Do you think schools need better methods of teaching?

[BlazingPhoenix]

Yeah, i have to agree with you, @pk-espurr, teachers need fewer students to have more diverse classes helping each and every individual student rather than following guidelines with a simple sink or float premise. History indeed needs to be less biased, I mean in my history class we were talking about how elections worked and I said that it was pointless to do it state by state rather than each vote counts as one, and the teacher practically threw a fit saying how dare I disgrace my country's election system and that it is perfect, like history is literally "memorize stuff and agree with this or else you are a failure to your country". Math needs to be more focused on what you will use rather than dumb test scores. I wanna be a chef. Do I need grammar or the ability to divide fractions by decimals in my restaurant?! No. The american educational system is a joke, not that other country's are much better.

 

[BonnetteForever]

Yeah, i have to agree with you, @pk-espurr, teachers need fewer students to have more diverse classes helping each and every individual student rather than following guidelines with a simple sink or float premise. History indeed needs to be less biased, I mean in my history class we were talking about how elections worked and I said that it was pointless to do it state by state rather than each vote counts as one, and the teacher practically threw a fit saying how dare I disgrace my country's election system and that it is perfect, like history is literally "memorize stuff and agree with this or else you are a failure to your country". Math needs to be more focused on what you will use rather than dumb test scores. I wanna be a chef. Do I need grammar or the ability to divide fractions by decimals in my restaurant?! No. The american educational system is a joke, not that other country's are much better.

I agree with you

 

[BlazingPhoenix]

I agree with you

its called a like button XD

 

[Livada]

I don't remember my elementary school that much. It was great I guess, but I know for sure that my highschool was great. I finished school of art and design and teachers from art classess were fantastic, while other teachers, such as english and croatian language teachers, were really stupid and strict. English teacher was strict, which is good if he respected the border, but he was just disrespectfull towards some of my friends (not me personally but some of my friends who were kinda bad at english). And croatian teacher? I'll just say she wasn't fair when grading our tests. Math teacher was awesome and she would explain something to you a million of times if she had to, until you understand.

 

[4362]

My school has a pretty crap Education System:
Its called G8,it itself isnt bad,it simply means that youll finish High School after 8 year,BUT it was made for boarding schools with 1o periods and 45 minute pauses between periods.You see,the problem is,a school day on my school has just 8 hours at most,with multiple 5 minutes pauses,one 15 minute pause between the 2 and the 3rd period,one 1o minute pause between the 4th and 5th period and a 30minute pause between the 6th and 7th period.
Another problem besides that is,that i barely "learn" everything,due to most lessons being "Look what the teacher does and mimic it without even thinking once"
Another thing that sucks is,that the process for math tasks brings too much points,it should be excluded from the points a test gives,its quite ridicolous that you get a F,only for not writing down the process,even tho all the results you wrote down were right.
And then there are teachers that make us make posters for stuff that only would take like 1/10th space of a side in my exercise book.
I also think that classes on public schools are too big (usually between 20 and 30 people),having that many students wont bring anything,but a really high noise level.
My experience also is,that as soon you are really good at a subject,you cant really do more than just sleep in lessons,instead of getting harder tasks or something that would actually make sense.
Also,i think if politics is a subject,it should be about current events,instead of following a book.
"The Art of noise" should also be part of music theory in Music class in my opinion,but i guess thats just me.

 

[BlazingPhoenix]

Art and music class is pretty bogus, and i mean really spanish and gym in middle school should be dropped so that students can leave like 1 and a half hours sooner, and math needs to be less drastic, like who cares if i did not show the work for 763 divided by 6? Like i have to deal with your lessons all day, almost 1/2 the year, dont you dare make me go over the top with this. Not to mention there are some days of the school year only for events, like 10 of them, so 180 days of school could be lowered by removing those 10, half-days, and simply not having that first day do nothing and those last week do nothing days, you could probubly lower the amount of days to 150 with school being 1 1/2 hours less, so you get home at 1:30 rather than 3.

 

[4362]

I have another part to add:
You should be able to learn MULTIPLE instruments in music class and not just flute
It also would be nice to have songs from multiple different genres to practice,instead of just classical music.
I also think,that there should be more PE(that was sports,right?) lessons,4 in a week isnt really much.
And i think that there should be more subjects,considering that there is a period for help for subjects on monday,which is 99% people who actually are good at the subject they are supposed to get help with.That period only exists due to my school having else not as much periods as the education system says there should be.
There also should be a subject for stuff like paying taxes and so on.
I also think that Psychology should be taught on more schools.(In germany,only 1% of schools teach it)

 

[Jeff The Killer]

I think so, when I was going they taught us what was going to be on the TAKS test nothing else. The taught us by the test for the test. And if you failed it they would have you placed in remedial classes for the subject you failed. They should have been teaching us what we'd need to know for life or for getting into college. I doubt I would need to know the area of polygon if XY= 2 if I'm in a grocery store.

As a senior graduation is something we all look forward to, but when the TAKS was around it didn't matter that you passed all your classes or got all your credits. You could have all of those but fail the TAKS test and they would not let you walk. Nor get your diploma. I'm living proof of this.

Now with TAKS gone they have STAAR and the schools are teaching kids based off their career choices, so if you wanted to be a farmer you'd take classes based around that.

 

[BlazingPhoenix]

My school has a pretty crap Education System:
Its called G8,it itself isnt bad,it simply means that youll finish High School after 8 year,BUT it was made for boarding schools with 1o periods and 45 minute pauses between periods.You see,the problem is,a school day on my school has just 8 hours at most,with multiple 5 minutes pauses,one 15 minute pause between the 2 and the 3rd period,one 1o minute pause between the 4th and 5th period and a 30minute pause between the 6th and 7th period.
Another problem besides that is,that i barely "learn" everything,due to most lessons being "Look what the teacher does and mimic it without even thinking once"
Another thing that sucks is,that the process for math tasks brings too much points,it should be excluded from the points a test gives,its quite ridicolous that you get a F,only for not writing down the process,even tho all the results you wrote down were right.
And then there are teachers that make us make posters for stuff that only would take like 1/10th space of a side in my exercise book.
I also think that classes on public schools are too big (usually between 20 and 30 people),having that many students wont bring anything,but a really high noise level.
My experience also is,that as soon you are really good at a subject,you cant really do more than just sleep in lessons,instead of getting harder tasks or something that would actually make sense.
Also,i think if politics is a subject,it should be about current events,instead of following a book.
"The Art of noise" should also be part of music theory in Music class in my opinion,but i guess thats just me.

HA you actually get instruments!
*sobs*

 

[sonicandres1]

Yeah, i have to agree with you, @pk-espurr, teachers need fewer students to have more diverse classes helping each and every individual student rather than following guidelines with a simple sink or float premise. History indeed needs to be less biased, I mean in my history class we were talking about how elections worked and I said that it was pointless to do it state by state rather than each vote counts as one, and the teacher practically threw a fit saying how dare I disgrace my country's election system and that it is perfect, like history is literally "memorize stuff and agree with this or else you are a failure to your country". Math needs to be more focused on what you will use rather than dumb test scores. I wanna be a chef. Do I need grammar or the ability to divide fractions by decimals in my restaurant?! No. The american educational system is a joke, not that other country's are much better.

Well said!

 

[BlazingPhoenix]

History is literally the most biased thing of all time, and I swear to god I hate my teacher so much. So we were talking about the Persians and how they beat the living crap out of one or the cruelest nations of all time, expanded their empire, freed the Jews, were literally the kindest flipping people to prisoners, to the point where they invaded your homeland, slapped a sticker on you that said "citizen", and sure you had to pay taxes, which you already did before, and you were protected and looked after. Next unit: the Greeks destroy the power hungrey evil Persians, and the only reason they are evil is because they lost. God history is so biased, the winner is always the good guy because the person who loses is always pronounced evil.

 

[Pandaxclone2]

*Incoming opinion that's probably flawed in some fashion or another*

Well considering there's this video on the subject:

I would assume yeah, we probably need to rewrite our education systems. Like the video's underlying message, there's too much stuff that they try to teach which is not necessarily needed for setting yourself up on life and what you want to do. I mean yeah, some things like maths is pretty important and all but only if it's going to help you in the end. If you're looking to become a mathimatician or figure out scientific things then yeah, but if that's not your cup of tea it shouldn't be necessary.

It's not necessarily better methods of teaching strictly speaking, but it's teaching methods that work better in our favour.

 

[Frisk]

[Eww...high school is closing in very fast >.<]

I think schools would have better scores on tests and stuff like that if they centered more of their teachings around technology. By now, the school board should realize that more and more adolescents ages 12 to 18 have more of an attention span to a topic if it regards more of a technological approach. Some schools might think that technology has no place on school grounds except for emergencies, but they might have to realize that teenagers are drawn more to tablets, phones and computers more than boring bookwork, papers and chalkboards. At least that's my opinion

 

[dilawer]

Schools should focus more on the teach/learn concept instead of just grades. Grading system makes students cheat to get better grades and they don't care about learning anything at all.

 

[Frisk]

Schools should focus more on the teach/learn concept instead of just grades. Grading system makes students cheat to get better grades and they don't care about learning anything at all.

I agree. Some of the time when our teachers assigns us papers, some students may ask to see my paper. Kinda hard to say no since they just put me on the spot like that

 

[NOKK]

I really love Science Lab, which is our 5th period on Thursdays. Personally, I think the science curriculum at our school is one of the best I've ever encountered. I also think that oral quizzes might go better if you make it individualized. I don't really have any issues with tests, except for the writing portion. It hurts my hand. I also love our school's band program. Most schools I've visited (looking at high schools) don't really have a devoted music program, but I would really like to see schools devote to a music program.

 

[PeytonFryer]

I think the biggest problem the public school system faces is that not everyone learns at the same pace. You can't make a "one size fits all" education system no matter how how hard you try. Though I guess there are programs and tutors to help people who fall behind but sometimes even that's not enough. That's why if I ever have children I'll most likely homeschool them or send them to a private school.

*Incoming opinion that's probably flawed in some fashion or another*

Well considering there's this video on the subject:

I would assume yeah, we probably need to rewrite our education systems. Like the video's underlying message, there's too much stuff that they try to teach which is not necessarily needed for setting yourself up on life and what you want to do. I mean yeah, some things like maths is pretty important and all but only if it's going to help you in the end. If you're looking to become a mathimatician or figure out scientific things then yeah, but if that's not your cup of tea it shouldn't be necessary.

It's not necessarily better methods of teaching strictly speaking, but it's teaching methods that work better in our favour.

I absolutely agree with you on this. Though all the standard courses like math, history, and science should still be taught, there should be less of a focus on these subjects and a bigger focus on practical courses like balancing a checkbook or writing a resume.

 

[Ace]

There's memorizing, and there's learning. (Come to think of it, what's a Dangling Participle? and why would I need to know it?) A kid did a rap about not staying in school that I sorta agree with.

Basically, he's explaining what he did learn, vs what he didn't learn.

I think the biggest problem the public school system faces is that not everyone learns at the same pace. You can't make a "one size fits all" education system no matter how how hard you try. Though I guess there are programs and tutors to help people who fall behind but sometimes even that's not enough. That's why if I ever have children I'll most likely homeschool them or send them to a private school.



I absolutely agree with you on this. Though all the standard courses like math, history, and science should still be taught, there should be less of a focus on these subjects and a bigger focus on practical courses like balancing a checkbook or writing a resume.

Oops, I came a little late. Someone already mentioned the vid I shared...

Also, I hear what you're saying Peytonfryer. There are things needed in life, like Mathmatics and such. But there are more important things that need teaching too.

 

[Natsu Swagneel]

Here's what they seriously need to remove:

-Textbooks, you know, because they are super boring. Also, the "answers" in the textbooks magically disappear when you look for them ;-;

-The Science teacher that yells at me and specifically me most of the time for little to no reason which I could dedicate my time to share... Like seriously I want Wilson Percival Higgsbury to teach me instead. Please?

-The "smart people" groups. You know what I'm talking about. The "gifted" groups. I may have a high IQ and high scores on assignments, but that doesn't mean I want to be apart of your cringey Nazi group. Sayin' things like "Intelligent people master race" in those groups. I hate those things so much, smh.

-Math. Maybe teach some core parts of it, so that we won't be stupid, but don't just shove cheat codes for LYNE in my face and say, "This is a mathmatical equation!" or "You'll need this in life!"

-"This will count for 99% of your grade! Don't forget to study !"

...And much, much more. Sigh, I hate humanity so much these days. There are some cool people in it, though, which brings me faith

 

[Mistral]

I remember in high school, I had instructors that used a variety of teaching methods. Each class was different, and it made some harder than others. I feel like schools are so focused around preparing students for standardized tests that there's just no room for accommodating every student's learning style. I don't think there was ever really a class that really catered to the sort of "show and then let me do" learning style that I have. I'm the kind of person that can be shown something, and then I'll want to do it myself to get a hang of it. Obviously that's not something that can be adopted to every class, but a lot of my classes were mostly lectures and homework with minimal fun activities mixed into the class. It just seemed like instructors went for a specific teaching method and didn't try to incorporate all the ways a student may learn something.

I feel like if schools weren't so focused on standardized tests, things would be a lot different. I remember struggling in high school because we usually had to breeze through material or rush to get to a specific point in the syllabus prior to our class' standardized test, if that particular class had one. It was all such a stressful environment, and more concern was placed on these tests rather than making sure students actually got the material.

It's kinda why I like college/university a lot more. You can take the courses that cater to your skills and the ones you're interested in rather than a bunch of courses you're not remotely interested in, with the exception of general education courses everyone has to take. I actually found myself doing a lot better in math when I was in community college than when I was in high school. I got As in both of my math classes, but I could barely scrape by in high school math courses. Not sure if it was because everything I was learning in the college courses was just a refresher on what I already knew or if it was because there was time to slow down a bit and make sure students had caught onto the concepts; there wasn't the same rushing through things like there was in high school. I took both of my math courses in the spring semester, and both times I took them, we got a lot of snow to the point where classes were cancelled for days. (The first math class I took, I only went to class a handful of times because of the snow.) In those classes, the instructors just adjusted the schedule and said that if we didn't get through everything, we didn't get through everything, it wasn't a huge deal. They were able to accommodate the schedule based on our needs while also making sure they could teach us as much as they could. In high school, we were forced to cram things in if we missed days to snow or other inclement weather, and it was just overall a stressful situation for both students and teachers.

I'd really just love it if they did away with standardized testing altogether in schools and came up with some better way to make sure students were learning what they needed to learn and teachers were doing their jobs correctly. A less stressful grade school environment would be a lot better for everyone involved, I think.