There's a lot of truth in what a lot of people said, so I'm going to pick and choose a few lines from some of the remarks. Ferm said " My wifes school she is at now gives her timelines on when everything has to be done so that every student in the whole district is at the same place every day now. It pretty much comes down to the district as to how the teachers can teach." That reflects back exactly to what I was saying earlier about Teachers needing a certain amount of time to transfer knowledge to a student. Not every student learns at the same pace. Government's role in running our kids education is ruining it. They are the ones that now make the rules that everyone else has to follow. RW said "You cant tell me its a teachers fault that a kid doesnt know how many states there are or that the Revolutionary war gave us our independence.....How come the rest of the population gets out knowing these things? You cant take a video of a handful of retards and paint an ENTIRE system a failure". And for the most part he's right, but I would draw your attention to the fact that the subject called "History", that teachers are supposed to be teaching, tells us that the Revolotionary War gave us our independance, and the subject called "Geography" teaches that there are 50 states (not 57 like our esteemed president said). So yes, it is the teachers responsibility to teach those things, and if they see a student that is having a problem learning them it's also thier responsibility to throw up flags and see that the student gets the additional help they need. I'd also point out that my son was considered a "retard" by the public school system. (He's 22, is ADHD and has Aspergers Syndrome) Yet I asked him all the questions on the video and he answered all of them correctly. So it's not "retards" ( a name that I hate btw) that are painting the entire system as a failure. So what can it be? Well, to be sure, part of it is what Lumber pointed out "hold the parents responsible" And to a point, he's correct. As I said before, "it's their responsibilty to control and guide their children" But just blaming the parents is the easy way out. It's the same thing as just blaming the teachers, or blaming just the government, or, in fact, blaming just any one group, which is also wrong. The fact is that as I said earlier, "There is more then enough blame to go around for everyone". So, if everyone is to blame, what can we, as parents, as citizens, do to help correct the situation?
Hmmm...lets see.....
How many of you joined the PTO (or PTA) when your child was or is in school?
How many of you called and scheduled regular meetings with your kids school principal or their teachers?
How many of you have attended even one Parent-Teachers night?
How many of you took an active participation in your childs homework assignments, EVERY day?
How many of you even tried to infulence your kids education by running for the school board or the board of ed or whatever it's called where you live?
How many of you took an active participation in your towns government by attending town meetings, or better still, by running for councilmen or mayor or whatever your town uses as a form of government?
How many of you looked at or contacted your state Congressman or Senator or even looked at their records on how they voted on matters of education?
How many of you tried to vote out those people whose views you thought to be wrong, instead of just voting the party line?
Don't tell me that you don't have time, or that your wife did it, or any other excuse, because that dog won't hunt. It's YOUR responsibility!
Until you can say that you've done at least some of these things, and you want to see who's to blame for our kids getting a sh!tty education, just look in the mirror.
I wish to God I could write as well or as eloquently as Willy. His answer was by far the best of all, even mine. He nailed it in his first few sentences when he said "I hold all of us responsible. We have allowed a Teacher's Union and a Liberal Agenda to alter the intelligence of our children. We have allowed an educational system which has altered those things that made America exceptional and the greatest nation in the history of the world to be corrupted by a progressive agenda which views the U.S as an evil empire. You have an agenda based Educational Hierarchy that hires teachers with an absolutely left wing agenda to be hired and any teachers that express a truthful thought in these matters are not allowed to gain tenure therefore controlling thought and critical thinking in our education system. This entire system is breeding children without the ability to think critically, have no clue as to how great a nation they have been given, or what separates us from all the other nations in the world. This is our fault".
I underlined the last 4 words, because really that is the answer as to who is at fault.
Think about it.