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.

[Vic Spencer]

Ginevra, Singapore math is absolutely revolutionary. I read that the method not only raises math score way higher than competing systems during elementary school when it is taught, but the high performance of students continues through the more advanced math subject through high school.

Singapore is a role model for many reasons. The education system is also among the top three in the world. They are very tough on crime, and it is the safest, cleanest and prettiest place to walk around during the day or night. It is extremely difficult to be the cleanest when you are in the tropics on the equator. The government departments are run like as if they were private corporations, and the management is responsible for good fiscal performance, or they are changed. The country has no resources, yet it became the fourth largest banking center in the world, one of the best high tech manufacturing centers in the world, and the largest shipping center as well via ship or air. It was always a big shipping port because of its location. It has the toughest military trained by Israel. It is a fantastic shopping place if you like shopping with low prices and high quality.

If any of you ever travel that way, the entire country is very tiny but it is incredible what they have achieved, and no small part to having an outstanding and innovative education system.

If you are interested, check these Web sites out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Singapore

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/primary/

I don't know if our Board of Education will be interested in any of this, but you might be. I am a bit disappointed in them today. I have not been able to get answers from them, with the US being 34th internationally, we in TN are 41st based on ACT results, yet we spend the most money in the world on education. AND OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE PAYING FOR IT.

Let me repeat what makes me really mad. You ask questions that go a little deep, like how much money do we spend per high school per student annually in Knox County, and after about 4 months, I cannot get an answer. Our education system in the US is 25th-34th in the world depending on whose figures you look at. We used to be on top or close to it 4 decades back. And being THAT LOW nationally, we in TN are 41st in the nation. BUT...we in the USA spend the most money per student per year on education -- and we are 25th-34th. AND THIS IS DONE WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS FOLKS! MAN, THAT MAKES ME MAD AS HELL. And at this rate forget our high school grads being able to get a job much better than minimum wage rated. Most have poor math and English skills so that our companies in the area are upset about the situation.

Our education departments are keeping busy with something, but the ACT scores have gone no place. We are putting most teachers and most money and teachers into areas where the average ACT score is at or close to single digits, where you have fights in the school and death threats against teachers. Maybe that is one reason for teachers leaving. Who the hell would want to put up with that. And to top it off, we have laid off teachers in the highest numbers perhaps in the best performing high school. Sounds very smart to me!!!

I am mad as hell, and I can't take it any more!! Like the movie said. I really wonder what these people are doing.
I am sorry, but I am really angry about this deplorable situation. And none of us are doing anything about it! WE SHOULD RISE UP A HAVE A REVOLT ABOUT THIS REVOLTING SITUATION CREATED WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS!!! Most of us don't even realize that this is happening. It is really sad.

I think we need an education department on the county, state and federal level (if any, because I have no clue what they do beside spending our tax dollars for no improvement in results), that can actually raise ACT scores to 25 and beyond from the current lousy 21

[granma2]

Vic,
I think KCS knows how much money is spent per pupil per high school. I don't know why they won't tell you. Probably because it would make you (and the general public) mad. And you are right that the school with the greatest test scores in Knox County is the one which lost the largest number of teachers.

[Vic Spencer]

Grannie, the money would not make me or probably most people mad, if for the highest price, we would be among the top 5 like Canada is, instead of close to the bottom of the barrel. We can't just blame the past, and say that now we have a new super and therefore things look a lot better. He came from a highly political environment also, and I hope, but don't know if he will really deliver the needed ACT scores. Hate to focus on just one thing, but that seems to be the best single measurement about progress.

Where we are was created by a lot of people who probably new everything that I identified - as the Board of Education told me - but did nothing about it. I think a major housecleaning is in order, and we will see what the new super will actually do. Now if he says what he will do, and then proceed and deliver just a hair more on time, it would be tremendous, unless he picked ridiculously low goals that are practically in the bag. Time will tell.

In the mean time, I hope that we all can get a lot more of our kids to take all the courses I mentioned above in order to save their future. That will help also an education system that can enjoy some encouraging results. It must be quite demoralizing to deliver crappy results year after year, and then punctuate it by crapping on the school that has been delivering the best result by far. I am going to push to find out how that decision was made. And i may find that the decision made good sense. I don't know. Yet.

One thing is for sure. We have to get much more active, not just pay lip service to the problem. The tax money that is being misspent, is our money, and we deserve better than being 41st in a nation that is 25th-34th in the world, while it spends just about more money than any other country out there. AND...the teachers are not getting it. They are underpaid it seems.

[Debi]

I've said these two things before:Regarding discipline -- I find it ironic that KCS apparently still uses restraint as a means to assert authority, to show who's boss, and as discipline, which is known to kill, while a swat on the butt is considered abusive. I believe Singapore uses caning & that's okay there, restraint here is okay, but let's forbid a kid getting a couple swats on the behind. Let's just strap 'em down, throw 'em in a cage & call it time out...

Regarding cost -- If teachers are required, and they were at least a few years ago, to determine how many minutes per class each pupil spent, there is no reason we could not receive with report cards a report on how much schools spent on each student. Like hospitals, a bar coded expense of each pupil would be a major means of accountability. Of course with that, as I've said before, the citizens would likely see sped kids are not the money suckers they have come to be seen. I would venture to guess many of them actually contribute to school funding because they aren't receiving vs what schools are allowed to get for having an IEP student.

[Vic Spencer]

Debi, about ten years ago an American boy spray-painted a car in Singapore. This place is so pristine and beautiful, so he was caught. The judge ruled that he get 6 whacks on his bare hiney with a cane. These are serious whacks on the gluteus maximus! They have a martial arts guy who does the punishment, after which they hospitalize you to make sure everything is all right. Generally no blood but huge welts. If you recall Pres. Clinton got involved to avoid this "inhuman" punishment, but they did it. The kid also had to clean the spray painting off the car or pay for having it taken off at the owner's choice. The trial is within a few days of the bad deed. This punishment must hurt like hell, no one who hears about it forgets it, so it seems to be a good deterrent, and the cost is minimal. They also execute people within 2-3 weeks for selling drugs or possession beyond some small amount. No long trials or appeals on drug offenses or capital crimes. Rules of evidence are the same as ours. These guys don't fool around, and maybe we should consider something similar because they are also English law based just like our system. But our do-nothing liberal Congress would not do it (besides, too many of them are lawyers). Anyway, their legal system works like a champ, the place is beautiful, and the place is safe anywhere at any time of day or night. Americans and Europeans who live there love it, because they have one of the best school systems in the world, kids do not get into trouble (they know about the cane I bet!), and you do not have to worry about your child and the friends he/she makes. Even if you cannot go there to see it, check it out on the Internet. Here as well as in Finland, special ed is tightly integrated into the schools with early detection and remedy. Close to 100% graduate with a tougher curriculum than ours. They spend money on research to develop the best systems for schools, like Singapore math. I think parents have to pay a tuition. Everybody is employed. No homeless people. They are picked up, treated, given a home and job. They provide nice apartments to factory workers at a low subsidies price, and inspect it periodically to make sure it is taken care of. And the country is profitable. It is an incredible place.

[Vic Spencer]

Check my new photo! How would you like to just paddling along very relaxed, you look to the side and there is this huge but cute bear relaxing in the water with its front legs behind his head and hind legs crossed! Like a human being! Really cute.

Got some good news for our country. The immigration law prevented many foreign engineering and science students to stay and take jobs in the USA, to make up for lack of enough American students being able to graduate, because of our poor high school output. More than 50% of our engineering and science grads are non-American.

After many letters, congress changed the immigration law to allow these graduates to take jobs in the US. That is really great news for US companies.

Now we just need to get our high schools to graduate more kids with all the math and science courses plus English comp, so that they can do a great job in our universities and get those high paying, fun jobs!!

[Vic Spencer]

I found an excellent article that you all may like:
http://4brevard.com/choice/teacherPay.htm
I was beginning to favor the voucher system, but after reading this article, what really seems to make a best choice for us is SCHOOL CHOICE.
Today we, the USA have the best universities in the world by far. We always did. Why? Because we, parents had the option to send our children to the best, if our children's grades allowed them to go. My neighbor's two sons were accepted at Harvard, because they had excellent grades through high school at FHS. And it did not cost my neighbor a penny. Harvard also has the highest retention rate for students who are accepted. They have more money than God practically, so financial help is no problem.
So in a way, universities and colleges have to compete for the students.
Take high schools. The parents have no choice as with a college. You go to the school that was assigned to you, unless you pay for a private high schools. The performance of most public high schools is poor. Imagine if the system allowed you to send your child to any public high school, and the high schools had the right to accept students based on the students' prior scholastic performance. The schools get paid based on the the number of student hours they have in attendance at the school. That means that the schools would have to compete, and do a better job to get the students to do better. And to get the students to chose the high school. That kind of competition could make our high schools better than they ever were. And I don't think it would be bad if inner city students could go to other schools if their grades were acceptable.
After you read the article, tell me what you think about it, because the current system has not been producing good results. It just made it more difficult for our children to be able to do college work, year after year.

[granma2]

Vic,
Inner city kids CAN go to any high school and have been able to for years. KCS pays to send kids from Austin-East to Farragut via taxicab every school day, and now they will be able to transfer from almost any failing school in Knox County into one that is not failing. If KCS eliminated the kids who are discipline and attendance problems at failing schools, I think those schools would improve. But the reason US schools are lower than the foreign ones you keep mentioning is because we educate everyone and have parents who scream bloody murder if you discipline their children.

[Ginevra]

"Discipline" is a topic that doesn't get enough close discussion. What exactly does this mean? and how can this idea be publicized?

A former teacher from the Alcoa public school system once talked with me about differences between students in what they perceive as appropriate. It was an interesting discussion, and I'd like to hear more from KCS teachers and administrators (and parents) about exactly what is considered appropriate behavior for school environments. What exactly are the boundaries?

Some kids will touch other kids more, are more physical in communication, talk more loudly, play more pranks, throw things in class, etc.

Some kids "get away" with more, push boundaries farther. The standards should not be based on race or parental income, but should be clearly taught and modelled for all students. Some of this will have an impact on future employment (for example, sexual harrassment will not be tolerated on the job, and should not be permissible in school environments either.)

I'd appreciate some frank input from teachers and administrators, and frank relay of expectations to parents. (For example, if bullying or assault takes place on school buses, if I report this to administrators, I don't want to hear "well we aren't responsible for anything that happens after a bus leaves the school parking lot." What exactly are the standards, and how are those standards being relayed to the students?

[Vic Spencer]

Ginevra, how about something simple, like no fighting with anyone, no interfering with the teacher or school staff, do not destroy the school's or anyone else's property, and lastly do not threaten any other fellow student or teacher. If they cannot do that, suspend them for a year, or arrest them based upon the magnitude of the crime. I don't think we need kids like that in our normal schools.

[Debi]

I know I was surprised in hearing some of the language used by young students at our elementary school. These kids don't know what they are saying is not socially appropriate, they hear it from their parents, tv, etc, and mimick it. In these situations I think it's difficult to come down too hard on these kids, they don't know any better, and many of their parents don't know any better. It's difficult to change someone who doesn't get it that it's wrong. I've been known to get out of the van at red lights and ask people playing horrific music to turn it down. It only takes one time of my child with autism hearing the n word blasted behind her to go scripting off a rap at school, and no one will believe she heard it at a traffic light. Sigh.

I think your issue of "we aren't responsible" I agree with totally. It's the pretend there are no problems and no one is ever responsible.

[Vic Spencer]

You raise very good points granma2. I didn't know inner city students could go to any school. Most foreign countries today have compulsory education like us. Some through high school, some thru elementary school only. Some have free universities, but they have higher taxes than we do. Finland is probably the only model with excellent social/public services cradle to grave, where people are happy. Their educational system is the best by far and the education system we should learn from. When you are 25th-34th based on anyone's test, you should be studying the number one guy's system, and learn everything you can from them.

Vic