Shorter school year sought to allow return to old school calendar

[Joey G]

In elementary school my parents made us do addition and subtraction cards in 2nd grade... we did multiplication and division flash cards when we were in 4th grade... they also had me read out loud almost every night from our reading book... spelling test was held in the living room every Thursday night before the Friday test at school.  In high school I was expected to do homework every night and anything less than B on our report card was questioned... when it came time for college they told me I was on my own (LOL)...  the road forward after that had many turns... but it all worked out. Funny thing is... neither of my parents ever finished HS... but they did a good job getting all 6 of us through school and ready for life.

For some odd reason 11 X 12 was the hardest to remember... in fact I still have to think twice LOLLOLOLOL

 

[JJReyes]

What about universities?  As tuition is increased yearly, the number of classroom hours is decreasing.  Many non-tenured instructors are paid on an hourly basis.

[Lee]

8 hours ago, JJReyes said:

I recall my school required passing penmanship classes.  It is no longer a requirement.

I also had penmanship classes when I was in school.

Just because a class isn't required anymore, does this mean that students today don't need to know how to write legibly? 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Lee

[Mike J]

17 hours ago, hk blues said:

Anyone who takes more than a passing interest in education in the UK will note some worrying trends - I'm sure it's the same in the US/Australia etc.

I agree with you about the quality of education in the US.   For a  number of years I supervised the billing and payroll departments, a total of about a dozen people.  I remember interviewing one young lady who graduated high school with above a 4.0 GPA.  I asked her how it was possible to exceed 4.0 and she explained that in addition to standard classes she was taking college level courses.  Her resume was a train wreck of bad grammar and misspelled words.  I knew that grade inflation was a problem in education but did not realize just how bad it was.  When I went to school the "C" grade was "average" and the "A" was "Excellent or Superior".  Below is a chart showing how the percentage of students with "A" grades has changed.  I think the author of the chart has shown two valid reasons for the rapid inflation in grades.  The most recent rise is the belief that parents will not accept that there children are "average".  Couple that with the "no child left behind" and GPA as a measure of learning becomes all "smoke and mirrors" designed to keep parents and school administrators happy.

 

[hk blues]

12 hours ago, Greglm said:

The funny thing is they teach English as a required course but they do it in Tagalog.

They don't in my son's school.  The only subjects that are taught in Tagalog are Tagalog and Filipino Culture.  All others' are taught in English.  

[hk blues]

6 hours ago, Lee said:

I also had penmanship classes when I was in school.

Just because a class isn't required anymore, does this mean that students today don't need to know how to write legibly? 

I guess penmanship is one thing, writing legibly another.  We also had penmanship classes as part of our English classes using fountain pens would you believe - total and complete nonsense.  Maybe one day we will look back on learning the times tables in the same way - my 10-year old son is already at that point! 

 

[Possum]

2 hours ago, hk blues said:

All others' are taught in English.  

Public or private school?

[hk blues]

3 hours ago, Greglm said:

Public or private school?

Private.  

I didn't know you were referring to public schools rather than schools in general.  

[JJReyes]

14 hours ago, Lee said:

23 hours ago, JJReyes said:

I recall my school required passing penmanship classes.  It is no longer a requirement.

I also had penmanship classes when I was in school.

Just because a class isn't required anymore, does this mean that students today don't need to know how to write legibly? 

Learning to write legibly in elementary school is fine.  I am talking about high school Germanic cursive penmanship wherein you don't move your wrist.  Two years, one period wasted.  Today, they should teach the skill of using a keyboard without resorting to single finger typing.

[Mike J]

8 hours ago, JJReyes said:

Learning to write legibly in elementary school is fine.  I am talking about high school Germanic cursive penmanship wherein you don't move your wrist.  Two years, one period wasted.  Today, they should teach the skill of using a keyboard without resorting to single finger typing.

I graduated from high school in 1968.  I took a half credit typing class as an elective.  I can still touch type at age 73, one of those skills that you do not lose.  As AI becomes the norm, and speech to text becomes more ubiquitous, keyboards for computers will likely go the way of the manual typewriter.