TexasTruBlu's Blog

I find Dallas schools (HORRID). Even though I work at one, I would NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER want my kids to BE at one. EVER. (There's the answer for enquiring minds, BTW)

p.s. according to the following report..North dakota has a 85% graduation rate...
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_08.htm

there are kids in my daughters 3rd grade class that don't even know their home address. shame shame on those parent

Tests are meant to bring the socio-lower economic kids both self esteem and a "free" trip to college.

The thinking is is that as long as the person can somewhat figure it and be passed then they will get a diploma and not be so angry at society have a better life etc ALL AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PATIENTS ETC.

AND IT WILL ALL BE BLAMED ON ANY/SOMETHING ELSE OTHER THAN THE PERSON REPSONSBILE.

Not enough money, greedy pharma companies etc
Yep, all that from the foundation of social passing

And dont forget how they have the tests more and more based on essay's so that there is no exact ( to "white") answer.

And dont forget the ( good sounding but academically irrelavant) what crisis have you overcome.

And then the MSM will spotlight the one in a million who made it with the closing typical comment of "If only one succeeds via this method, then it wasa worth it."

Oh no its not but thats what socialism is all about.
Contaiminate the system and blame it on something else.

I hated TAKS , hated teaching to it, hated the stress it brought to students and teachers alike. I taught some TAKS remediation classes 99% of my students passes. Not because I am a great teacher, , not that I imparted pearls of wisdom. I taught test taking strategies, logic and statistics. I can teach a relatively bright monkey to pass TAKS. Folks,this starts in elementary school. Students are not taught basic skills for life, they are not taught science, math and language. They are taught how to pass tests that have little or no relevance to real life . I am ,or was, one of the best language arts ( read English)teachers you would ever want. I was dedicated to my kids, I loved teaching and genuinely wanted to impart knowledge. The last few years of my career I grew to hate TKS and what it did to children. I felt I was not truly teaching anything but TAKS and it was a struggle to try to explain to students why they MUST pass. I had kids who were good kids, good students who just couldn't pass TAKS because they froze up. It was nightmarish. I have seen kids throw up faint and have full blown anxiety attacks over that test. The scenes in the teachers lounge weren't much better. I miss teaching iDON"T miss TAKS.

Part of the problem is that there is a segment of the population that consider schools as a place to learn "everything". And by "everything" I mean how to brush your teeth, how to stay clean, how to have safe sex on top of the normal outlines for education. In my school we have counseling, remediation, speech and physical therapy, training for severely disabled students. Schools have become a catchall and parents don't want any responsibility for making sure their kids know anything. Try asking a class of kids the last time they visited a museum with their family. Try asking when they went to the library or to volunteer. Instead too many parents simply buy "stuff" and stuff kids faces with junkfood. And then they wonder why their kids are puffy, mindless and dull.