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- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
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I accept your challenge. Music, History and PE are still readily available at most schools. All the schools in our county have moved to having tracks, which are more akin to minors in my opinion. STEM, Criminal Justice, Entrepreneurship, Collision Repair, Health Science, Ag, Band to name a few. I'm not sure I love the tracks, but understand what they are trying to do. Of course every generation thinks the current generation education isn't as good.
My generation learned more in school than any previous generation. No generation since has learned as much. It’s a contributing factor as to why I know so **** much.
IMG guy, Mark Riddell - “ Didn’t cheat. Just smart.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadspin.com/img-academy-director-who-took-students-tests-didnt-chea-1833273767/amp
That guy just wants to be punched.
pg I'm a firm believer in every student through high school having to take and pass STEM courses. I think we can have music, economics and PE without sacrificing the foundation this country needs going forward, which will become more and more technical.
That said, I'm no expert by any stretch, the devil is often in the details.
That HS Algebra II was the biggest load of nonsense I have ever experienced in education. I can't believe that is a core class. STEM is good if you have an aptitude for that sort of thing. Some people are gifted in math and science. Some are gifted in language, art, music, and writing. Algebra today is nothing like it was a generation ago.
The most useful classes I took in high school were typing, shop and electronics. I have had to type virtually every day since highschool. In shop I learned how to use tools and make things with my hands. In electronics I learned how to wire electrical outlets, lamps, and house lights. Every house I have ever owned I had to do repairs, replace outlets, fix toilets, put new lights in....never once have I had to figure out the square root of negative i.
The concept of i is very important in electrical engineering.
Also china is kicking our ass in stem right now. The world is changing and our economy with it. We have advanced stem jobs going unfilled because not enough people have degrees in those areas. China is preparing to surpass the US as a global economic leader. Even people who end up outside stem should take some advanced math because it helps develop complex problem solving skills by making you think in different ways
When I went through there were 2 tracks: college prep and (I think) business something (or something business). College prep had the algebra and trigonometry. The business track had a business math component. As far as I am aware, the student self-picked the track. Don't know the difference in the English requirements.
As to real world, electives were print shop (Linotype operations), wood shop, typing, perhaps others. The social studies class in senior ? year taught about having a checking account and buying a home. (*****) There was home economics which might have been open to boys, but do not recall any taking it. ROTC was mandatory for 2 years I think.
2 tracks, both got a diploma. I don't see anything wrong with this. Now the world has become much more complicated, but there are still jobs and careers for people who use their hands. But in the near future, something will have to be done as there won't be near as many jobs for either track. Those that can do personal services will still be needed, just in smaller numbers and mostly lower pay. Athletes and entertainers will still be in demand, but I think in far less numbers too. (Or could be needed more if those in control want to distract the unemployed by games and circuses. Sound familiar?) Robotics and automation. Say no more.
As to bribery and other use of wealth and influence, it will only get worse. Officially, it "will be dealt with" but those with the juice will use it as needed.
I’m sure it is....but does every HS student need to understand it as core curriculum? Save that stuff for the kids who want to be engineers.
No, they don’t all need to know that stuff, but everyone needs to undnerstands economic principles. The schools have totally abandoned them. It’s half or more of what people base their political vote on, but most don’t understand the concepts they support.
Preach it, brother!
High schools in Georgia require students to take economics to graduate. It's just taught for half the year during social studies. AP econ is the full class taught at a college level.
I hope HS economics is focused on daily living issues, like how to shop/compare goods and services, assess value (benefits to cost), etc. You may not be able to teach common sense, but you can at least expose kids to the fact that there is such a thing and they should attempt to get some; plus the need to engage their brains when in public.
Also needed is emphasis on how to critically listen. The volume of crap that passes for informed commentary is beyond belief and is only getting worse. Expose kids to the fact that there are folks that want to con them and people can be very clever about how they do it.
Finally, evaluate what you eat. Much of the food in grocery stores is crap. It is crap either by contents (excessive sugar, salt, fat, carbs, gluten, high fructose corn syrup, etc.) or is crap because people pay too much for something that can easily be done at home.
Nice post.
In Georgia they do budgeting exercises and how the length of loans affects total cost of cars and homes. The point being not to live beyond your means.
I'm seeing straight algebra in my 3rd graders math homework. They're looking at a math problem forwards, backwards, inside out,... etc. It's pretty crazy. This is because the USA was getting left behind by some other countries in these topics, Japan for instance. So they're trying to better themselves. So... that's great.
Except... we believe in equal outcomes now over equal opportunity. So we think EVERY child must fit this mold. We probably should do a better job of ID'ing who this is good for and focusing on other areas for others students.
That wouldn't be an economics class. That’s personal finance, and they are already shown compounding in earlier math. People think the price of gas goes up and down because they have been told some greedy dude decided to make it that way. They want cheap stuff made in America by Union workers who are paid top dollar and have no clue why that model doesn’t work. You don’t need an MBA or even a bachelor’s degree to understand, yet here we are as a society fighting for or against central govt as a provider. People don’t understand the forces driving the economy because we only show it to them one time for 30 seconds over their first 12 years of school, and don’t even teach it again for 90% of college level degree programs. Thus - we have the young lady in New York and our crazy uncle with dried spit in the corner of his mouth.
Yes, and plenty think that foreigners took the line jobs rather than automation and other technology. Works both ways on the ideological front.
I am suggesting that the main purpose of 1-12 schooling is to make a good citizen. That means in this context learning the basics of being a good consumer/purchaser and how to evaluate what is being said. Should be able to walk before running. Plenty of college students flunk economics - cannot grasp the definitions of "supply" and "demand". Also, many HS students would flunk that, but can benefit from what you call personal finance.
Even after an "economics" course, they will likely believe the oil companies when they say (in spring): "the heating season was longer than we anticipated so gasoline stocks are lower than expected, driving up the price"; and (in fall), "the heating season came on quicker than we thought so that heating oil stocks are lower than expected, therefore driving up the price". (The old standby is that there was unanticipated "maintenance" needed on a refinery.) Yet, in spring and fall, there is always enough gas/heating oil. One is born every second.
As to all getting the same program, some communities split off some non-college track kids to technical school, which can be very competitive to get in. Don't know if Georgia does this. Having all on a college track is dumb - just as dumb as teaching spelling without reference to learning syllables.
I agree. Identify those who have a knack for math and then encourage them to pursue that gift. Forcing every HS kid to suffer through advanced math is absurd. This is not the kind of math we did in HS or even college. Even math teachers struggle teaching it. We don’t make those gifted math students hit a baseball or draw a photo-realistic fruit bowl in order to graduate. It’s actually kind of the opposite...kids gifted in the arts are virtually discouraged from developing those gifts...like it’s just a silly hobby. You gotta rock the math and science to get into college.