Why are America’s schools a total failure? Why can countries like Denmark keep their children out of school until the age of 7, and yet academically destroy American students by high school?
The Atlantic magazine addresses this topic in The Failure of American Schools.
Nearly three decades after A Nation at Risk, the groundbreaking report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, warned of “a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people,” the gains we have made in improving our schools are negligible—even though we have doubled our spending (in inflation-adjusted dollars) on K–12 public education. On America’s latest exams (the National Assessment of Educational Progress), one-third or fewer of eighth-grade students were proficient in math, science, or reading. Our high-school graduation rate continues to hover just shy of 70 percent, according to a 2010 report by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, and many of those students who do graduate aren’t prepared for college. ACT, the respected national organization that administers college-admissions tests, recently found that 76 percent of our high-school graduates “were not adequately prepared academically for first-year college courses.”
………and therefore I homeschool- lol
I finally had to give up on the school system (long story) It just wasn’t working for us – We really love homeschooling & have plenty of “friend” time & sports N such.
You left a comment on my giveaway post for MathBlaster & asked about any other recommendations-
We joined “Time4Learning” – I got a group discount through our homeschool co-op and it only cost me about $8.00 for 2 kids instead of $20 per month
It has a pretty good system & you can vascilate a year up or down or even change the age range completely to suit individual needs.
Memberships to MathBlaster gives you access to JumpStart too & my boys really love it- maybe you’ll win! (in the mean-time play the free version- not as good, but it gives you a good idea of what to expect)
Are you a homeschooler? or just a good dad? you might enjoy my husbands blog about fishing (lots of good kid tips too) http://www.fishingsouthwestflorida.com
I am not home schooling, but I am borderline. I have done some research into the subject, and I read any good books about education and childhood development that I can find.
Thanks for the recommendations. I will check out Time4Learning and your husband’s site too. We live 1/2 mile from the ocean in California, and my son wants to do some fishing. We have little fishing gear that is good for ponds and creeks, but it is getting time for an upgrade to ocean gear. Hopefully I can get some good tips from your husband’s site.
Thanks again!