{"id":5768,"date":"2018-01-16T09:54:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T15:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5768"},"modified":"2018-01-16T09:54:44","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T15:54:44","slug":"not-little-red-school-house-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/16\/not-little-red-school-house-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a Little Red School House Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kenneth Thomas<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/span>[Any time an individual begins to compare the past and the present,\u00a0there is the limitation of having to look at a limited personal experience (his own) or do research over a broader area of experience by others. Obviously what I write here is limited to personal experience and observation.]\u00a0<\/span>
\nStandards:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\nSchool was competitive. Test papers were returned in descending grade order. Pity the student who got his paper last. Students stood to read aloud. Math students worked problems at the board, sometimes to see who could finish first and set the other person down. We had lots of homework, and our parents expected us to do it. Spelling bees were held to see who would represent the school. This environment spurred the talented, but probably was uncomfortable and embarrassing to the slow learners.\u00a0<\/span>
\nIn senior history the teacher divided the class into two groups\u2013\u2013one group to read quietly and take a basic test for a guaranteed C, and the other to take difficult tests and compete for the high grade so we could sit in rank order based on the score. A\u2019s and B\u2019s were only given to those who did \u201cextra\u201d work beyond that which was assigned for all. C\u2019s were given for doing the required work fairly well, but did not require extra work. As a good student, the setup motivated me, but a teacher today would never get away with expecting today\u2019s students to do what we did.\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhen I first began teaching,\u00a0I expected a high standard and students would work hard.\u00a0<\/span>
\nAs time passed, official pressure to have a high passing rate grew. Pressure came from students and parents for A\u2019s and B\u2019s with little effort by the student. Counselors pressured teachers to give the points needed to graduate a shaky senior, rather than guiding that student to good choices. Rather than insisting that students try to learn the material, some teachers resorted to watering down their tests and increasing the percent of the grade coming from home and classwork. The onslaught of standardized tests has necessitated teaching testing skills and the ability to eliminate wrong answers. That improves the chance to guess the correct choice. Manipulating calculator keys is more important than learning basic math facts, so when many\u00a0young adults come to college they have no clue about fractions, decimals,\u00a0or\u00a0percents,\u00a0and they cannot calculate 3 plus 3 divided by 3.\u00a0<\/span>
\nFor over twenty years I have served as an adjunct math teacher at area colleges part and full time. I assist students in remediating math skills. They come with limited arithmetic skills after taking high school math, some for four years. They say they were handed a calculator in 3rd grade and told to use it. These adults do not know whether common denominators are needed in addition of fractions, how to place a decimal in calculations, the order of operations for 3+3\/3, or how to calculate areas. The most frightening test is laden with elementary arithmetic with no calculator. If they work diligently, most are able to master skills that make algebra easy. But some do not want to work hard enough to relearn 6th grade math, and many find it easier to criticize having to take the course.\u00a0<\/span>
\nMoral issues:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\nCursing and rough language were used by boys in the locker room at my high schools, but the raunchy language that is commonplace today was never heard. I do not remember a high school girl using filthy language. Smoking\u00a0was\u00a0<\/b>allowed in certain areas of the campus, but the girls in general did not smoke.\u00a0<\/span>
\nDisrespect for authority and a lack of a moral compass are, in my judgment, the most serious differences in education over the years. Student pregnancies were hidden in the past, with girls dropping out or going to a separate school. Now they are flaunted, with sophomore girls showing their sonograms proudly, or\u00a0the daddy walking with his pregnant girlfriend. Drug dealers and users go away for brief rehab and then return to brag about where they\u2019ve been.\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhile for good students there are still great opportunities for advanced placement and honors classes, the average student does as little as possible to get by, and the disruptive student often becomes the pace-setter for the classroom environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kenneth Thomas \u00a0[Any time an individual begins to compare the past and the present,\u00a0there is the limitation of having to look at a limited personal experience (his own) or do research over a broader area of experience by others. Obviously what I write here is limited to personal experience and observation.]\u00a0 Standards:\u00a0 School was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[96,66],"tags":[1333,198,1051,1338,1339,855],"class_list":["post-5768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-think-excerpts","tag-april-2013","tag-education","tag-feature","tag-kenneth-thomas","tag-public-schools","tag-teachers","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nNot a Little Red School House Anymore - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/16\/not-little-red-school-house-anymore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not a Little Red School House Anymore - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kenneth Thomas \u00a0[Any time an individual begins to compare the past and the present,\u00a0there is the limitation of having to look at a limited personal experience (his own) or do research over a broader area of experience by others. 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