Quote:
Originally Posted by masraum
Also, what percentage of kids in 1912 do you think got to and through the 8th grade and what percent would have passed that test?
|
It was pretty few back then. My grandparents were in school at the time. My grandmother left after 5th grade - she was sent by her parents to work as a maid/playmate in some rich family's house. (She freaked when a friend of mine from school turned out to live in that same house - she couldn't believe a black family lived there now
).
Quote:
Originally Posted by masraum
You can't force someone to learn.
|
IMO, this is where the US public school system has gone wrong. We've turned schools into baby-sitting services rather than places of education. Can you imagine what the college campuses of the world would be like if everyone could stay for 4 years, no matter how they behaved or how bad their grades?
Kids don't have to work to stay in school (or even graduate) so what's the incentive to apply yourself? If we started putting disruptive kids out after so many occurrences, we'd see two positive effects. One - parents who claim they can't get their kids to apply themselves would suddenly figure something out, rather than pay for a sitter or be stuck with their offspring all freaking day.
Two, kids would be more prone to apply themselves because when you're young school is where you
want to be - it's the center of young lives. Find out you have to stop fighting, disrespecting teachers or dealing drugs in order to stay and those behaviors stop, and if they don't it's not a problem because you're not there anymore. Win-win.