The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: twyacht on February 03, 2012, 04:27:42 PM
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/this-video-of-teens-failing-miserably-at-a-civics-quiz-is-so-depressing-its-funny/
‘53’ States? Video of Teens Failing Miserably at a Civics Quiz Is So Depressing It’s Funny
Posted on February 3, 2012 at 10:36am by Jonathon M. Seidl
Lunch Scholars Video Shows Students Cant Answer History QuestionsDid you know that “bin Laden” is the vice president of the United States, or that the Civil War led to America’s independence? How about that Canada’s a state?
Well, that’s what some local students at (what appears to be) a Washington state high school think. In a video that’s probably a few hours from going viral, a young man decided to question classmates for a video called “Lunch Scholars.” It is anything but scholarly. HuffPo explains:
Austin, an intrepid young student-reporter, embarks on the noble mission of answering the question, “How much basic knowledge do American high school students really have?” The answer, however, may not be exactly what you want to hear.
“Do you know the vice president of the United States?” Austin asks.
“I don‘t know who it it’s, it’s, it’s somebody….Bin Ladin,” one student responds.
The video continues in similar fashion, asking everything from, “In what war did America gain independence?” (which no one answered correctly without a hint) to “What countries border America?”
By the way, one student says there are 51 states. Maybe he is friends with the girl who thinks Canada is one of them.
HuffPo may have said it best: “If there was ever a movie to make you laugh to keep from crying, it’s this one.”
Let the laughing, and crying, begin:
Hillbuzz blog, however, isn’t laughing, and used the video to go after teachers’ unions:
Why do teachers’ unions claim they deserve more pay and endless benefits when this is the result of their “hard work” in the classroom?
I can just hear the teachers’ union reps consoling the kids who thought there were 51 stars on the American flag (you know, for all 51 states): “It’s okay Brendan, you can try again. We are all winners here. There are no right or wrong answers. You said there were 51 stars, but if you can think up an extra 6 stars you too can be president some day”.
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Academia at it's finest.....
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That was just too painful to watch to the end. :'(
A bunch of future Democratic voters.
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I cannt take it!!!!!!!!!!!!! :'( :'( :'(
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We're doomed......DOOMED, I tell you!!!!!
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Blaming the " Govt. schools" is a cowardly cop out.
Even the Soviet Union turned out world class scientists and engineers.
The problem is with lazy students with no curiosity.
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Blaming the " Govt. schools" is a cowardly cop out.
Even the Soviet Union turned out world class scientists and engineers.
The problem is with lazy students with no curiosity.
Not true, look at home schooled kids, like yourself, and private school graduates. What is the difference? Human nature is lazy at its core but requiring kids to learn the fundamentals requires committed teachers. So I suggest it is lazy teachers that teach the competency tests that the teachers are evaluated by instead of teaching what the students need to know which should be covered by the tests.
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Laziness is a given. They are teenagers, after all.. It's (lack of) expectations, maybe consequences for not knowing the information.. The gov't runs the schools that don't expect students to learn, or administer (negative) consequences for not learning it. Notice they arent' all failing students, unless that was a fifth grade lunch room.. Teachers (paid by who?) don't teach, and are protected for not doing so. Parents know neither the information nor situation, many times..
Dispute me on that if you will, but I took over a private clubs restaurant back in the early 90s, and HALF, HALF the applicants couldn't sign their own names.. This wasn't an inner city, either.. It was the North Georgia Mountains area.. (Not too far from the rabid cow..)
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This has been going on for a few generations now. I know plenty of 20, 30, 40 and 50 somethings that know about as much as these kids. I gave the citizenship test to several college grads last year where I worked. Not a single one could answer 50 percent of the questions.
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It's a combination of things with no one single entity to blame.
Lazy parents....
Lazy students......
Lazy teachers.........
Gov't standards (on all levels) continuing to drop curriculum requirements..........
If a child is naturally gifted with an equal combination of intelligence, curiosity, and drive, they will excel in spite of odds....I've seen it.
This has been going on for a few generations now. I know plenty of 20, 30, 40 and 50 somethings that know about as much as these kids. I gave the citizenship test to several college grads last year where I worked. Not a single one could answer 50 percent of the questions.
Yep.
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Your elected officials don't do any better.
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back in 1895, I guess this was an "exit exam" or graduation exam of sorts:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/saline/society/exam.html
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Your elected officials don't do any better.
What do you say to this.. Kinda leaves me speechless...
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back in 1895, I guess this was an "exit exam" or graduation exam of sorts:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/saline/society/exam.html
Darn, I don't think I could pass that one ! :o
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Darn, I don't think I could pass that one ! :o
Nor could I at the moment and that was for the eight grade! Quite interesting!
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:o :'( :o :'( :o :'( :'( :'( :'( This just shows how incompetent teachers along with our incompetent gov. run educational system has become. Parents are at fault for not seeing that the educational system is teaching these things. There was a teacher in the midwest who lost his job because he was teaching his class the U.S. Constitution and having them say the pledge of allegiance. WE have allowed our schools to be infiltrated by the left wing socialist liberal progressive teachers.
My daughter was a music major at the Univ. of Northen Colorado when the Iraq war broke out, she walked out of her class when the Prof. began to give his political views of the war along with his dislikes for Pres. Bush. She told the over paid Prof. she has two cousins fighting over there and didn't return to his class for weeks. I was very proud of what she did & said to the Prof. that is suppose to be teaching his class music and not pushing his political views. She left UNC shortly after.
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Blaming the " Govt. schools" is a cowardly cop out.
Even the Soviet Union turned out world class scientists and engineers.
The problem is with lazy students with no curiosity.
Lazy parents as well. My son can tell ya quite a bit about the US thanks to me and the History and military channels.
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It's a combination of things with no one single entity to blame.
Lazy parents....
Lazy students......
Lazy teachers.........
Gov't standards (on all levels) continuing to drop curriculum requirements..........
If a child is naturally gifted with an equal combination of intelligence, curiosity, and drive, they will excel in spite of odds....I've seen it.
Yep.
I have to generally agree with PegLeg here. There are just too many factors to blame just one. I'm in my late 20's; so, I'm going to go our on a very short limb and say that I'm the most recent product of a public school currently in the discussion. I'm also the son of a retired teacher.
I think a quality education is very important; I'm currently finishing my MS. I, however, realize that one type of school/education does not fit all types of people. It used to be (and please correct me if I'm wrong) school attendance was a priviledge. If you got to go to school, you did your best to do well there, and your parents "encouraged" you one way or another to make sure you did. The school system had high standards with teachers that were allowed to teach. However, if "normal" schooling wasn't something that fit you, you still had a chance to learn other things such as a skill and be successful anyway.
Today, education is seen as mandatory. Not having a high school degree or equivalent is an automatic setback to finding employment, especially quality employment. It's even almost to the point where you have to have a college degree. A college degreee definitely is not for everyone but that's a different discussion. Today, students with varying types of intellegence, interests, and motivation are typically forced to share the same classroom with maybe some advanced classes for kids who are capable. To many students school is seen not as a priviledge, but as a job, an annoyance, or a time to hang out with friends. Often, their parents see it as a babysitter and don't care what their chldren are doing there. Teachers come in a variety of types. There are teachers who only want to make it through the day; teachers who do the "best they can" given their students, funding, and school system as well as government regualations; and teachers who find a way to advance beyond the system. Far too often, teachers who actually give a crap are held up by a curriculum that forces them to teach for a test.
There must be a balance between knowledge for knowledge's sake and practical knowledge. Take the test given earlier for example. There's some general knowledge questions like countries and capitols in Europe, but there's also practical questions about bushells of wheat. Teacher's weren't being forced to teach for a standardized test.
With all that said, a motivated student will find a way to learn, especially with today's resources. Give that student an equally motivated parent/teacher or both and he can rise above the system.
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I have to generally agree with PegLeg here. There are just too many factors to blame just one. I'm in my late 20's; so, I'm going to go our on a very short limb and say that I'm the most recent product of a public school currently in the discussion. I'm also the son of a retired teacher.
I think a quality education is very important; I'm currently finishing my MS. I, however, realize that one type of school/education does not fit all types of people. It used to be (and please correct me if I'm wrong) school attendance was a priviledge. If you got to go to school, you did your best to do well there, and your parents "encouraged" you one way or another to make sure you did. The school system had high standards with teachers that were allowed to teach. However, if "normal" schooling wasn't something that fit you, you still had a chance to learn other things such as a skill and be successful anyway.
Today, education is seen as mandatory. Not having a high school degree or equivalent is an automatic setback to finding employment, especially quality employment. It's even almost to the point where you have to have a college degree. A college degreee definitely is not for everyone but that's a different discussion. Today, students with varying types of intellegence, interests, and motivation are typically forced to share the same classroom with maybe some advanced classes for kids who are capable. To many students school is seen not as a priviledge, but as a job, an annoyance, or a time to hang out with friends. Often, their parents see it as a babysitter and don't care what their chldren are doing there. Teachers come in a variety of types. There are teachers who only want to make it through the day; teachers who do the "best they can" given their students, funding, and school system as well as government regualations; and teachers who find a way to advance beyond the system. Far too often, teachers who actually give a crap are held up by a curriculum that forces them to teach for a test.
There must be a balance between knowledge for knowledge's sake and practical knowledge. Take the test given earlier for example. There's some general knowledge questions like countries and capitols in Europe, but there's also practical questions about bushells of wheat. Teacher's weren't being forced to teach for a standardized test.
With all that said, a motivated student will find a way to learn, especially with today's resources. Give that student an equally motivated parent/teacher or both and he can rise above the system.
+10
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To digress back to our stupid and ignorant congressional Leaders, Sheila Jackson Lee represents Houston-home to the Space program and is a member of the House Science Committee. She asked if the Mars rover could go see the flag that Neil Armstrong planted... :o
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To digress back to our stupid and ignorant congressional Leaders, Sheila Jackson Lee represents Houston-home to the Space program and is a member of the House Science Committee. She asked if the Mars rover could go see the flag that Neil Armstrong planted... :o
Yes but only when the wind blows!
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Lazy parents as well. My son can tell ya quite a bit about the US thanks to me and the History and military channels.
I should have clarified my statement by saying our Governments involvment in our educational standards are on the decline as well as is the quality of educators at all levels ie; Colorados at Wart Churchill.
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Blaming the " Govt. schools" is a cowardly cop out.
Even the Soviet Union turned out world class scientists and engineers.
The problem is with lazy students with no curiosity.
Lazy parents as well.
+1,000 !
The government cannot be parents to the kids it is required to educate. They have them 30 hours a week, sometimes less. The other 138 hours a week it is up to the parents. They are the ones who are failing their own children, not the government. The kids are graduating as idiots because their parents are idiots.
SAT scores have been steadily dropping for the last 40 years. There is no discipline in the classroom anymore because there is none in the home. Teachers are told daily to go F' themselves. Teenage girls dress like red light district tramps, and fight like men. If teachers so much as touch one of these disrespectful little rodents, they will lose their careers, and the entire school district will be on the receiving end of a 7 digit law suit. None of this is the fault of the government.
A government is nothing more than a product of it's people. When you have a nation that is behaving like a bunch of idiots, how can you expect any different from the government, or the kids who are being raised within? How can you possibly have a stellar, freedom loving government that preaches self reliance, when you have an electorate full of government dependant morons who can't save a dime because they buy everything they see with borrowed money they don't have? Then turn right around and blame the government when they are broke. They then complain when they wind up with a government that does much the same thing.
Our current sitting President has never worked a day in his entire life. Yet in spite of that he's spending us into bankruptcy. Sound familiar? Idiot populous = idiot government. If the American people are so damn disgusted with their elected officials, along with the way they are running things, all they have to do is look in the mirror as to the reason why. The apple never falls far from the tree. I have to laugh when I hear how the government is "trying to control our kids", when their own parents can't even do it. That's like trying to herd cats. It doesn't take any brains to sit on the curb and bitch about the government 24/7, and blame them for your childs stupidity. On the other hand, it takes more than a 15 minute sex act to call yourself a parent.
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I should have clarified my statement by saying our Governments involvment in our educational standards are on the decline as well as is the quality of educators at all levels ie; Colorados at Wart Churchill.
Again it goes right back to the parents. Look how long it took to get rid of Ward Churchill. Where was the parental outrage? If my kid was in attendance at that school, at the cost of thousands of my hard earned dollars, I would have yanked his or her ass out of that place instantly. And in the process told the Dean of Administration, along with every television station that would listen, exactly the reason why. If every parent had done the same thing, that ass hat would have been gone in 72 hours, tenure or no tenure. Instead that sub human piece of vermin walked around that campus as if he was some type of self appointed God, earning a six figure salary all the while. Todays parents are in a coma.
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It's like that here as well. Plymouth State College has one particular Prof who has a weekly column in the free paper, He advocates the whole socialist agenda, America bad, every one else good, share the wealth, replace the DoD with a "Dept of Peace", etc. etc.
Recently he has been writing that if the State votes to allow CCW on campus he will defy the law by not allowing armed students in his class.
Even the local conservative activists laugh at him, and make fun of him, but no one takes the next step and questions if it is appropriate for this self righteous scoff law to be teaching our future leaders.
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Even the Soviet Union turned out world class scientists and engineers.
(http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz50/billt460/USAvsRussia.jpg)
How times change.
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I have a book called "Our Wonder World" dated 1913...It's a elementary school book Encyclopedia of current events and academia....It is written on what today would be called a "college level"...Remember, the 2012 State of the Union Address, was rated at 8th grade.....
This book would blow them out of the water.......and it only covers the "basics" three branches of gov't , the Constitution, the forms of gov't in the modern era,(for that time),....
and that was 100 years ago,,,,it would stump 90% of modern kids today.....
:-[