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TexasTruBlu's Blog

by TexasTruBlu from Southern Denton Co

Last Post 2 hours Ago


For those of you with school age children who are now lingering in the strange limbo between TAKS testing and the end of the school year, you may want to consider why school districts do this type of testing and what they aim to achieve by doing so. You may also want to consider programs that are dropped because they don't address subjects that are tested. With the cost of everything going up, there could be a time in the not so distant future where things like music, art and PE are removed from curriculum. While I have no problem with teaching academics, I do think we should consider whether back forty years ago, when all of these subjects and programs were part of the school day, students were doing better on their core subjects than they are right now. Don't fool yourself, your kid may understand Facebook and how to text, but at the high school level I am seeing more and more kids who fail to understand the process of learning and can only parrot what teachers feed them. This is not a way to produce independent successful individuals, this is the way to create a population of weak minded citizens who are more willing to let someone else make their decisions than they are to read about anything related to economics, history, politics and such. You should be concerned and you should get involved because this is about more than taxes, this is about our future. And that's something everyone should pause to consider.
If you need further information here's a video link. It's not long and it's worth it. The information links are good too.

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Member Comments Total Comments: 12
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illusionsssss read my blog
May 12, 2008 | 11:58 PM

I agree TTB, but, being from a state with ONE language, and a 97% graduation rate, I find it hard to believe that THIS state has such a low graduation rate (WHICH is why my kids don't want to be here (there are welcome)m but, I AGREE, I want my kids to graduate.........

illusionsssss read my blog
May 13, 2008 | 12:13 AM

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)

terrellmom read my blog view my photos
May 13, 2008 | 5:28 AM

IMO the reason we have such high drop out rates has little to do with the schools and MUCH to do with the parenting those kids are not receiving.

How are these teens getting to high school not knowing how to read? By the time my kids started kindergarten they could read. No way would i let my kids go to a dallas school...i'd home school first.

terrellmom read my blog view my photos
May 13, 2008 | 5:33 AM

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

philmcgroin read my blog
May 13, 2008 | 8:59 AM

I have noticed schools pushing more on passing these tests so they get their funding. Most kids today have no common sense. Ask a kid to help you with a project, cook something, or do laundry, and most of them won't have a clue how to do it.

terrellmom read my blog view my photos
May 13, 2008 | 9:07 AM

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

scottythecomic read my blog view my photos
May 13, 2008 | 10:18 AM

I sponsor a few kids education overseas and they are smart! They don't teach a lot of fluff over there.

UCantHandleThisTruth read my blog
May 13, 2008 | 11:30 AM

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.

Brokenhalo
May 13, 2008 | 11:35 AM

Once again the liberal mindset destroys something and in this case it is the once viable education system.

momcat54 read my blog view my photos
May 13, 2008 | 12:34 PM

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.

illusionsssss read my blog
May 13, 2008 | 4:42 PM

TM, sorry, meant my CITY's graduation rate (High School)....
I am gonna do a blog on comparisons just for fun..stay tuned...

TexasTruBlu read my blog view my photos
May 13, 2008 | 6:27 PM

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.

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TexasTruBlu

I am a teacher, a mother and wife and I like to think I am a pretty good citizen. I read ALOT. I also write a good deal on various blogs. I appreciate a chance to respond to what we see in the news. I think that by posting our opinions we can probably find that everyone is more alike than we are willing to admit. Face it, people just like to argue. I would also like to say how much I appreciate having a forum for my views.

Member Since: 7/25/2006