this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
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As a product of that education system, you are right on the money. Our major downfall was when we started tying school funding with standardized testing with the class of 1994. My class of 1993 got to take the same tests as a pilot, but were the last generation to receive education that wasn’t largely geared towards those tests (which don’t focus at all on critical thinking).
Also: ~10 years later No Child Left Behind would roll out while I was in early grade school and violently damage schooling in that exact manner again nationwide
NCLB was so bad that a bipartisan Congress in 2015 managed to kill it. My dad worked at a school and I can tell you: literally nobody in the entire district had a nice thing to say about NCLB, multiple told child me that it was going to fuck my generation and those after in schooling
I completely forgot about that mess since we didn’t have kids. Yeah, seems like the more we try to fix school in America, the more we fuck it up
I didn't know that, and it makes a lot of sense. If true, your input on this aggravates the scenario even more. Thank you for sharing!
If you think that’s bad, and you aren’t familiar with how fucked up we are, let me tell you how school is funded in my state (and it varies by state). You would think that taxes from corporations would pay a lot, and they can, in places that have corporations.
However, in rural areas, like most of my state in Ohio it is funded by whatever tax money you can generate in your little county (to go with the money from the feds/state that can be impacted because of that testing). So, since ours have little business, it is largely from people’s property taxes. Well, you would think that is fine, and it could be if people cared about things like education here. But, old people tend to see it as another expense and constantly vote down new levies when more money is needed (you have to ask for a vote when budgets need increased). So, the education system is largely skewed in favor of wealthier areas, areas with business, and of course the people that can afford private school.
No, I thought basic education was covered by federal taxes. You're telling me it's funded at the county level?? WTF?! Why?
Because in a segregated society, that's how you ensure that poor minorities have shitty schools.
(I am neither joking nor exaggerating, BTW.)
It’s a mix. A lot of our buildings and that require a lot of local funds, plus operations, etc.. We all get the same base per student from the feds, but vast disparities on filling in the rest based on where you live.
Okay, so does that mean each state can make changes to the curriculum? That doesn't sound that bad to me... you're essentially like a continent, and amendments to the curriculum could bring some benefits. But I guess the base standards still apply. The one thing I’d caution against, though, is the downgrading of problem-solving skills.
they can make changes to their curriculum, but if they can’t pass the standardized tests, they risk losing funding (or having the feds come in to run the school). so, most teach largely to the lowest common denominator.
Yup pretty bad. Once again, this explains my reasoning in the OP.
Thank you!
Oh. It also gets better when it comes to literacy. Starting somewhere in the late 90s/early 00s, nationwide changes were made to the curriculum to use commercial systems that were developed to help people with developmental disabilities understand enough written language to function (street signs, fast food menus, etc).
These changes have resulted in a distinct increase in functional literacy. As of last year, 54% of the US population was only capable of reading at the sixth grade level or lower, with 70% of children from low-income families (an income bracket that is consistently growing as upward mobility evaporates and downward mobility has become the norm).
Reading is a fundamental skill from which ones ability to self-learn, explore new ideas, and critically analyze things relies on. These are schools necessary to succeed in life. Written language is something that our brains did not evolve for and must be coaxed into properly understanding. So, we have at least a generation of young people who lack very basic literacy skills that one in a modern society needs to compete and collaborate on a global stage.
To be fair, I don't think that this was quite the intended result, as much as a byproduct of redirecting public education funds into already wealthy people's pockets. The result, however, is monsterous and, if we make it through the current shit, the people of the US are going to need a lot of help from the rest of the world to fix the educational deficiencies that have been inflicted upon us by Boomer politicians that have been robbing their children and children's children for a good half of a century.
Oh, for sure. Those of us that can think for ourselves here have been going nuts for decades!
We’re also very sorry for the damage done by our fellow citizens and leaders.
Don't apologize for something you didn't do. I haven't experienced any bad things from North American citizens yet, and I don't believe your leaders can cause enough damage that we can't recover from. Just stay strong and focus on improving things for your community, with education and health being the pillars of a strong one. 💪
Well, thanks for the pep talk and glad to hear it! I think it’s an American thing to apologize for things out of our control. Yes, that is what my wife and I focus on. Take care!
You're welcome! And thank you for enlightening me about the education system in the US; I really appreciate it! I wish both of you all the best. Take care as well!
You really don't seem to know much of anything about the diverse topic of education in the US to have such strongly held opinions about it.
I didn't know you had a worst educational system that you have. I just knew the individuals.
Make sense. Prejudice is often the reason for ignorance.