenure is ridiculous and is manifesting itself in what we’re witnessing today. Democrats want to throw yet more money at the problem, which has NEVER worked, as evidenced by the low scholastic scores in districts and states that have the highest wages for teachers and the biggest teacher unions.