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PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION DISSERVICE

The American education system may be doing a great disservice to its students. America's future depends on "high tech", highly skilled jobs. However, only 6% of our high school students even take advanced math courses, like calculus.

In Germany, 50% of all high school students take advanced math courses and in Japan it is 90%! Is there no wonder American students' job prospects and economic future may be so bleak in the upcoming high-tech era of information, technology and electronics? At the current rate, less and less highly skilled jobs will even be created inside the USA. On the public high school level maybe only one in four math teachers may even be competent or qualify to teach advanced high school math. Unfortunately, many of America's math teachers for grades 7 through 12 may not have majored or even minored in math during their college preparation courses to become teachers, yet today may find themselves trying to teach high school math in our public schools!

Making matters worse, some public schools may have teachers on the payroll who NEVER teach because school administrators may be hiding the way they spend taxpayer dollars! Upper-level spokespersons for government and education may even go so far as to act like they do not even know this practice goes on!

When undeniably wasteful spending practices are brought to the public's attention, government and education administrators seem to start coming up with excuses about how and why this could even happen! Are they protecting their own kind, something like the "blue code of silence" when the police are accused of protecting their own at the expense of what they think the public should know?

However, it is not always the teachers' fault in the downfall of America's public education system. Teaching cannot be achieved in a chaotic setting or environment. If there is neither respect for teachers nor structure and discipline in the classroom, there will be little if any learning. If the students go home to a chaotic atmosphere they will possibly only bring it back to school.

We in the U.S. have moved away from things that work when it comes to teaching, like respect and standards. The intellectual elitists keep trying to re-invent ways to teach better when many teachers already know how to teach, but the elitists think teachers must always be trying out some new teaching technique or approach or some supposedly new improved ways to learn.

However, new and improved teaching methods too often do not turn out to be better than the old tried and true ways of teaching, but rarely can you convince the intellectual elite or education specialist of this proposition.

Remember, the education elitists make their living trying to create new teaching methods. Should they possibly go out and get a REAL job and leave the teaching up to the teachers?

Not too long ago a teacher's biggest concerns were students talking out of turn, running in the halls, tardiness, chewing gum in class and dress code violations.

Today, the biggest concerns are violence, teen pregnancy, drugs, gangs, verbal abuse, disrespect and intimidation! Bad students set bad examples. Critics believe the few bad students should be extracted from a school environment if there is to be a healthy learning atmosphere for the majority of students.

The "bad seeds", so to speak, possibly should lose some of their rights and freedoms if necessary. Too much freedom in America may breed forms of irresponsibility and carelessness.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: the book: RETHINKIN G AMERICA BY HEDRICK SMITH and CBS-TV 60 MINUTES 9/22/96 and CNBC-TV STEALS AND DEALS 9/16/96

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