Become The BEST In The USA In High School Education!

[Vic Spencer]

US Students Are Falling Behind In Science And Math: Bleak Future For Our Children.
WE CAN CHANGE THAT!
10/18/08 update.

For details, facts, go to www.knoxedu.info

Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle.” (Abraham Lincoln)

WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

Scholastic achievement in our high schools has been falling for close to four decades (see the statistics below). As a result, we experienced a big drop in science and engineering graduates, especially at the MS and PhD levels. These in turn are the most important degrees in maintaining our economic health. MS and PhD level scientists and engineers do all the important research and development for USA products, to make them more innovative and less expensive, and for vital scientific work for our country.

This situation resulted in a gradual reduction of many American products that we all saw and see (cars, engines, steel, electronics, PC's, heavy machinery, and so on). We used to, but we no longer create the best products in many of these important fields. That in turn increased our imports (Americans buying foreign products like Japanese cars) and reduced our exports (foreign countries buying American products). The total dollars we paid/pay for foreign products has been much more than what we get for USA products that foreign countries buy. That created/creates what we call "our negative balance of payments", increasing "our national debt", and that in turn creates the "falling value of the US dollar" to this day. That makes foreign products, commodities like imported oil, more expensive.

Just imagine if you spent a lot more money for many years, decades, than what you made. For us that is impossible. We could borrow only so much. On the other hand the government can print more money, that is devalued. That is what is happening to us as a country, and one of the biggest reasons is us not graduating enough scientists and engineers to make superior products quickly enough to meet the demend of our own American customers.

This situation is an emergency, and it must be reversed.
HOW CAN WE SOLVE THIS TERRIBLE SITUATION?
How could we motivate the students? There are two important communication paths to them.
1. Teachers need to organize 30-45 minute weekly discussion periods with all students, one topic at a time, from grade one to twelve to make sure that all children develop a solid understanding of why studying, high school graduation with additional science and math courses, and an education beyond high school is vital, and all the exciting and high paying jobs that are out there just waiting for such well educated children. The school is the only place where such messages can be delivered and discussed with ALL children so that they will get excited about what they could become if they work hard in school. Major discussion classes could be:

• The long-term decline of US secondary education and resulting national problems (for the adult presentations below)
• What education is (training of the mind, like an athlete has to train his/her muscles)
• Why education is important (future income, quality of life depends on it)
• Why HS diploma is absolutely vital (one cannot get good jobs without it)
• The exciting jobs that await the kids after a university education (this is worth many discussions)
• Free possibilities for education, any university (with very high scores. I know two boys who had a totally free ride at Harvard) and the military options.

Could Dr. McIntyre and KCS initiate this program urgently please? Our students' future literally depends on it. Will Dr. McIntyre and KCS do so? We hope that they will. There are not too many opportunities that cost so little, and yet have such far reaching impact.

2. Parents and the general public need to be informed about the above facts as well. They need to be told up front, what happened to our secondary education system, a national problem we are facing and a local problem as well. The current high school graduates insufficiently trained in math, science and English are no longer suitable to take on a job at many of our local companies who used to be able to hire high school graduates before.

There are parents who do not understand the need for education. The Knoxville Chamber of Commerce (Jennifer E.) is working on a presentation to the public covering this area. This is also very important although we will not reach as many students through the parents as the first method above. However, it is also vital to get as much parental support as we can for this effort, and this is the best method that could achieve that with the right message.


PARENTS AND TEACHERS! SOMEHOW WE ALL HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO CHILDREN THAT THEY HAVE ONLY TWO CHOICES.

• THEY CAN WORK HARD FOR 10-12 YEARS IN SCHOOL (THE PARENTS AND TEACHERS HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY TAKE ALL THE ABOVE MENTIONED MATH, SCIENCE AND ENGLISH COMP. COURSES), PLUS MAYBE 4-8 MORE YEARS IF THEY WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE (FREE IF THEY HAVE EXCELLENT GRADES IN HIGH SCHOOL), AND THEN HAVE A GREAT 50-60 YEARS IN A WELL-PAYING FABULOUS JOB, MAKING PERHAPS 2-4 TIMES MORE, THAN MANY OF THEIR PARENTS.
  
  
• OR ... THEY CAN DECIDE NOT TO WORK HARD IN SCHOOL BUT HAVE MORE FUN, BARELY GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL, AND HAVE A REALLY HARD LIFE FOR 50-60 YEARS DOING MANUAL LABOR, HAVE VERY LITTLE MONEY, OR DEPEND ON THEIR PARENTS TO SUPPORT THEM FINANCIALLY UNTIL THE PARENTS DIE, MAKING THEIR OWN AND THEIR PARENTS LIFE VERY DIFFICULT. AND THEN PERHAPS BE HOMELESS. THIS IS NOT AN UNLIKELY STORY WITH OUR SLIDING EDUCATION AND ECONOMY.
  
  Those are the two fundamental choices that all school children are facing. Make sure that they know it.

INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS EDUCATION?

(Please click on it to read it. Most people have the wrong impression.)

Click here to see our USA standing in the world:
In math achievement (34th!) or in science achievement (29th!). Source: US Dept of Education, OECD PISA results.

Click here to see Tennessee's ACT standing (38th!) in the USA:
Science and math composite (38th!)

Click here to see our ACT trend in Tennessee:
Five year ACT trend
College/university readiness trend
College/university readiness demographically

Click here to see our ACT standing in Knox County, Tennessee:
By high school
Graduation rate by high school

Let me see if I understand this "picture". USA high school results are 29th-34th in the world. Tennessee average is 38th in the USA. How much is being spent per student for these results?Internationally (USA is 4th) and within the USA (TN is 44th!!)

Picture this again...We are the 4th biggest education spenders in the world (BUT Tennessee is 44th in spending in the USA), and we deliver the 34th in high school results internationally? What are we doing?? Something is very wrong with this picture.

Our competitor countries' curricula include Algebra 2, Solid and Plane Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus 1, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, local language composition -- all of them. Algebra 1 and some Geometry is shifted to 8th grade. That is what we used to have in the USA, without using calculators. The use of calculators seriously diminishes the mental training of students. If our high school students take and finish all the above courses with an A or B, they will succeed. Although they are not part of the curriculum for a high school diploma, these courses are offered at every high school.

I am sorry, but some of us parents are a big problem.

• Most parents' and high schools' expectations of our high school students have never been lower.
• We have permitted too much under performance for too long. Who loses? Our children, and OUR COUNTRY.
• Kids having more fun has become important at home at an expense to studying time.
• Most parents take the child's side if the child has an academic or discipline problem in school.
• Most parents and school children have no respect for teachers, yet everyone's future depends on them. Very foolish.
• We do not seem to value the importance of a degree in engineering or sciences. Yet this is what leads to much more income and jobs that are more exciting.

NOTE A CONTRAST IN THE COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE COMPETE:

• Professors and teachers are the most respected professions in the top thirty countries, followed by medical doctors.
• Parents support the teachers without question because they know that their child's future depends on them.
• Disrespectful behavior toward professors or teachers is not tolerated and it results in expulsion from the school.

WE ALL HAVE SOME URGENT WORK TO DO TO CORRECT THESE PROBLEMS IN OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM.

[granma2]

For a comparison of global educational achievement, visit this site:

http://nces.ed.gov/TIMSS/pdf/naep_timss_pisa_comp.pdf.

[granma2]

Or this one:

http://nces.ed.gov/annuals/

This one gives annual reports on the state of education in the US and world.

[momto3]

I only asked for the comparison out of curiosity. Yes, granma2, the cost of living is higher in the Northeast, but money spent on student's in those areas don't directly correlate with the cost of living. Some spend more, some spend less. As Dr. McIntrye pointed out in his interview, it's not the amount spent on each child, it's what you do with the money you have.

I'd like to know where your information on parent's spending on their children's educations in foreign countries comes from. What I pay for my children's public education doesn't add up to "piddly" here in TN by the end of the year, even though I don't pay tuition.

My recollection of England is that your do not pay for tuition for "public" school there. Clearly, I would think that if parent's are putting up big bucks for "public" education, it's voluntary, meaning you don't have to send your child to any school. Which is not so here, you are required by law to send your child to school, or provide proof that they are receiving an education by other means. I would like to know your sources for this information.

I don't believe that Americans are "so spoiled and lazy." You sound very European in saying that, I know, because I personally have heard a lot of Europeans call us that!

Despite the difficulties our country faces, I believe, we live in the greatest country in the world. I have lived in many different countries and all of those experiences (even those of by beloved birth country of England) have only steeled my belief that those of us who live here are very blessed to be in this country and not somewhere else.

America is still the best place in the world for a person to seize opportunities, and there are so many opportunities here that don't exist anywhere else. Every child, no matter who they are, has a right to an education here. And if they seize that opportunity, despite our systems failings, they can go very far, but they have to want it and work for it.

And, boy, I have sure met a lot of Europeans that choose to be spoiled and lazy, living in countries whose governments provide far more for them than this one does. Thankfully we haven't become socialized in the many ways that Europe has and I hope we never do.

I believe you have to work hard in this country to make something of your life, it's not handed to you, nor should it be. And in third world countries you have to struggle to survive, but in European countries you can choose not do anything and still live life "on the dole." The opportunities to be "lazy and spoiled" are far more prevalent there than in America.

[Debi]

Then let's not take tax dollars from property tax, sales tax, etc to spend on education anymore. Lower the tax rates & make tuition. I agree there is something motivating in knowing one is paying for something, but with us paying a tax dime here, a tax quarter there, too many of us do not comprehend we are spending. Perhaps if more saw it in a black & white manner more would take ownership.

However, with paying tuition comes responsibility. I can assure you if we made tuition payments as I did for my oldest at the start of her academic career, things that parents normally now dismiss or become slightly irritated about would become completely unacceptable. I don't think KCS is prepared for what would happen in terms of parental discontentment.

[Vic Spencer]

Not a bad idea Debi. If parents had to pay tuition, they would pay a lot more attention to how the child and the school are doing. We could push something like this together, but it would be I think a politically difficult thing to approve. I think we would have to vote on such a change also. Not impossible, but quite difficult. It is quite a good idea. You get a diamond star! Pretty soon I will forget what kind of stars I gave to which person...

[Debi]

As I mentioned, functional behavioral assessments can be crucial in helping a disabled or non-disabled student perform in class. If 1 in 8 students has a neurological disorder, how are these students going to get their needs met? The law was not created to keep disruptive students in the classroom disrupting, the law was created so that disruptive students would get help in the classroom. As some of our schools are currently practicing, they are keeping them in the classroom, not giving them the help. By not addressing the issues, not providing behavior assessments/plans, and not providing modifications/support/etc the school system is only half-way following the law. It's not the law, it's the failure to follow it.

The law was intended like this: all students are in the classroom. If Johnny has an issue, the school is to consider what needs to be done to allow Johnny to learn in the classroom. It could be a cut & paste word bank vs. physically writing it out, it could be using manipulatives to teach math skills vs. tic marks on a paper, it could be a keyboard instead of notebook paper to create a writing assignment. It may mean an auditory trainer where teacher wears a mic & Johnny has headphones to help him focus on teacher's voice. Then Johnny doesn't have the behaviors because his needs are getting met. For some kids this may not be enough, in which case the school must figure out what more needs to be offered, if it's picture schedules, peer buddies, an aid, etc. Only after everything that can be offered to the student has been truly tried, then is the child to be removed.

However, in KCS what happens is the student with any behavior problem is given a label of problem. Then Johnny is labeled by classmates & classmates' parents as a disruptive student. All the while Johnny wants to participate but doesn't know how to say he doesn't have the motor skills, or cannot decode so many words and graphics, etc. The parents have figured it out a couple years prior, wrote letters, asked for help, laid out how to help, had professionals in behavioral fields write assessments about how to help, the school informs the parents they don't have to consider anything but to kick out Johnny because he was disruptive. They never consider how implementing a behavior plan or allowing Johnny to not focus on physically writing but to use a keyboard instead. They ignore every piece of advice from the professionals Johnny's parents paid thousands of dollars out of pocket to help give their child a chance to succeed. Johnny's bright abilities and his profound interest in how things work never gets realized because he's dumped into a class where the expectation is to spend the next 5 years on how to match pictures of things with feathers vs. things with fur.

I once saw a child with CLASSIC signs of autism while visiting a class, no eye contact at all, no listening to his teachers, focusing in on what he wanted to do & could not get past it, few words with lots of screaming, etc. Could have been autism, could have been something else. I saw the principal trying to get the child to behave with no response from the child. I later told the principal that I would suggest he consider autism as a possible cause. He told me the child was a trouble-maker and he would not permit trouble-makers in his school. The child was 4 years-old. How is this following the law?

Yes there are some kids who are just mean, yes there are children who cannot be in the general population. But we as a community need to realize just how many of those students are not getting what they need while at school, and how many of those are really victims not of the law, but the system not following the law. The answer is not to toss out the kids so the schools can keep on not following the law, the answer is to FULLY follow it.

[momto3]

found the below article comparing Swedish and Finnish school systems, very interesting...gives an idea of where they excel and what problems might exist in translating their system to the US.

www.economist.co.uk/email/emailafriend.cfm?story..

[momto3]

www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=114..

sorry, first time didn't work!

[momto3]

sorry, second time didn't work either, I give up. Just go to the economist.com. The article is regarding Sweden and Finland "our friends to the north." If anyones interested enough they'll do a better job of finding it on their own then evidently I can providing a link for them! Sorry!

[Vic Spencer]

momto3, could you document the steps to the right URL for me? I can't find it and Finland in particular is always among the top 3 in documents I read. Their high schools would be a great for good ideas.

[momto3]

Vic, I'm sorry I was more successful. Just do a search on "Finland and Sweden schools, our friends to the north." I'm sure it will come up, it was an article in the British Economist. Good luck, and let me know if you have success in finding it. It was a really interesting read.

[Vic Spencer]

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11477890

The above is the URL to the article. It is an excellent article. I remember well from my European days that teachers and professors are the most respected positions anywhere. As a result, there is a high demand for teachers, schools hire the best graduates for teachers, and the teacher training universities' curriculum is more advanced than ours. There is also no such thing that a parent would ever allow a child to speak up against any teacher. This is all something we could use.