Why our students fail

The author of this is a retired teacher who has taught at every grade level in todays schools.

Our society has given the education of our students a back seat on the bus of education. Our schools in many cases are second rate, underfunded, overcrowded and underused. They are overcrowded with many students who couldn't care less about learning.

Education funding has been cut and education given a low priority nationally, locally and by many parents and by students themselves.

In many other countries bright students are given advanced training often having their way paid thru college. (No thru is not spelled wrong this is the newer better spelling) Many other countries put out hundreds of engineers to each one of ours. In the USA our students now often can't make it thru college because of lack of funding or job opportunities to earn their way.

Many of our schools lack state of the art equipment and lack technical staff to assist teachers.

Class sizes in most of our schools are too big for efficient teaching. With a large class size the teacher has to spend more time on discipline. Also students often need a teacher to answer questions and to show them facets of things being taught. Large class sizes are counter productive.

In the average American school the students learn less than 1 tenth of the time. Teachers and students have to waste time on discipline and attendance procedures. With a smaller class the teacher and students can almost immediately get started on learning.

Our school buildings are unused most of the time. They could be used much more efficiently. This results in higher costs for maintenance and in more vandalism to unoccupied buildings

The lack of proper and good parenting for many years has led to people unqualified to raise children doing a very poor job of parenting. Our society has not offered parents even basic training in good parenting. Parents allow children to be raised by television and cable which in general has negative moral values and an intellectual level below that of 6th grade. Children spend more time watching morally decrepit and intellectually lacking programming than they do in school. Less than ten percent of time in school is spent in learning.
Other countries hold classes for young people year around. In many other countries young persons emerge from school ready to begin an occupation. There are practically no end of the year grade tests. American schools for the most part do not prepare young people for the real world or for an occupation. Ask any employer most young graduates can't fill out a job application properly or make change or do basic math. Many are of such low moral character that employers fear hiring them. This is especially true of Detroit youth raised in a culture of low morals, anti snitch and irresponsible behavior. They expect the world to support them and we do. They father children and we support them on welfare. The vast majority of Detroit youth drop out of school and then blame the white man for not hiring them. You and I are then expected to support them on welfare. They line up at dozens of charity donation centers where they get free food, free clothing, rent and heating and electrify assistance, free toys, free winter coats and gloves, Free Thanksgiving turkeys, free medical care all paid for by you and me. They come into our neighborhoods and steal from us sometimes even in daylight hours. They strip the siding off of our homes and electrical wiring and pipes from our homes when we go on a well earned vacation. and the courts coddle them. Even their legal expenses are paid for at my expense. I was approached by three of them asking for money in front of my house on a Warren street. I gave in because to not to would put my family at dire risk. I the home owner would become a target. The decent community spirit that once thrived has been stomped down by a culture of irresponsibility, ignorance, neglect and violence of an alienated narcissistic culture..

Worse of all is the attitude of many politicians, parents and students about education. They couldn't care less. Teachers often spend more time on discipline than in teaching. Good students who want to learn are given a back seat literally. Attention is given to the noisy student and the disruptive student. Assaults are common in schools and most often is unreported. School officials will deny this of course. The result is poor education, depression, social misfits and suicides. I have been there I have seen it. Even if assaults are reported often nothing of value is done. Kids can be very cruel. Even teachers have been assaulted. When I was subbing I was assaulted five times in five years. Example one day I subbed in a Warren middle school. Before class even started in a class I had never been in I opened the attendance book to call attendance. I felt a huge pain at the back of my head as i was knocked off of a stool on to the floor. A student had hit me over the head with a big wooden rod. As a sub I did not know his name and in calling attendance I was given a few phony names. I managed to get thru the day and turned in my sub report still unable to identify who had attacked me from behind. As I turned in my report the principal called me into his office. It seemed the attacker had bragged in several classes and was overheard by another teacher. That student was suspended and sent home (where he got to watch porn on his dad's TV) However his dad called the school asking for my name and was given it. Later I was told I had better not show up the next day because i got his kid suspended. (remember I was the person who was attacked without any provocation) Another time I was struck from behind in a crowded hall and again no one came forward to identify the attacker. There is a code of no snitching. Snitches if discovered are subject to even worse treatment. Students fare worse than teachers. This is happening in todays schools. When called and told that their child misbehaved in school the parent often tells the school that it is the teachers problem not the parents. However as a teacher I am not allowed to paddle for bad behavior, or to shout at hellions. The Director of personnel told teachers in a meeting that they were not allowed to touch a student for any reason no exceptions. I asked for clarification and was told I was out of order. I pressed on asking what about first aid, stopping bleeding, shaking hands, pulling a student away from danger, rescuing drowning student in swimming pool. And was again was told that I was out of order. He refused to clarify the issue. And repeated that there were no exceptions. Furthermore the teacher was not allowed to break up fights or stop an attack but was to send for an administrator. Of course by the time you could write a hall pass and send a kid to the office and get an administrator if one was available and have him come to the room a student or teacher could be seriously hurt.

The legal system is crazy. Teachers have been put on 30 day suspension without pay for little nothings. Example: I know of a teacher who after repeated requests to have a student remove his foot from the attendance book for grasping the students shoe and moving it off of the attendance book. This was "touching a student". Under current child protection laws any teacher can be suspended for thirty days without pay on mere accusation of a student or parent of alleged wrong doing. I know of an example where a teacher was suspended without pay when the students mother called the school and complained that her daughter told her he had fondled her that day. He has immediately suspended. It was later discovered that he was not even in the school on the day of the alleged event. It hit the newspapers. Later the man was found totally innocent. But as it was at the end of a semester he was not rehired for the next school year as his reputation was tarnished with the public. I happened to overhear the girl who made up the story tell another girl about it as they sat in front of me at an event. The girl stated well I was mad at my teacher because he gave me an E grade so I made up the story that he fondled me. Actually he was the best teacher I ever had and he did nothing wrong. In fact he was the only teacher who ever really tried to help me succeed in school. He wanted me to study for the tests which I just blew off. Actually I deserved the E grade. I am sorry now that I caused him to get fired. Just a note look what a student can do by just making up a story. And from her own words she stated he was the only teacher who ever tried to help her. By the way that teacher was never able to find another teaching job because if your own school district won't rehire you no one else will. His masters degree, his training, his dedication all went down the drain. He lost his home and he and his wife and two children had to move in with relatives. And this is not an isolated case. There are others. The students know they can easily bring down a teacher. The Teachers are afraid of the school administration and the students. the administration is afraid of the parents. The parents are afraid of the kids after all the kids can now make a phony charge against the parents and cause them thousands of dollars in legal trouble. And the kids--they aren't afraid of anyone. Kids rule. Teachers are looked upon as just pee-ons.

Testing held world wide place American students near the bottom. This is a national disgrace. Other countries like China are surpassing us in technology and that includes war technology. America better wake up before it is too late. What is this doing on a history site? History shows that cultures with better war technology end up conquering. We sit on the best real estate in the world outnumbered by 7 billion hungry people on worn out land who are mostly in better physical shape than us. America wake up!