Last month the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a nonprofit education-research group in Washington, D. C., gave letter grades to public school science standards and curricula in 49 of the 50 U.S. states*. Here’s how they stacked up. (You can read the full report here.)
A: California, New Mexico, Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina, New York, Massachusetts
B: Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia
C: Washington, Utah, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island
D: Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Maine
F: Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, New Hampshire
* They skipped Iowa because it doesn’t publish school science standards.
California seems to be at the top of the list. -is smug-f
That’s just because I read the map from left to right. All states are tied within their letter categories. Still, an A is an A.
Woo, Illinois isn’t too stupid!
Huh, a lot of the Western states failed…
Yeah, my point exactly! -still smug-
Illinois got B. Go us!
Poor, poor, Alaskans. The kids are smart, but the learning resources are hard to get too.:cry:.
Florida, though! You’d think…
I got a B!!!! Of course, I used to live in an F state.
Actually, I’m not surprised by Florida. I don’t think education’s such a high priority for them, ’cause a good deal of the state is filled with old people!
Oh, bother, that was me posting as Phoebe, because I am an idiot. ^^
New Jersey is a B. But I go to private school, sop it doesn’t really matter. And B isn’t bad.
Lusifer, you weren’t supposed to say that. How do we know this is nae some evil psycotic trap?
im virginia. A&B. why is that?
Phoenix, thanks for the reminder to Musers about protecting their identities. I think Lusifer Ink remains mysterious enough, though, because New Jersey has hundreds of private schools.
You mentioned that Robert and Rosanne keep saying we should be really careful, incase they are evil hackers and scammers. I don’t think ebil scammers would tell us they are ebil scammers. But it’s not like I’m telling them my name, or address, or even county, or school name, or what county my school is in, or what my cat Yankee’s name is or anything like that.
I’m not stupid you know.
Contrary to popular belief.
Very popular belief. Anyway I am obsessed with computer safety.
I live in my MIND. It’s nice in here. We gots hot cocoa.
I go to private school, so nyah.
Where do I live? Who says I live?
w00t! That grade was probably dragged down by the morons in my school. They’re not all morons, but a good quotient are.
B isn’t bad, Grant. You’re from Ohio, aren’t you?
oh, that was west va that got a b.
i think i win the award for living the closest to robert!
even though you didn’t tell me what your cat’s name is, i still know it.
im phykic!
and i also know the meaning of life! (im not lying)
Em,
Did you make a Muse website for a class project? Just curious.
–Robert
no. i think you are confusing me w/ someone else.
Actually, it was a Lord of the Rings website that listed the magazine in the credits. But if ‘twarn’t you, then ‘twarn’t you.
UGH. Of course CA rocks. We knew that already. “Los Angeles” by X is soooo cool. Never mind. How did IL get up there!
The meaning of life is 42. OBVIOUSLY.
Aw MAN! C!? This is hideous! What is my state coming to?! Were have all the geeks gone?
haha.. f…
hahahaha i liv in new york hahaha all u people suck
I actually hate my state, but at least we seem to be smart!
no, its this:
life (lf)
n. pl. lives (lvz)
1. a. The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.
b. The characteristic state or condition of a living organism.
2. Living organisms considered as a group: plant life; marine life.
3. A living being, especially a person: an earthquake that claimed hundreds of lives.
4. The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute existence: the artistic life of a writer.
5. a. The interval of time between birth and death: She led a good, long life.
b. The interval of time between one’s birth and the present: has had hay fever all his life.
c. A particular segment of one’s life: my adolescent life.
d. The period from an occurrence until death: elected for life; paralyzed for life.
e. Slang. A sentence of imprisonment lasting till death.
6. The time for which something exists or functions: the useful life of a car.
7. A spiritual state regarded as a transcending of corporeal death.
8. An account of a person’s life; a biography.
9. Human existence, relationships, or activity in general: real life; everyday life.
10. a. A manner of living: led a hard life.
b. A specific, characteristic manner of existence. Used of inanimate objects: “Great institutions seem to have a life of their own, independent of those who run them†(New Republic).
c. The activities and interests of a particular area or realm: musical life in New York.
11. a. A source of vitality; an animating force: She’s the life of the show.
b. Liveliness or vitality; animation: a face that is full of life.
12. a Something that actually exists regarded as a subject for an artist: painted from life.
b. Actual environment or reality; nature.
adj.
1. Of or relating to animate existence; involved in or necessary for living: life processes.
2. Continuing for a lifetime; lifelong: life partner; life imprisonment.
3. Using a living model as a subject for an artist: a life sculpture.
This meaning was brought to you courtesy of http://www.Dictionary.com
Yes, I live in Ohio.
Illinois didn’t fail! I hate my school science program. They redid the curriculum last year, but the ISATS (standardised tests) were still the same, so we had to cram in a bunch of stuff that we were supposed to have learned in 6th grade. Basically, we had to do biology, geology, and a bit of physics all in one year with two of the most easily distractable teachers on the planet. (They were cool, though.)
I will not make a comment about Texas’s grades, though I be sorely tempted.
go Ohio!!!!! and PA!!!! even though they didn’t get A’s!!! and Maryland!!!!! and Michigan!!!!!! even though Michigan got a bad grade!! oh vell!!! maybe that’s because my stupid science class doesn’t teach chemistry!!!! booooooooo!!!! no wait…. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Minnesota got a B too, but I go to a private school also. That public school that I live next to must have really dragged the grade down. I am very serious.
Wanna hear a story?
Now don’t judge Minnesotans on this k?
Here goes…
A girl got suspended from school for doing something or other.
She came to school the next day. They called the cops to bring her home. She threatened to kill the cop. She got tazered. It was in the news.
Golly gee I spin a good yarn.
Huh, I never had to do ISATs…
‘prolly cause my school wasn’t public way back then.
Eh, here we have to take the TAKS every single year…
All lawyers know the meaning of life. They just don’t care.
i bet they don’t care. lawyers don’t care about anything. (except when they do, in which case the above generalization doesn’t apply)
I just noticed that the blue and green take turns. Tupid me.
your not stupid. just oblivious.
i am supprised WY failed. there are like what, 500,000 people there. a very large percentage must do bad. of course that large percentage probably is what 200,000? if that.
I’m thinking about becoming a lawyer. Arguing is cool, and selling a case and all the courtroom theatrics and stuff…I it’s not like on T.V., but it would still be cool to figure out how to present a case and use things to your advantage. So, anyway, don’t diss lawyers.
The study doesn’t say the STUDENTS have done badly in science. It says the STATES have done a bad job in deciding what to teach and how to teach it.
if not by the student sachievment how else do you mesure how well a state has done?
Missouri was a C, but I in the Gifted Magnet program… so my school gets an A++ (really, we’ve gotten loads of awards…)
My band director calls us Gifted with a J – Jifted.
is anyone else out there Jifted?
PS: Burn to Axa, Post 1
I’m going to be a lawyer, I’m pretty sure.
-laugh- What you get for killing my dear Sirius, Bella. ^^
I’m Jifted! I’m Jifted!
I’m so cmart.
I’m not in public school, so I’ve never been tested. I might turn out to be a complete idiot when compared with the rest of the world.
I gots in Jifted when i lived in MD… and i gots tested for it this year but since the Gifted (it’s not special so it has no right to be called Jifted in PA) is wacked this year, i missed it by 7 points… It’s an IQ thingy…. ohohohohoh!!!! i got the closest anyone has ever gotten to getting in Gifted without actually getting in… if that makes any sense…
I’m GT, which is what they call it here (gifted and talented). After about 4th grade you don’t get to do anything special because of it, but…
I think the system of basing gifted programs off of IQ is rather pointless. It’s a standardized test, same as the rest of them, innit? Intelligence shouldn’t be able to be shown by filling in a couple of bubbles. Also, shouldn’t hard work and critical thinking matter more than test results?
I was in GATE (Gifted And Talented Enrichment) up till 5th grade, which is as high as it goes. Then I went into MIDDLE SCHOOL. but the Gifted and Talented teacher here is the lady that actually made gifted and alented, so yeah.
Yeah! Go Californians!! YEAH!!! WOOT!!
I’d love to say that I get all A’s in science. So there.
I was in GATE from third grade until fifth grade. In third grade, originally only Sphinx was going to be in it, but my parents went and yelled at them saying that you can’t put one twin in and not the other. Whatever. The thing is, I understood everything we did there. In fourth and fifth grade I was put in in my own merit.
Read Flowers For Algernon for the IQ contraversy.
I. Q. tests measure things like reasoning, noticing patterns, and ability to visualize things, not how much you know. They’re actually a pretty good indicator of how smart someone is. But, you’re right, work ethic is a much bigger factor in whether someone will succeed or not. I. Q. is more of a measure of what you could do, what your raw material is. It’s really what you do with it that matters.
I’ve taken a few standardized tests, and my worst subjects were study skills (which was totally unfair, it asked me questions about library card catalogues, which no one uses anymore) and spelling. I did pretty well with science, but from what I remember it asked retardedly easy questions.
Off topic.
I just realized my link works! Click it, and see where it leads you. I’m very proud of it.
The problem I have with it is that I don’t think you can measure smartness using a paper-and-pen test alone. All it will show you is that you’re good at taking tests.
I’ve taken quite a few standardized tests, but don’t consider them accurate at all in terms of how smart I am. I know the material on them, but does that make me smart? No. It shows that I know how to take tests well and know thing that are likely to turn up on a test, but that’s it. Intelligence can’t be measured.
IQ tests are S&P (stupid & pointless)…
But I. Q. tests measure different things than standardized tests. I. Q. tests ask questions like “which is the odd one out with this group of figures?”, “which would come next in the pattern?”, and “If so and so equals so and so, and this equals that, which one of these would be logically true?” Those type of questions guage ability to reason, observe, determine similarities, in other words, a person’s intelligence. Maybe you should take one. There are a lot of online I. Q. tests. Google it, take a look at one, and see what I mean.
Lusifer Ink. (#58), on the Museblog we try to keep links to a minimum. That’s because it drives Robert and me bonkers to check the links out before we post the message. And even if the link goes to a great site, we still want to avoid having tons of links because the more links we have the more musebloggers include links in their messages and we get into a link checking and deleting frenzy and we go more insane than we already are. So we usually simply remove the links.
I have the link in my username. I mean, it leads to here. Why do you have a URL space if we aren’t allowed to use it?
I read an article somewhere about how IQ tests were biased in terms of being based on one culture or something…
I’ve taken lots of them and don’t believe the results at all.
I don’t know about you, but my standardized tests are full of patterns and have a bit of reasoning, too.
Robert hasn’t figured out how to get rid of the URL space. It was already written into the code, and he doesn’t know how to write it out.
…which is why I view them as standardized tests, because they’re so similar.
Maybe we have a different definition of intelligence.
Here is one to my nation:
Standardized tests are always either really bad or really hard. The hard parts make no sense, and ditto on the easy ones. Such is the nature of the universe.
But standardized tests tend to focus on how much you know, I. Q. is how able you are to reason. There’s a big difference. And I’ve had people tell me their I. Q. scores, and they were always consistent with that person’s real life abilities, as I had experienced them. The definition of intelligence, as we now have it, is about how well people can reason, and how much potential they have. That is not the only thing that measures success, or how well a person will do. Strong work ethic, ability connect with people, and openness to change make a huge difference. But I. Q. is how much intelligence a person has, and in my experience a pretty good indicator. People worked hard to create a test that really looks at what people can learn, and I think that if it wasn’t accurate at all people would have totally discounted it by now. The fact that a lot of people still trust I. Q. tests tells me that people saw the relationship between I. Q. and natural ability. Maybe we shouldn’t be measuring that, but I. Q. is a good measuring of it, from all that I can tell.
Lusifer Ink., what MontgomeryGurl says about the URL in the user names is true (#66). We haven’t figured out how to get rid of that pesky URL space!
I disagree with your definition of intelligence. Reasoning may be a part of it, but how do you factor in things like imagination, creativity, memory…
The point I’m trying to make is that IQ may measure one type of intelligence, but it isn’t a good indicator of a person’s skills, or intelligence in general. In the end, it’s just a test.
Basically, I don’t believe you can measure intelligence at all without interacting with the person in question and even then, not especially well.
Imagination, creativity, and all that stuff are wonderful things to have, and can be invaluable in some situations. But that’s not intelligence. That’s not what IQ was intended to measure. IQ does a fairly accurate job of measuring what it was intended to measure. Now, the question is, does that really matter? Should we be testing other stuff, like creativity and memory? Now, I don’t know that. But IQ measures intelligence (what I consider to be intelligence) well. The real question is, if creativity, memory, and social skills are all not part of intelligence, why does intelligence even matter? I don’t think these things are intelligence, they’re more specialties, these people do with their brains. Intelligence is how much brains you have. But what’s really important is what you do with those brains, and there is no way to test if someone even has those specialties. In my experience, people with high IQ tended to have more of either memory, creativity, social skills, that kind of stuff. It really is like IQ is how much you have, but it can’t measure where all that is. Very hard to explain. I might be biased towards IQ tests for some bizarre reason, I don’t know. Probably my opinion isn’t even worth listening to, I mean, I can’t even remember what I got on the IQ test, so maybe I’m very biased and basing this all on emotion and stuff. I’m not really sure.
what is intelligence anyway? i mean doesnt everyone have the same potential to be intelligent and they can use it or not? but t hen that choice would make them intelligent or not.But that choice is influenced by so many things like thier upbringing. oh its so confusing!
Intelligence is what you make it out to be. Simple as that.
Creativity doesn’t count as brains?
I’ll give you that IQ tests to an alright job of measuring what they’re intended to measure, but I don’t think they measure anything close to intelligence. It measures how good you are at taking those sorts of tests and nothing more.
I’m biased against IQ tests for some strange reason. The online IQ tests just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess, which sort of sparked this whole thing. I score pretty high on the online ones, usually, which is why I don’t trust them.
I don’t think that’s all IQ tests measure, but I guess neither of us really have a clue what the truth is. I thought it gave an accurate veiw of intelligence, but I don’t have any proof. This is rather pointless arguing, since there is no solution.
oh yeah new york got an a go us!
Alright, let’s call it quits. This was pretty interesting, though.
so what is intelligence?
everybody is really stupid. just accept that and we won’t have to argue about it.
Intelligence is how clever/smart you are.
What that means, though, I have no idea.
I guess I’m one of the stupid ones.
Aren’t we all one of the stupid ones? You guys, this is really disturbing. My older brother has always been what I would call pretty well above average. I wouldn’t have said he would excell greatly, but he was pretty smart. He got National Merit Semi-Finalist. He was the only one in his school. Now, Blake may be smart, but if he’s the best this country’s got, we’re in trouble. I just found it down-right scary that Blake was the single smartest person in his school.
B yay!
although MI got a C. but i’m not in MI anymore. go me!
yay for scientificness and stuff.
sry but who’s Blake?
ohohohohohohohoh!!!! I got a National English Merit Award from the USAA (United Staes of America Academy (i think)).. well, my teacher recommended me for one and i got it!!!
Just to keep things crystal-clear, the letter grades in the main post don’t tell how smart the kids in the state are. They tell how good the public schools are. Or are we talking about a new topic now?
I’ve been asked to be in gifted programs several times, and I’ve always said no. To me, gifted stuff just seems like another excuse for smart kids to make average kids feel like s%&*. Average is fine, but with gifted programs, average kids don’t get to work with smart kids and learn stuff. And they can. I have proof.
Once upon a time, a lovely maiden named BooBoo had a best friend named LahLah. (Names have been altered.) BooBoo was very smart. LahLah would have gotten straight C’s, if this hadn’t been second grade without letter grades. BooBoo and LahLah worked together on all their projects, and when they got a bit older, BooBoo helped LahLah to study for tests. After they got to middle school, BooBoo went off to private school in another state. But LahLah had learned a lot about studying and other academic stuff from her friend, and she made straight A’s in everything but math and gym that year.
And that is why I’m not in gifted programs. Nork nork.
Blake is my older brother. I just found it rather sad that he was the only one in his school who got National Merit Semi-Finalist, because, having lived with him my whole life, I know he’s not that brilliant. It’s a little scary that he’s the smartest person in his school.
Public school is like hanging upside down with your head in a bucket of hyena offel. The kids use the word “gay” as an insult (I would personally use it as a compliment, but whatever). Today I was trying to build a skeleton with Jack, he put the scapula in the poor skeleton’s hand.
Me: Put your analyst on danger money, baby.
Him: WOT?!?! Why are you calling me baby?
Me (getting mad): Jack, baby, you stuck the metacarpals in the man’s cranium, and the vertebrae are all messed up. The atlas attaches in the back, you wally!
Him: Oh my god. You’re so weird.
Me: Thank you. Go away, I’m doing this myself. That’s the distal end of the humerus, you imbecile!
See what I have to deal with!
hahaha…you crack me up…
All you people crack me up…
But I think all of the people who write here are cracked… so what’s the difference?
wow. That may be the most appropriate thing i’ve heard all day.
Just insert “Musebloggers” for “Cat” and you’re all set!!!!
i totally agree with what ebeth says.
I love that quote. It’s awesome.
“…which is why the advertising execeutives of the star system of Bastablon came up with this slogan: ‘If you’ve already done six impossible things today, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways’, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe?'”
Bonus points if you know why that’s relevant.
H2G2. Something about doing six impossible things a day. It’s relevant because i believe in the interconnectedness of all things.
Or something like that….
QJ and ETL (#95 and 96),
I know! It’s another Lewis Carroll reference. Hasn’t anybody else around here read AIW and TTL? (Seeing the Disney version doesn’t count.)
I have! The LC reference is the Red Queen saying something along the lines of “I always try to believe at least six impossible things before breakfast. It broadens the mind wonderfully,” or something like that. Either that or six degrees of separation.
I have a treasury of all the LC stuff. I read it when I need comfort books. Some people have comfort food, I have comfort books and movies. Anyway, they’re well worth reading.
I should stop being so obscure.
no. but i will go read them now. b/c nobody else has. see, i have this problem with the books and movies thread, which is that everybody tends to pick apart books and look for their flaws. so i never think about books the same way. the museblog will drive me to read old stuff that i wouldn’t normally read. its very educational. for example, phoenix mentioned that the mc in dune was a jerk, and now i am reading the book and looking for this, which i very annoying. analyzing is fun, but it drives me nuts.
post # 100 hopefully! um no other reason but please post this anyway!
i did read AIW but it was waaay long ago, so i don’t remember much of it. Never read TTLG. I saw the disney version, but only once. Sadly it was in class so i couldn’t leave in disgust, but i didn’t like it at all.
lamuth showed us this awesome thing yesterday which is a version of AIW but it’s annotated w/little explanations of all the references and things in there so you don’t have to analyze the whole thing yourself.
But then it’s also a copy of the book too. Pretty cool.
Ok what thread is this anyway? I must scroll up and find out…
ok. I knew it wasn’t long enough for books+movies…
That would be The Annotated Alice, edited by Martin Gardiner. One of my favorites, and highly recommended.
Oooh! I’ve read both Throught the Looking-glass and Alice in Wonderland!
Hello, E~A! Good to see you!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! wyoming FAILED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *dies* but our science must rate an A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++…. so how did our state FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? *dies again*
did anyone see that program last night: “Stupid in Schools: how we cheat our kids”
O-O-OHHHHhhhhHHHHhhhh… Public schools… ok, I’m a private school kid, so that shouldn’t qualify me. If Private schools were in this, Illinois would have a A. My school is all eggheads.
Again, gang, these ratings don’t reflect how bright the students are or how well they test. The grades rank the states’ specifications for how their public schools are supposed to teach science. If you’re going to public school in an “F” state, it’s the state’s fault and your problem.
I’ve read both AIW and TLG, and wasn’t it the white queen?
I saw a circus version of Alice in Wonderland once. It was really, really, cool.
Yes, grades don’t reflect intelligence, either. *nodnod*
you must be kidding me. california got an A????
i don’t know about anyone else, but when i think of the public schools where i live, what crosses my mind is the line from ‘the importance of being earnest’ by oscar wilde-
‘ingnorance is like a delicate, exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone…fortunately in [this place] at any rate, modern education has no effect whatsoever.’
and it doesnt. which is why im homeschooled. this isnt to say that no on learns anything in school in california; just no one learns it directly from the teachers and the textbooks in the way they are trying to teach it. ;^)
hey is Monday Darkness new or something? i’m a little behind… you GAPAs add threads so many times i dan’t keep up!!! STOP IT!!!!!!
We’ll slow it down. The threads now running should keep you all busy for a while.
Monday Darkness has been around for a while under different names. Check the “Who’s Here” page.
yeah, i was going to ask that. no more threads until febuary please, (unless its a birthday)
well we’ve pretty much gotten the new 2006 threads all set. AND we FINALLY got our douglas adams thread…i’d say things are good for a month or two..
no poetry thread though. oh well, i can always post it on OWTOIWTN.
whats that? “OWTOIWTN”?
will you guys stop using abbreviations? we could make a whole thread with them!!!! sheesh there’s so many…
out w/ the old in w/ the new
oh..
i knew that
Thank god I live in California! (No, that wasn’t intended as a religious reference.)
it’d better not be!!
Oh wow, I live in a ‘D’ state (not saying which one…I’m sure this blog is safe, but I’m paranoid :))! That’s disappointing, but sadly it doesn’t surprise me much. My state’s public schools are an absolute disaster, not just in Science but in everything. Thank goodness there are private schools here that actually teach people like they’re supposed to!
don’t worry we’re all paranoid around here….
See? I’m from Virginia. No wonder I’m so smart. Apparently Northern Virginia and other urbanized regions cancel out the various hillbillies…
Texas failed, eh? Maybe that says something about a certain prominent Texan who STILL can’t pronounce “nuclear” as anything but “noo-ku-ler”… Not to name names or anything…
Actually, this has nothing to do with being ‘smart’, it is about how well science is taught.
Don’t ruin my fun please.
Can’t help it.
Ha ha, my state got an F. And I can see why. My state that I lived in last year got a C. Again, I can see why. I have learned very little last year and this year.
I’ve been placed in “gifted” programs. (They are rubbish.) I’ve been homeschooled. I’ve been partially homeschooled. I have gone to public school and aced everything sans studying or paying attention. Will this adequately prepare me for adult life?
gifted programs are indeed absloute rubbish!
Let me put it kindly: Ohio has five seasons-
Spring
Summer
Fall Winter
Testing
Testing is the worst!!!!!! I mean, come on. On the tests kids are freaking out, and I can’t concentrate in the midst of freaking out. I think that standardized tests should be done away with, type aye if you agree.
that’s kinda scary, i live in california and our school system is pretty bad…
My school probably contributed greatly (as great as we can get, seeing the class size of ’06 was around 100…) to Michigan’s crappoosh** grade. Year after year, as far back as I re-call, we’ve been taught the same exact stuff in Science: simple Biology (CLASSIFICATION!), simple Chemistry (the ELEMENTS!), simple Ecology (BIOMES!). This past year (that is now O-V-E-R!!) we did simple Astronomy (i.e. – What is a star? What is the sun? What causes night and day? etc, etc, etc…)
#133- AYE!! The SAT and the MEAP and the MAP are all hair-tearinging-ly EVILEVILEVIL!! The MAP and MEAP are both as easy as pi(e), which is WHY my school spends half the God-forsaken year PREPARING for it, even of you DO pass it (which is a given, because they are SO unfathomably EASY) you only get around $100 scholarship money. Although I understand that is a lot for some people, it truly does not make that much of a difference if you want to go to a good college. The SAT on the other hand, needs to go up in flames and be burned and be jumped on and squished and chopped up and minced and grated and boiled and punched and kicked and screamed at and cursed at and shredded and sawed in two and chewed up by vicious, half-starven dogs and spit back out again along with chewing tobacco and old gum and then chucked into the sea never to be seen again!! And a whole lot more, I just can’t think of anything else of any unpleasense to do it.
#131- Gifted programmes ARE a laod of rubbish, I concur. My Advanced English class got pulled from the ciriculem (think I know why- maybe because it didn’t teach us anything WHATSOEVER except review the basic parts of speech? i.e., NOUNS, VERBS, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS. If we were all in 7th grade and have taken the SAT at least twice with the majority qualitfying for ATYP, how can that be enough?? The teacher also managed to move up from teaching 3rd grade to the Middle school. She also teachers the challenged kids. Does this make sense??) and is being replaced by a research/hands-on activity class. But even when this WAS around, two years ago I was in both advanced AND regular English and last year I had just my advanced class but also a class that is basically impossible to not ace, even for the challenged kids. This new class that my peers and I will be the guinea pigs for in our 8th grade year will probably be moved around so EVERYONE will have it, so there won’t even be an advanced English class anymore. And my advanced math was also easy, you don’t even have to pay any remote attention in class to ace the tests.
Then the REGULAR classes are even WORSE! The teachers try to make it so the normal or special poeple can also comprehend the material, but half the people at my school can’t bring their thinking level down that far! Thus, we get incredibly bored and not prepared for the time when we might actually have to WORK for our grades!
Pardon my jabber on this, but have I made my point??
135- Yes, I certainly agree. That’s exactly what my skool was like. Making things uber-easy doesn’t even help the challenged kids, because then they just depend completely on the system (which is designed to make it easy for them to pass) and don’t ever end up learning anything. So, by lowering the standards, not only does it make more advanced kids miss out, but it doesn’t even help the kids who need help!
Well I go to a private school and we learn more than you folk -offence
I agree I go to private school to and I get a smarter education than all of my friends in public school!
138: AWZUM U MUST GET DA L33T SKOOL TRAININGZ!
Actually, (and I’m not being arrogant here, this is proven fact) Middle School and High School is much better in Europe, whereas Elementary school is better in the States. As for Universities… Umm… Europe wins again! (can’t compete with Oxford, Zürich or Bologna).