A reader responds. I don't claim support for everything in this email:
Your post regarding the need for remedial math/English was right on and is a problem I have been aware of for several years. I’m not sure where the Aberdeen paper got their figures, but these used to be posted on the statewide education website as part of the yearly profile of each school district. Then they stopped putting these figures in their report, possibly because they weren’t all that positive.
One of the problems I see is that some of the math/science teachers are really not very good. Most are basically nice people, but are coaches first and foremost, and are tenured, and for the last two reasons nothing is ever done. The kids suffer the consequences when they get to college by having then to take the remedial classes because the teachers didn’t or couldn’t teach the subject well in high school.
Another point is though the classes have been dumbed down so to speak in critical areas, a greater percentage of students are now on the honor rolls. Most of the students in each grade are now on the combined honor rolls. This would be great if it were a true reflection of learning, but I don’t think it is. The honor roll has been dumbed down too in the quest to not hurt anyone’s feelings or make them feel bad for not making the honor roll.
I have to admit that not all the blame can be placed on teachers or low expectations, however. My own kids admitted this. Sometimes the kids as high school students just don't see the purpose in math or science and just do not study as hard as they should to master these classes. If they do okay, that's all they want, not realizing it will be harder later without a good foundation learned in high school.
Hopefully greater emphasis on math/science will help improve these problems. It won’t though unless the problem of tenured poor teachers is also addressed.
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