What is with parents these days?

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

I hate to see that we don't seem to be able to offer a well-rounded education anymore and have to decide which classes are more important than others. In the grand scheme of things, they all seem pretty important to me. We can cut thing like music classes, which many schools have done, but the fact that the kids still can't read, write, or do simple math, seems to suggest that the problem isn't the diversity of subjects but the failure to teach any of them successfully.

That's one of my major rants as well.

I think there are many, many reasons for this.

First, too many schools are worried about self esteem. Face it - some kids are smarter and learn faster then others. Too many teachers teach to the lowest common denominator. We don't want to make anyone feel badly, do we? I am not suggesting that those who may not learn as fast or who are not as smart not be educated, but what is wrong with separating children who learn faster?

Also, I am frustrated that there seems to be no emphasis on rote anymore. Why not have elementary students memorize multiplication tables? Or historical dates and facts? Or where something is on the globe? Or how to spell a word?

What's wrong with a couple hours of homework each night? An hour for thris through 6th, a couple hours for jr high and HS? All the kids will do is go home and play video games and watch Sponge Bob anyway.

So....yeah, MBC, even when music programs are cut it doesn't seem to help the other subjects improve.

Frustrating.