Poll: Schools not properly preparing kids for life

Yeah, but they can rap better than anyone and pass standardized tests!!!

and about 99% of these same kids parents are doing an even crappier job of preparing them for life - you know, teaching them irresponsibility, how to be lazy, how to mooch off mom and dad, how to play video games all day long, how to ask for entitlements from the government, and how to cheat on child support!

obama and his socialist friends cannot wait to give our increased taxes to these lazy bums of tomorrow - for a vote for today!!!!

I think my parents are doing a good job of raising me. I know I'm a teen but i had my rough times too. For example right now i have to do like 100 hours of community service for some crap i did with my homies. I think i'm going to be a good person when i grow up.

oh they are only A students,but the rest of the 95% of students,well just have to sink or swim,hell that has been going on sence the sixties,you just notice,little to late, you flukes

Yes, I am always surprised by the lengths some parents will go to absolve themselves of any responsibility in educating their children about life, and schools are the obvious scapegoat.

For example, how any parent can raise their kid without a firm grasp of how simple concepts like credit and compound interest can make or break their lives in the future is beyond me.

School is only part of the solution/problem, and if parents aren't involved enough it's just a recipe for failure.

While I don't disagree a poll shows what people think. People can think what ever they want.

I'm more interested in seeing scientific studies of what actually is than what people think.

Most teachers are trying to teach these young people but you do have some with their own agenda. The one big problem is most young people do not have parents at home. They have people who are vying to be their best friend. You dont get any leadership from people who are in the vying for best friend award. Most schools systems have to have a full time attorney to handle all the frivilous crap that the best friends sue about or litigate. I can remember coming home with a D in conduct. I had an awfully sore bottom from my father who was not ny best friend but a leader. He said to me," I dont want to ever see a mark like that about your conduct ever again and I can help it if you do not make good grades but you can behave yourself." He made a lasting impression on me. My father and mother were never my best friends, they were my parents who I respected and obeyed.

They know how to put a condom on a cucumber.

By reading some of the threads on topix, I see many of those kids post here.

As a teacher with 14 years of experience and a parent of four children, I feel that the responsibility of educating children shouldn't lie on the school or teachers themselves.

The individual student and their parents also have to put in from their part. I cannot even tell you how many of my students have failed time and time again but parents and students only care when it comes time to meet eligibility for sports or 4-H or when the year is over and they realize that they are not passing.

I know that my job as a parent is 24/7. Despite getting home from work tired--and believe me, teaching is a challenge--I keep working with my own children making sure that they get their homework done and making sure that they are understanding their work. I will admit, that Math is difficult or me and that I have to rely on the older ones from time to time to help but we always keep a positive attitude.

I also understand that there are kids that don't have the luxury of caring and understanding parents. I even have friends that are teachers that are upset with their children's homework and state, "I'm not the one getting paid to teach them." Is this the attitude we should take with our children's education? I can only imagine those deadbeat parents that are too busy doing their own thing. Poor kids that have to suffer. They never get to learn the value of education.

And as a teacher of Seniors, you cannot even imagine how many kids I've see that have no support at home. They have no plan for the future ... no idea of what they are going to do ... and their parents don't even bother to ask or help them. We, the teachers and counselors, try our best with them but we cannot run their lives. We cannot complete financial aid applications when parents don't want to provide necessary income information. We cannot do their college applications if they cannot provide us the money to pay for those applications. In case most don't know, college application fees are now outrageous. So, please do not blame us for the kids not mapping out their lives. There is only so much we can do within our means.

I have so much faith in the public school system of our country. It is the same education system that my husband and I both went through. Both of us came from minority, poor families. But the one thing that made us push ourselves was our parents. Education was first and that's what everyone needs to emphasize.

And please ... if there are any typos/misspellings, etc. on my previous post ... forgive me--I already saw many! I'm speaking my mind and not really double checking for errors. I know people knit-pick ... I'm not perfect ... I'm only a teacher--not God!

It is up to the parents to take care that their children are not a burden on the schools or on society in general. This is the laziest, most slovenly, most irresponsible and spoiled generation of parents ever.

They refuse to discipline their children, they refuse to play with them and they inflict them on other people. Unfortunately, this generation of children are being set up to be the dumbest, laziest and least capable generation ever.

We have enough people on the face of this earth, if you cannot dedicate your life to raising your children properly then get permanent birth control.

I should have said that this generation of children is being set up...

You must love your children because the world most certainly will not.

For one thing...

Public schools should not be allowed to teach more than they can prove.
To ask our children learn more than what can be proven,
is to ask them to learn more than we know.

For instance; things like evolution.

Anything that the schools cannot prove, should not be taught in our public schools.

The kids have enough to learn without all that.

its kinda hard to teach 'students' who have pistols on their cell phone screen saver..

Likearock wrote:

For one thing...
Public schools should not be allowed to teach more than they can prove.
To ask our children learn more than what can be proven,
is to ask them to learn more than we know.
For instance; things like evolution.
Anything that the schools cannot prove, should not be taught in our public schools.
The kids have enough to learn without all that.

its kinda hard to evolve from incest..

schools are full of people that teach because they cant work in their chosen field, most are either too wierd, too emotional or too clueless to actually be teachers.
And they usually have an agenda...

schools have never prepared kids for life, they educate. it's the parents who are supposed to prepare their children to live in this world.

sad thing is most parents don't have a clue.

Can anyone point me to data that shows how America's best and brightest compare to other nations? Having been abroad and known foreign nationals they all say it is really hard to get ahead in their countries - even the UK. That the USA teaches and tests everyone regardless of disability, language learning, or social class and there are more chances. I just feel like some of the comparisons are unfair. I'd like to see more specialization for upperclassmen in high school so they leave with certification and an internship - more technology - but b/c we are so big and diverse we should be careful about comparisons

A Teacher wrote:

I have so much faith in the public school system of our country. It is the same education system that my husband and I both went through. Both of us came from minority, poor families. But the one thing that made us push ourselves was our parents. Education was first and that's what everyone needs to emphasize.

Of course you would say this, are you in a union?

No, the public school system of the USA is generally only good as a state daycare center while the adult world works. Anything apart from that is myopic delusion and apologist rhetoric for an ineffectual joke. Just like 2 terms of Bush, the error won't be largely realized until it's far too late. That's how it seems the way things are going. A few districts in a few towns will be paraded around as examples, and even if they're the real thing it won't detract from the greater national trend, so they won't matter. In fact, it will give the majority some hollow pride so they can return to being complacent and/or well-meaning but ineffectual in the face of overwhelming mediocrity. I really don't know what it's going to take for the proper action to take place, but I doubt it's going to be some isolated news blurb. If even today some dumb bunch of teamsters are berating the alarms about climate change for whatever reasons, it doesn't leave much hope for the issue of rebuilding the school system on such a mass scale.