Public Education: Part 2

Public Education has been on my mind since my post titled "Public Education Rambling," in August 08 and I really felt like revisiting it again today. I have since graduated high school and gone to college (Texas A&M University) to study Electrical Engineering.

I'd like to think that things change when you get to college, and in many ways they do. I live 100 miles from my parents, I buy my own groceries, eat whenever I feel like it, I have no curfew, I can skip class whenever I like and likely no one will find out. Most people find a middle ground in all this freedom, where they can do homework and study at their leisure while still having a social nightlife with their friends.

This system works great for me because, unlike my high school teachers, my professors hate wasting time just as much as I do. Don't get me wrong, they don't mind taking time out of their day to help a student or answer quesitons, but college takes a lot of the bureaucracy out of education.

In high school we had this "class" (and I use this term loosely) called Zone every Monday between our first and second period class. So every Monday I would leave my first period class early, report to the gymnasium where the volleyball coach had a sign-in sheet, tell her I was there on that day, and then sit on the ground for 30 minutes. I'm not exaggerating either, I would talk to friends on the phone, text, maybe talk to some of my fellow zone-prisoners, but no instruction of any kind every took place during this time. I'm sure that someone at some point thought that this "Zone" period would be a great idea, but after sitting through four years of it, I still haven't figured out what the hell it was for.

In high school I always felt like 3/4 or more of my day at school could be spent on something far more productive. I would often find myself trapped in some pointless class watching an instructional video on something I already knew how to do, not allowed to leave (for whatever reason). I really can't complain though, I've been given many opportunities to watch some great movies: I've watched Finding Nemo during Spanish II, A Beautiful Mind during a health class, Monty Python and the Holy Grail during a history course, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation during a physics class, and several of the Harry Potter movies (I don't remember what classes, but I assure you they were off topic). The public school system has become so inredibly inefficient, it's ridiculous.

Actual learning that took place within the confines of high school, for me at least, was few and far between. I thrived most off campus, reading and studying and learning what I wanted to learn.

I think the reason, or one of the reasons, for these epic wastes of time has something to do with the No Child Left Behind Act proposed by the Bush admin shortly after he took office in '01. Of course every President leaves behind a legacy, some good things they have done, and some not-so-good. This was, in my opinion, Bush's biggest mistake. Officially titled "An act to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind," it may sound fantastic to some, considering the already growing gap between some students, and the inability to test students nationwide on a standard scale. With such positively-charged words like accountability and flexibility, one wold assume this bill could do wonders for public education, but what ended up happening was the promotion of mediocrity, and the apparent lowering of standards to accommodate the average student.

In my high school, at the 11th grade level, students were given the choice to take either A.P. US History (preparing them for the college-level AP Test), or on-level US History. I made the mistake of taking on-level History that year, and found myself sleeping through class, carrying the weight of my entire class on some occasions, maybe memorizing a few new facts that I didn't know, but for the mostpart I didn't learn anything to speak of.

While my friends were in A.P. US History (APUSH) writing complicated, multi-page timed essays on the social impact that the 19th Amendment had on the American culture, I was being taught by my teacher (bless her heart) how to write a thesis statement. For most semi-intelligent people, one could probably learn to write a thesis statement in a matter of minutes. However, the level of laziness in my class caused my class as a whole to spend three weeks learning, essentially, how to properly form a sentence! I understand that I wasn't in a college-prep class, and maybe the learning process would take a little longer for some, but three weeks to learn a simple task such as this was absolutely ridiculous. It was at that point when I thought, "No child left behind? Why? Some people need to be left behind!" I could go on and on about the incredible stupidity I saw in my high school (supposedly one of the better schools in the city, nonetheless), but to archive all of it would surely drive me insane.

High school students have absolutely no accountability for anything related to their education these days. Admittedly I did take advantage of the system myself, and it was relatively easy. For four years I got away with doing little, if any, homework. Not once did I study for a test. Required readings for English classes were a complete joke (not to mention some of the most boring literature I've ever seen), we were taught the material in class that we should have read. If, for some reason, a student fails a test, a retest was almost certainly required by school policy, allowing the student to make up the test to a 70. Late homework was almost always accepted many, many days late (policies ranged from teacher to teacher), sometimes even weeks late.

I was able to maintain all A's and B's throughout four years of high school (except for one C in Chemistry second semester of my senior year, when senioritis really kicked in), simply coasting. I rarely tried, and when I did I wasn't motivated by the system, it was my own curiosity. I took a total of 30 classes in high school (equivalent to 90-120 credit hours in college), and I managed to find two (yes, two!) classes that were even remotely challenging and intellectually stimulating (Computer Science with Walter Lee, and Physics with Dan Ventura).

Earlier I mentioned that I thought things would change when I entered college...

Fortunately I probably have above-average intelligence and I'll turn out alright. But with a system so flawed, it's no surprise that my partner in my Engineering 111 Lab can't even write a lab report in complete sentences.

Here are the first three questions to our most recent lab:

- Which motor resistance value did you use (unloaded, loaded, disconnected)?

- Which motor did you connect the circuit to (higher or lower resistance)?

- What value of R did you calculate? Show your calculations.

And here are the answers I received in an email, to be pasted into the report:

- loaded

- our right moter

- 47.7 ohms

And this is supposed to be someone who, when he graduates, will be leading the world in innovation and ingenuity? I have my doubts, to say the least.

The truth of the matter is, some people need to be left behind! I'm sorry to be blunt, or politically incorrect as some would call it, but that's the sad truth. The United States wastes billions upon billions of dollars every year of taxpayers money to attempt to educate people who simply cannot, or have no desire to be educated. It is absolute madness. If the previously mentioned charged word accountability actually mattered in public education, we would undoubtedly see a change. The movement against Social Darwinism has gone too far, accomodating to people who don't deserve it.

The Obama Craze

I applaud the nation for being able to elect an "African-American" president. Only a short 144 years ago, a black man wasn't even considered worthy of the status of the white man. I find it truly amazing that a black man is now the President of the United States. However, he is only half-black (and only biologically). He was born to a white mother, and a black father. When he was two years old, his father left he and his mother, and returned to Kenya and later died in a car wreck in 1982. He saw his son, Barack Jr. only once more after his return to Kenya before the car wreck.
Being a Republican, I personally do not support his economic ideas of raising taxes for wealthy people. I believe that people shouldn't be punished with higher taxes just because they worked hard and struggled harder than the middle and lower classes. I am not in the upper class, so this tax change will not be a detriment to me or my family, should it come into effect, and it may actually lower taxes for us. But regardless of how it effects me and my family, it still seems wrong for my family to have a lower tax rate than someone richer than ourselves. I am also wary about the fact that President Obama is planning on withdrawing all troops from Iraq in 16 months. I think that the haste with which the President made this decision could not possibly be responsible. Only two days in office, and he has already made this decision? There are a lot of variables and opinions to hear on the subject before making such a tremendous decision. Should he take more time, listen to other expert opinions, and then make a more educated choice, I would be less inclined to worry about it, knowing that the President took the time to learn his facts.
But regardless of what I think, President Obama has made this decision, and obviously I will not persuade him otherwise. Being the most powerful man in the free world, I believe that We the People have no choice but to stand behind the President, agree or disagree. "E pluribus unum" it says on the very currency of this country. It means "out of many, one." You may have also heard the term "United We Stand," or "One nation under God, indivisible," all with a central meaning: through good and bad, thick and thin, we must stand together as one.

Google?

What's been going on? Can no one else do anything right? Apparently not, because Google has been dominating the map of the technology world since its beginning in early 1996. It started out as a project at Stanford University, with a couple guys trying to figure out a better way to search for things on the internet. They conquored: google is the #1 most popular search engine, and has been for a number of years. But lately, that hasn't been enough. Google, in the past years, has added many new features that have shadowed over many existing technologies. It seems as if Google can do anything.
A few years back there was a nifty way of searching for an adress: the white pages. But since the explosion of the internet, a website rose that allowed you to simply type in the address, and would give you directions. This was MapQuest. But Google came along, and introduced Google Maps (maps.google.com), giving access to all of the features of MapQuest, along with click-and-drag maps, instantanious zoom, and 3-D views of some areas. Dominating MapQuest, which I personally used a lot pre-Google Maps, I haven't given MapQuest a second thought since.
A similar tale is unfolding with the release of the "Google Phone." T-Mobile has teamed up with Google, to create a phone that rivals the iPhone, and apparently working out all of the kinks of the iPhone as well. In addition to the touch-screen, it has a slider-style full QWERTY keyboard, access to Google Maps, gmail, and YouTube. One-upping the iPhone, along with the WiFi and 3G network capability, it also includes GPS funcionality, and a 3.0 megapixel camera. While you can buy songs on the iPhone for only $.99, the google phone has again one-upped Apple, allowing users to buy songs from the Amazon mp3 store for only $.89. The total cost for this phone is only $179, plus a 2-year subscription (http://cnet.com)

Guns In School

Recent news that has caught my attention: teachers allowed to have guns in school? This is an interesting concept, that has got me thinking. So why shouldn't eligible teachers be allowed to conceal carry on campus? The way I see it, they've already had a background check when they got the job at their current school. They also have to obtain a concealed-carry license, so they now how to treat a gun, and shoot it. And some lawmakers are proposing that teachers also go through a "crisis-management" class as well. So after all this you know the teacher is qualified to carry the gun, and is not a criminal.

In the event of a Columbine-type attack, I think the added protection would help protect the students, or prevent the attack all together. Someone plotting an attack wouldn't even think about attacking the people inside a gun show, because no one would attack an entire group of people that were armed. The same applies to a school, no one would break into a school if every adult in the building had a gun in their waistband, and even the intimidation factor would scare away 99% of potential threats.

Public Education Rambling

I have one question: Why can't we just leave some kids behind? The public education system in the US is so screwed up, the entire thing is ridiculous. We waste so much money trying to teach people that are literally unteachable, that the people with intelligence and potential get left behind and forgotten.
Another problem I have with the public education system is the total lack of discipline. Kids can literally get away with whatever they want to, and receive nothing but a slap on the wrist, if that. I propose we stop worrying about being "politically correct" or hurting anyone's feelings, and bring back the old-fashioned public embarrassment method.
I recently heard a story from one of my father's friends, now in his late 40's, from when he was in the 4th grade. He attended a private catholic school, and was required to wear a uniform, part of this being a belt. Once when he left his belt at home, he was sent to the principal's office, where they sent him back to class wearing a pink ribbon in the place of his belt. This apparently worked, since he never forgot his belt again, and I think this is a good lesson for everyone.
If the public schools these days would actually implement a policy of real punishment instead of the slap-on-the-wrist techniques that do nothing, then things might actually improve. But parents are so worried about people making their children "feel bad" or "getting embarrassed" that they won't have any of it, and wonder why the public school system is going down the toilet. Back in the days of the paddle, things actually got done, and you didn't talk back to the principal.
An incident at my high school last year happened that shocked me beyond belief. There was a fight in the cafeteria, and one student actually punched an assistant principal in the face. I think this is totally unacceptable and out of control. That student should have gone to jail, but instead he went to juvi for a couple days, and after that he was back in school. What would you do if you were in charge?

Gas Prices

Gas prices in the US are exactly like every other product you've ever bought, except for two key aspects. 1: it's not made in China for 2 cents a unit, and 2: our culture has made us 100% dependent on it. But just like everything else in this capitalist economy, it's all based on supply and demand. I'm no economist or analysis expert, but it's really pretty simple: if you keep buying the Hummer instead of the Smart ForTwo or a Honda Civic, prices keep going up. Back in the 40s, gas was 15 cents for a gallon, and the price has probably inflated more than any other product since then, because we kept buying it at the same rate, just accepting it.
So when gas goes up to 2.00/gal, and we are still ok with it, and keep buying it, the price continues to go up, until people stop buying, or buy less, which is what happened when gas got to about $3.50/gal. Now that the national average is somewhere around $4.00/gal, people are starting to think about that $115 worth of gas every few days that they put in their Suburbans and Hummers. But once these people get rid of their gas-guzzling machines, and settle for something reasonable such as a Honda Civic, which gets about 30mpg, prices go down. People start buying less and less gas, so to keep revenue up, the oil companies have no choice but to lower prices.
But do you know what happens when gas goes back down? "Well shit! I want my Hummer back!" Yes, people take atvantage of the current market, and buy another big gas-waster. And when half the population of the US buys a new SUV, gas goes right back up to $4.00/gal. So it's really a cycle just like every other product, but I do encourage people to buy economic vehicles, if not for the cost-saving benifits, then for the sake of the environment. I own a Honda Civic, and I get between 25 and 37mpg depending on how hard I drive it. I can go about 300 miles on a tank of gas, and at $3.89 in Austin TX, it only costs about $40 to fill up.