I feel sorry for American School Students

[Gindil]

I go to a private high school in America, so the public school system doesn't apply to me.
I would like to pose a counter question, as I'm sensing strongly anti-American sentiments.

If the American public school system is broken/inferior/failing, then how could the country as a whole still be the most powerful, wealthiest, and technologically advanced (as far as the government goes) in the world?

School systems educate children who grow up to become members of the workforce. It seems a logical step to me to say that the better educated the children, the more effective their workforce will become. If the US has the most powerful workforce, then it's educational system must also be similarly powerful.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me the driving mentality of this thread is incorrectly anti-American.

The final statement says so much, i'm not even American or a Teacher!!!!11 However i'd be willing to invest my time for next to nothing put in the effort that people complain about. Rome wasn't built in a day (cliche i know) but it is an appropriate analogy. All it would take is a committed effort with the enthusiasm i know Americans have and you have such a proud history and it would be a shame to see that lost.

First, we would have to change our education paradigm:


Second, there's plenty of ways to change education for the betterment of society. The problem is all of the money that goes into it, and how we have politicians messing it up. That's a rant for another time. My view, based on how our educational system is lacking is to adapt our students to different standards, similar to Montessori. We lose a lot of divergent thinking, and the public system spits out people for factory jobs.

There's more ways, it's just incredibly difficult to get anything new into the system that allows a smarter population in general.

 

[PneumaticSuicide]

Democracy, dear Watson. There's a reason why you can take your own food too, if you're like that.

This just proves to me that the American education system fails at the most basic fundementals.

Please do NOT take this as an attack!!!

How the fuck should I not feel that was an attack?

easy to answer


You fukn take eveything as an attack, even if i farted in the general direction of the USA it would be considered an attack. As a country in which i have much admiration, it stills amazes me by the sheer precious self importance of on a small amount people who don't think any other country exists outside of youe shores

 

[PowerC]

The reason why i bring this subject up is because i have recently been watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution. I was completely stunned by the reaction of the superintendent (i'm not really sure how important this position is) and how he is allowed to make a universal decision in regard to what children eat.

This just proves to me that the American education system fails at the most basic fundementals.

Please do NOT take this as an attack!!!

agreed, finished my freshmen year today, the US policies on education are absolutely terrible. Its sad that in the past 100 years we have invented airplanes, TV, the internet, and Iphones yet were still using the same means of teaching a kid math.

\


You're absolutely correct!!!11 We have moved so far forward yet we leave alot to the wayside.

ridiculous it absolutely is... that was my public school grammar at work

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

Don't pity us, we don't know any different.

We have enough trouble trying to get any one thing changed in the school system, without trying to worry about a total overhaul.

 

[Bags159]

The reason why i bring this subject up is because i have recently been watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution. I was completely stunned by the reaction of the superintendent (i'm not really sure how important this position is) and how he is allowed to make a universal decision in regard to what children eat.

This just proves to me that the American education system fails at the most basic fundementals.

Please do NOT take this as an attack!!!

You do realize we can pack our own lunch in our country, right?

 

[direkiller]

Another part of the problem is that now from several cases I have seen, like with at my little nephews school, the only kids that get special rewards are the bad students that do slightly better on assignments. My little nephew came home and showed us a little smiley face that was drawn on his paper by the teacher for a 95%. He then proceeded to tell us another boy in his class got a piece of candy and a smiley sticker. I asked him if that kid got a 100%, he said, "No, he got a D. He got rewarded because he didn't get an F this time."
If anybody should have got a sticker and candy, it should have been my nephew. The "D" kid should have just got some words of encouragement and that he needs to work harder. People in real world jobs don't get rewards for finally doing their jobs at least half-assed.

As cruel as it sound the kid may have been special, mainstreaming dose do that sometimes.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

you either brought your own lunch or bought 2-4 lunches each day. Regardless of that i would say the school systems need more of an overhaul than the food though, some of the policies and the way teachers/kids act about school is so fucking facepalm worthy its almost not worth going.

We are lucky that we went to schools that didn't regulate what we brought to school for lunch.

There was a girl in one of my college classes that talked about her little sister who was in high school. In previous years, the mother would occasionally bring the sister a Subway sandwich for lunch when the mother was on her lunch break at the same time. Then the school adopted a policy that no fast/franchise chain food could be brought to school for lunch. They also said that students couldn't bring in specialty items, baked goods like cake and cookies, or candy. The school system's stance was that that not only were such items not good for the students' health, they didn't want the poor students that had to have a school provided lunch to get jealous or sad that they didn't get to have such things for their lunches.

Also there is the over protection of lunchtime at my little nephew's school. He can't bring anything with peanuts in it, because one student in the school is allergic. My nephew can't bring his favorite food, peanut butter and jelly, to lunch, and he can't bring his favorite peanut butter snack crackers. The reason I say it is over protection is that when I, and my brother, and even when my dad went to school, we had several students that went to school with us that had a peanut allergy, but students could bring peanut products to lunch. And guess what, none of the peanut allergy students ended up dieing, because such students were watched after and those students themselves were smart enough not to eat peanut stuff. At my dad's school back in the day, they served peanut butter and molasses sandwiches for lunch on some days. On those days, they fixed something special for the students that had the allergy.

The protection acts of schools on such matters need to be scaled back. I'm tired of seeing all the over protection of kids these days in and outside of schools. It is because of such over protection that cool things in life get toned down or removed. I remember when Lego sets with cannons that actually shot the little cylinder pieces, but these days, cannons are just decoration. That is just one of millions of injustices brought against cool things. School wise, I remember when we were allowed to bring our own toys and video game devices to school for recess. I also remember when we actually could use real sports equipment, and remember in later years when it was taken away because "we could get hurt".

they would highly "frown" upon students bringing more than your average pb&j/average leftover meal that doesn't require being cooked or anything in some way, if you bring in something major or get food brought into you, they either A) tell the parent not to bring it in anymore if they brought in food or B) they would not let you eat the food plain and simple.

Oh i do hate that whole "we could get hurt" rule? I mean really? tough shit, its a part of life, I wouldn't trade back every single scar/fucked up thing that happened to me throughout my childhood, its part of growing up, if you grow up without getting hurt from fun accidents, then you are not enjoying your childhood/recess correctly

 

[The Apothecarry]

I'm surprised sometimes that my college even accepted me. My high school didn't prepare me too well for college. Granted, I took a few AP courses and those helped, but in the core areas such as math (Calculus, for me) I might was well have never taken a class.

Regarding the food: My high school tried to implement more nutritional food, but it tasted like imitation meat and had a rubbery texture. I hated bringing lunch to school - I'm so forgetful that I lost six lunchboxes in my high school career - so I bought lunch a lot. You mostly got to pick between two rubbery types of burgers or a bland entree, and the cashier forced you to buy a watered-down milk. If you were lactose intolerant, you got a shotglass-sized carton of juice that for some reason costs as much as the milk.

Most students went to the ala carte line where they could get chips, soft pretzels, ramen cups, Izzes (which is like crappy carbonated juice), and cookies. The salads weren't half bad, but they NEVER had Caesar as an option.

.../rant

I'm guess I'm pretty passionate about my food (until it gets expensive). My parents were amazing cooks, mom being a part-time caterer and all, so when I got to college I was MUCH happier. The DigiPen cafeteria is small, but it offers variety and it has an ACTUAL KITCHEN. Food's a bit pricey on campus, but I can always make something at home.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Le snip.

NO i'm not in anyway trying to dictate peoples lives and just think schools should take more responsibility in teaching their students about being healthy. A 600ml coke bottle contains 65g of sugar which quickly becomes fat when you sit down all day at school. Now you might enjoy not being able to see your feet but its such an easy problem to fix but due to an immense amount of ignorant people its becoming more unlikely by the minute

It's not the schools responsibility, it's the responsibility of the individual. In lower age groups, it's different, but in teens people are responsible for their own diet. If people are too stupid to look after their bodies, that's their own issue, but it shouldn't be handled with such sweeping actions that affect perfectly sensible healthy people.

To the bolded part, yes, yes you are.

agreed, by high school time it's your own damn body, if you want ot fuck it up i see as to no reason why you can't have a coke at school or whatnot, hell i drink pop all the time but if you have a decent workout throughout the week you stay perfectly in shape.

 

[PneumaticSuicide]

The reason why i bring this subject up is because i have recently been watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution. I was completely stunned by the reaction of the superintendent (i'm not really sure how important this position is) and how he is allowed to make a universal decision in regard to what children eat.

This just proves to me that the American education system fails at the most basic fundementals.

Please do NOT take this as an attack!!!

You do realize we can pack our own lunch in our country, right?

Absolutely!!

 

[maninahat]

My school (I live in the UK) is making people scan their fingers to pay for food in a COMPLETE dick move. I'm just glad I got into 6th form in time, because now I can hop off to Tesco if I get hungry.

Holy shit, I've never heard of that. But then I live in the north, and we probably couldn't afford finger scanners, let alone have the intelligence to operate them.

What are they scanning fingers for?

 

[PneumaticSuicide]

Le snip.

NO i'm not in anyway trying to dictate peoples lives and just think schools should take more responsibility in teaching their students about being healthy. A 600ml coke bottle contains 65g of sugar which quickly becomes fat when you sit down all day at school. Now you might enjoy not being able to see your feet but its such an easy problem to fix but due to an immense amount of ignorant people its becoming more unlikely by the minute

It's not the schools responsibility, it's the responsibility of the individual. In lower age groups, it's different, but in teens people are responsible for their own diet. If people are too stupid to look after their bodies, that's their own issue, but it shouldn't be handled with such sweeping actions that affect perfectly sensible healthy people.

To the bolded part, yes, yes you are.

agreed, by high school time it's your own damn body, if you want ot fuck it up i see as to no reason why you can't have a coke at school or whatnot, hell i drink pop all the time but if you have a decent workout throughout the week you stay perfectly in shape.

and i see you're aware of what to do with the extra amounts of sugar however alot of people don't and that is my point. Drink as much black fluid as you like, i really don't care. Fuck have one on me.

 

[gphjr14]

OP has obviously never been to an American school if he/she thinks what they serve for lunch is the biggest problem. Overcrowded classes and unmotivated teachers should be your biggest qualms not food.

 

[Bags159]

The reason why i bring this subject up is because i have recently been watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution. I was completely stunned by the reaction of the superintendent (i'm not really sure how important this position is) and how he is allowed to make a universal decision in regard to what children eat.

This just proves to me that the American education system fails at the most basic fundementals.

Please do NOT take this as an attack!!!

You do realize we can pack our own lunch in our country, right?

Absolutely!!

The reason why i bring this subject up is because i have recently been watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution. I was completely stunned by the reaction of the superintendent (i'm not really sure how important this position is) and how he is allowed to make a universal decision in regard to what children eat.

This just proves to me that the American education system fails at the most basic fundementals.

Please do NOT take this as an attack!!!

You do realize we can pack our own lunch in our country, right?

Absolutely!!

Just checking. I always packed in school except for on Thursdays because that was pizza day.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

snip

I agree with you completely. They are a double edged sword. They can protect you if you are unlucky enough to have a boss that is "out to get you", but they also protect the lazy employees. I fully believe there was a very good purpose for unions several generations ago, but I am starting to believe they are causing more harm than good these days. This is coming from someone that is IN a union, no less.

I started to look at them differently when they started sending me letters telling me who to vote for at the last two presidential elections. They tried to get me to vote for Kerry, and then Obama, and I ripped into one of our union leaders telling them that we were going to have a serious problem if they sent me one more piece of mail telling me who to vote for... thats my choice, and my business.

Yeah, they are definitely a double edged sword. Now, more than ever, we need the BEST teachers teaching our children, not necessarily the ones who have been there the longest. People like your dad hold one of the two most important jobs in our country, in my opinion. (That being teachers, and law enforcement... and neither get paid what they should)

You sir, make more sense than a man who robs a parking meter. (I'm not sure that joke works as well without spoken word...)

Neither are paid what they deserve, nor are they treated with the respect they deserve. With low wages, we are discouraging the best and brightest from going into those positions which only comes back to bite us in the ass. I don't understand how raising future generations is not of the highest priority to us.

I don't know what the best course of action would be, at this point, though. I know without the union, my dad and the rest of his fellow employees would have been screwed out of their retirement by the school board. Unions still have a purpose, so you can't completely do away with them, but at the same time, I don't think older union members would like big changes in policy if it could potentially hurt them. It's just a shame all around.

(Also, regardless of political views, a group you're a part of telling you who to vote for is despicable. I hate it when churches do it, and I hate that the unions are doing it.)

Yes indeed... and just like you said, I have no clue what the solution is. I can only hope we as a nation can figure it out.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

The food issue isn't for ALL American schools. My High School implemented healthy substitutes and the soda machines were removed and replaced with water bottle machines. Besides the pizzas and chips there were fresh wraps and deli sandwiches, fruit, and juices. I know most of the students took advantage of those options. There were also health classes that one could take as an elective (which most did). I passed with a 115% and still use the lessons taught in my own life. You can also pack your own lunch and eat it out on the picnic tables outside with friends. I also witnessed the free-meal program and the kids had choices between this-and-that to put on the tray. Really, when it comes to food, it's also about the person's self-control and what he's taught at HOME about what is healthy and isn't. That's the attitude they bring to the school with them.

It's not a schools responsibility to monitor kid's eating habits, they have their hands full enough already with the over-crowding and lack-luster teaching methods. Not that all teachers are that way, but I had a few that were just terrible and refused to care. Then again, how much can you care when you have ten more students then usual crammed into your classroom, no books and/or books torn to shreds, and had your pay and class budget reduced AGAIN.

 

[Thedayrecker]

Well I'm graduating tonight so stop feeling sorry for my student situation.

You should feel sorry about the fact that I have no job, the entire world is in a down economy.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Snip

As cruel as it sound the kid may have been special, mainstreaming dose do that sometimes.

Actually no, I found out it was a kid that actually lives in the same housing development as my dad. The kid is just spoiled a snot, that for the most part will only do things if it is fun to him, and his parents don't really have a leash on him of any kind when it comes to discipline on school work or anything else for that matter.

That isn't special, it's normal for probably half the kids these days. Yeah it is the parents fault, but it is up to the teachers to turn the kids around that are in such situations. I grew up with people that had parents like that and when they finally had a teacher that set them straight, they turned out alright.

We do not need to be rewarding slacking or failure, period.

 

[Therumancer]

The reason why i bring this subject up is because i have recently been watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution. I was completely stunned by the reaction of the superintendent (i'm not really sure how important this position is) and how he is allowed to make a universal decision in regard to what children eat.

This just proves to me that the American education system fails at the most basic fundementals.

Please do NOT take this as an attack!!!

Well, I think it's a combination of politics and the money being spent. It's a delicate balancing act between the "OMG healthy meals only!" yelling, stuff the kids will actually eat, and of course things the schools can afford to serve for what the students can pay, and that varies greatly from area to area and how much money the students have as well as how much money the school district gets to put into things from their end.

It comes down to logistics, and yeah... in the end it comes down to a few people who ultimatly make the choice.