Is school about competition now?

[aewanko]

(I hope this won't confuse you.)


I thought they were centers (or cemeteries, if you will) for learning things. Yet I hear and read everyday about "competition for the 'best' school", useless rankings, and other junk. I think most students only care for their grades and not the things they are taught.
Any thoughts?

[Trar]

I think that one of the reasons students are pushed so hard on tests and the like is because schools want...well...government grants? Points? I forget. Mah brain got rid of it because it's not really important.

[Fire Elf]

My school tries as hard as it can to look like a "good school", but they'll never create that image because the building is old, run down, and there is trash everywhere. They should really just give up and give us our rights back.

[aerftghyjk]

ya, my school has that "school to watch reward"... they make themselves look good, when really, they aren't...

[Mom]

Of course it is. It has always been about competition and consumerism. Think about it, it's the government's plan that he who "earns" and attains a "higher class" consumes more, but you must "spend" more for an "education" (debt) so that you must work to pay off your debt to consume more.This keeps the masses in line or busy,if you will. It's about establishing competition through rank in society and developing a group of "just educated enough" individuals to follow "the plan". Schools can't be about real learning because it would get rid of the plan. I suggest reading any books by John Taylor Gatto to give you the history of how and why public school came about. You can see a brief outline of the purpose also on his website. John Holt is also worth reading. I would also encourage you to read Marc Tucker's "Dear Hilary" letter to Hilary Clinton.

[Freeman]

Yes, if anyone does bad on a standardized test the teachers give us a big talk about how they look bad. Honestly I think it makes kids less motivated in hopes that the teachers will get fired.

[Thought Criminal]

I've never understood this either. every year the schools get grades from F to A based on the grades of students and which ever school dose the best gets all the bonus money for the year. It's fucking retarded, you'd think the schools that did bad would get extra money to try and bring up their grades.... but i suppose that would just make to much sense.

[BeyondHaibara1412]

:

With the president, the grading scale would be problematic at best.

Where I'm at, 69% and below is failing. Not even Obama would pass. (Note: I like Obama.)

There are quite high standards about school, but not being president or being in the Congress (just need 50.1% or so to get in, and a guarantee at a job until next election, except term limits). I see an irony forming here...

(Also, about the term limits, they can still run for a similar office.)

[NowhereWoman]

Trar Wrote:I think that one of the reasons students are pushed so hard on tests and the like is because schools want...well...government grants? Points? I forget. Mah brain got rid of it because it's not really important.

THIS.
My math teacher gets PISSED when kids say that they don't care about the CST.
Why? Not because it's going on our transcripts, not because it may hinder us getting a good education. Our math teacher wants us to do good on the CSTs because "Those tests are how our schools are graded! You want us to get a good grade don't you? Have some school spirit!"

I will NEVER get suckered into participating in a school rally EVER AGAIN.
'School spirit' my ass.

[Will]

You'd love Alfie Kohn. Actually, I can't imagine that anyone here wouldn't. Read some of the articles about competition on his site.

[Will]

BeyondHaibara1412 Wrote: :

With the president, the grading scale would be problematic at best.

Where I'm at, 69% and below is failing. Not even Obama would pass. (Note: I like Obama.)

There are quite high standards about school, but not being president or being in the Congress (just need 50.1% or so to get in, and a guarantee at a job until next election, except term limits). I see an irony forming here...

(Also, about the term limits, they can still run for a similar office.)

To be fair, you should note that those numbers aren't entirely comparable. A test could have 9 hard questions and 1 easy question or 9 easy questions and 1 hard question. The evaluator could decide that one needs a 30% to pass the former and a 70% to pass the latter.

What is relevant is that real evaluations have no arbitrary thresholds. You get what you want done, or you don't. You get the job, or someone else gets the job. The scale can be continuous too: Your product sells reasonably well, you fail miserably, you have an epic win or you have somewhere in between.

[whistlingwings]

School is completely about competition, and the administration makes it so. Whatever the intent behind classes are - which isn't good to begin with - it's the people who come up with NCLB who really do far worse damage to the schooling system than just about anything else. I still think the ultimate goal should be voluntary schooling. But the administration (who threaten to cut funding if certain demands to stroke their ego cock are not met) are the very worst.

[Nah]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.ph...igh+school

Created by the students of my school.

[assaultmedic]

well these days they say they need to prepare us for the competive 21st century job market (aka whoring out to your boss more than anyone else in hopes of getting a raise)