Why isn't our children learning?

[George K]

"Junk Science"
"White Supremacy."

[Jolly]

Math has no racism. It is impossible. Chemistry has no racism. It is impossible. Physics has no racism. It is impossible. Biology has no racism, although some may argue differently.

The reason these children cannot learn science, is that they are stupid. Stupidity abounds in their homes. Most are from single parent households and have no discipline. Their parent(s) have little education and do not value it. Most do not desire that their children do any better than they have done.

And I'm fixing to go there...

Stupid people tend to breed stupid children. What's currently happening in much of Lousiana is likely happening in Chicago...The smart people, the college educated, the sharp business people, are leaving our state for better opportunities. I suspect the same is happening in Chicago. The smart get out, the stupid remain and breed.

You can throw tons of money at them, and some of them will do better. You'll even have a few really bright kids. But for the most part, the cycle just repeats itself. Until you fix the home problem, until you fix the support and expectation problem and yes, until you breed smarter children, you're going to have very few good STEM students and almost no shot at having even the occasional upper 1% student.

[Mik]

So being proficient in things like reading, writing and 'rithmatic are racist. O-kay.

[Axtremus]

The Chinese and the Indians place a lot of emphasis on standardized testing and they test their students a lot. Not sure if it's "junk science," but more likely than not it's not eugenics.

[kluurs]

I was watching a documentary about education in Finland (Norway?) a while back where they said they had almost no private schools - which encouraged the country to ensure that their public education was second to none. Once things deteriorate - it is hard to bring standards back up without an incredible amount of effort. Decades ago, I remember seeing the entrance tests for the College of Education at a local university. The college with the lowest entrance scores was the College of Education. The College giving the most A's was the College of Education.

[xenon]

It’s better to find out young that you’re not good at something rather than forcing the world to teach you when you’re older.

[George K]

In the part of that tweet you had to click on to read.

"rooted in white supremacy" — Standardized testing is so deeply rooted in white supremacy that Asians outperform whites in almost every major public school system in the US.

[Jolly]

@kluurs said in Why isn't our children learning?:

Decades ago, I remember seeing the entrance tests for the College of Education at a local university. The college with the lowest entrance scores was the College of Education. The College giving the most A's was the College of Education.

There is no reason K-6 requires a BA or BS degree. We need to go back to Normal School for those positions. Two years post-high school, including some student teaching. Bachelor's for 8-10. A degree in the field being taught (or at least a minor) for 11 &12.

Ideally, a Master's for 12. For the College Prep Track, 12 hours credit college classes per semester. Automatic admission to a state school, location dependent on academics for the Sophomore year.

[Copper]

Go ahead, keep lowering the standards.

The second string will never achieve anything.

[89th]

@Axtremus said in Why isn't our children learning?:

and the Indians place a lot of emphasis on standardized testing

This will be awkward for Kamala to address, then

[89th]

@Jolly said in Why isn't our children learning?:

Math has no racism. It is impossible. Chemistry has no racism. It is impossible. Physics has no racism. It is impossible. Biology has no racism, although some may argue differently.

The reason these children cannot learn science, is that they are stupid. Stupidity abounds in their homes. Most are from single parent households and have no discipline. Their parent(s) have little education and do not value it. Most do not desire that their children do any better than they have done.

And I'm fixing to go there...

Stupid people tend to breed stupid children. What's currently happening in much of Lousiana is likely happening in Chicago...The smart people, the college educated, the sharp business people, are leaving our state for better opportunities. I suspect the same is happening in Chicago. The smart get out, the stupid remain and breed.

You can throw tons of money at them, and some of them will do better. You'll even have a few really bright kids. But for the most part, the cycle just repeats itself. Until you fix the home problem, until you fix the support and expectation problem and yes, until you breed smarter children, you're going to have very few good STEM students and almost no shot at having even the occasional upper 1% student.

Yup. Insert default "go watch the movie Idiocracy!" reply here.

And the Teacher's Union lady was saying it was the testing that was racist, not subjects being taught. Maybe she's referring to something that happened 50 or 75 years ago, but it holds no water today. There is no way to measure literacy and other levels other than standardized tests to see where improvements need to be made.

And when the government disincentivizes working hard to make it (better) in life, it undercuts efforts that schools make to help kids succeed.

[taiwan_girl]

Kind of goofy to say that there is some bias in something like a math test.

1 + 1 =

A. 0
B. 76
C. 2
D. None of the above.

[LuFins Dad]

@taiwan_girl said in Why isn't our children learning?:

Kind of goofy to say that there is some bias in something like a math test.

1 + 1 =

A. 0
B. 76
C. 2
D. None of the above.

I noticed you put the “correct” answer under C, which stands for Caucasian, rather than A (African) or B (Black). Why is that? Also, why use English lettering instead of Arabic numerals?

[LuFins Dad]

And maybe your “1” is 38. Then your truth is 76.

[Klaus]

@Jolly said in Why isn't our children learning?:

Math has no racism. It is impossible. Chemistry has no racism. It is impossible. Physics has no racism. It is impossible. Biology has no racism, although some may argue differently

Each of these disciplines have various philosophical assumptions baked in that might theoretically be racist - but they aren't.

[Axtremus]

Behold, the body of scholarly works attempting to show that math is racist!

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C31&q=proof+that+math+is+racist&btnG=

[taiwan_girl]

@LuFins-Dad said in Why isn't our children learning?:

I noticed you put the “correct” answer under C, which stands for Caucasian, rather than A (African) or B (Black). Why is that? Also, why use English lettering instead of Arabic numerals?